Alfa A Oil, fizziness and weight gain

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CeeCee

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Hi all,

I have an older TB that has dropped some weight going into winter. I bumped into a Dengie feed specialist in the tack shop and he recommended I use Alfa A Oil, he's been on it approx 3 weeks and his behavior has changed quite dramatically, loads of energy and generally on his toes, he's beginning to scare my sharer who I do not want to loose. The feed adviser said the Alfa A oil is non heating but seeing as this is the only change to his feed I had a quick google where I found a few people have had similar reactions.

So my questions are, has anyone had similar experiences and what would you feed as an alternative?

Just to add he is currently fed, baileys no 4, speedi beet, micronised linseed, ad lib hay and a balancer.
 
We cannot feed one of our mares alfalfa in any form. It is full of phyto-oestrogens and makes her completely loopy. The trouble with feed company reps is that, not only are they trying to persuade you to buy their product, but they don't really know enough about different horses' reactions to various ingredients.

I always think that if you have changed an aspect of your management and the horse's behaviour changes, the first thing to look at is the thing that you've changed. We feed dried grass - Graze-on or Readi-grass.
 
I started my connie on it a few weeks ago and she became very tense and silly so she is back on ready grass as chaff although she is still getting a handful of the alfa a oil to use it up
 
Ahh seems i'm not the only one, it is a shame as it has helped him put the weight back on. I think I may just go back to the hifi and up the speedi beet to substitute the fibre?
 
Some horses do react to alfalfa because a product like Alfa A Oil has the same energy level /calories as a conditioning feed such as Baileys topline cubes...so when you feed the 2 together you get a lot of energy!!

The rep was right to recommend Alfa A Oil for weight gain because it is the highest calorie fibre on the market..and he was right...it is non heating because it is fibre which means it gets digested in the hind gut...slow release energy. Alfalfa is low in starch and sugar (2-4%) so is "non heating " but it is high in calories because alfalfa is VERY digestible so the horse is able to get lots of nutrients from it so some do tend to get more energy when fed it...baileys top line cubes are about 20% starch so there is quite a difference.

Compare this to something like a cheap chaff which is just straw and this is much lower calorie becasue straw is relatively undigestible (but still a good source of fibre, good for fatties/good doers).
 
southdowns01 said:
Some horses do react to alfalfa because a product like Alfa A Oil has the same energy level /calories as a conditioning feed such as Baileys topline cubes...so when you feed the 2 together you get a lot of energy!!

The rep was right to recommend Alfa A Oil for weight gain because it is the highest calorie fibre on the market..and he was right...it is non heating because it is fibre which means it gets digested in the hind gut...slow release energy. Alfalfa is low in starch and sugar (2-4%) so is "non heating " but it is high in calories because alfalfa is VERY digestible so the horse is able to get lots of nutrients from it so some do tend to get more energy when fed it...baileys top line cubes are about 20% starch so there is quite a difference.

Compare this to something like a cheap chaff which is just straw and this is much lower calorie becasue straw is relatively undigestible (but still a good source of fibre, good for fatties/good doers).
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That's very informative, thank you. I had of course told him that I was currently feeding the top line cubes. With that in mind would I be better feeding the alfa a oil and not the cubes?
 
My boy is on two scoops of Alfa A Oil per day and I wouldn't say it makes him anymore lively - have only just increased it to two scoops per day and his condition has picked up already in less than a week!
 
Cee Cee, if i was you i would weigh out how much feed your horse is having per meal to determine whether you could just increase his current diet (without needing to add the Alfa A Oil in). If you are already feeding topline cubes and linseed these are conditioning so you might just need to tweak the amount he is having? How big is he? Workload??

I would always choose Alfa A oil over the topline cubes because of the difference in starch levels, and the fact that horses are designed to eat fibre not cereals...however if your horse doesn't tolerate the Alfa a oil then you would be best to up the current feed.
If you are feeding normal Hi Fi, why not up this? 1 x stubbs scoop of this weighs 300g so if he is only having saying a scoop per feed you could easily double this up? Compare this to a stubbs scoop of nuts which weighs 1.6kg!
Hope this helps...:)
 
Hi there,

I feed my very excitable and sugar intolerant TB fast fibre and alfa a oil. If he gets too much sugar he gets soo twitchy that he burns what im giving him off by prancing around. I cant recommend Allen and Page fast fibre enough. It doesnt have to be introduced, is cheap, they love it...and its a big weigh gain! It is basically a hay replacement.

Another non heating and conditioning feed is Rowan and Barbarys solutions mash. 1 bag lasts ages, its calms them and adds condition.

good luck.
 
Hello, my very sensitive mare went a bit bonkers on this after a while! Oil itself makes her bonkers now, i feed micronised linseed, garlic and pure horse feeds pure easy. Non heating and putting condition on her brilliantly!
 
i can only feed low levels of alphalpha or my mare goes a bit loopy too

maybe try spillers conditioing fibre - has less alphalpha in (my mare tolerates it) but still has high oil content etc

i wouldnt try fast fibre if you are trying to gain weight - its a v v low calorie fibre feed - if a horse gains weight on it then it must have a major forage/fiber deficiency in its diet and means i'd be upping the forage before i even thought about a hard feed!
 
Alfa A sent my boy Fig (full TB and ex racer to boot) completely loopy!

He was non loopy on the rowan barbury soft n soak mash, but I didn't see a huge improvement. I've tried him on grass nuts (and sugar beet) and the soft n soak yielded the best results.

Did have him on equijewel (which is specifically non heating) and that also sent him wappy. Currently working my way through a few different samples (some thanks to lovely HHO-rs!). Fig makes it a bit tricky as he is super duper fussy :(
 
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criso said:
Bear in mind that Hi Fi is also over half Alfalfa so feeding more of this is the same as feeding smaller quantities of Alfa A.
How much Linseed are you feeding, you could up this for extra calories.
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I wouldn't feed Hi-Fi to your horse, as the non-alfalfa part of it is straw chaff which is just empty filler and won't put any weight on.
I'd go for a grass chaff, possibly with soaked grassnuts and Speedibeet, maybe with micronised linseed. We put weight on our cob mare after a prolonged illness which really pulled her down with grass, grassnuts and Speedibeet, a friend has put weight on her ID with soaked grassnuts.
The trouble is that each horse is different and what suits one won't necessarily suit the next. Trial and error unfortunately is the way to go.
 
I think feeding the alpha oil you need to be sure they are doing the work to need the extra provided by the oil otherwise just feed ordinary alpha a if they cope ok with aphalpha. I feed my 16.3 WB aplha oil when she is in full work and she can go loopy. If i dont work her for a couple of days she can get silly so gets worked more or drop the food down if you know in advance she wont be doing as much.
 
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