Alfa A = Rocket fuel ?????

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Janette

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Currently, Star is out during the day and in at night with a haynet. She is a 14.2 coloured native in good condition, but has never been what would be considered a 'good-doer'.
She gets a good scoop of Alfa A and a scoop of blue chip twice a day. This is the recommended amount of Alfa A for her work and size. She is in light work.

I recently changed her diet to a forage base BUT - since doing this, she is pulling, jogging and far too full of energy for my tastes....
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jogging down steep hills on the road is NOT fun.

I'm not sure, but can Alfa A be rocket fuel for some horses/ponies?
 
Loads of thing fizz my pony up, but Alfa oil never did (I gave him the oil rather than origianl as he can't have molasses).

Are you sure he's not just feeling "well", my boy certainly is at the moment!
 
Oh - she's certainly feeling 'well'............question is, what's causing it? Last time she was like this was when she was on Bailey's 17. and the maize/peas were the cause that time. She is not good on mixes of any sort. Hence the change to a simpler diet.
 
my TB fizzed up on anything. the alpha a was quite bad (no idea why tho) i ended up feeding hi fi and spillers fibre cubes. was about all she could eat without going bonkers.
 
Mine have never heated up on Alfa A, but I have heard reports on here that some people found it heated their horses up. Is this the only new thing in her diet, or is the Blue Chip new too? What were you feeding before?
 
I have never had a problem with Alfa-A, but it does have a higher nutritional value than Hi-Fi etc so will be more heating. I have heard of horses that get a bit OTT on Blue Chip - again, mine seems fine on it, but he looks very well! My friend's horse gets sharp on Blue Chip because it makes him feel so well - she can tell the difference with him within a couple of days of feeding it!!
 
She was on blue chip before I changed her to Alfa. September, she was on a 10mj cube (half ration) with the Blue chip twice a day (because she was on a half ration), whilst still out at grass. As the grass declined, I introduced a couple of handfuls of alfa to the feed.

I did a bit of research and figured out that alfa had the same energy as the cube, cost the same, but lasted 2 1/2 times as long. Hence the change.


Would HiFi and LoCal be a better alternative?
 
All mine are on Alpha A Oil, 2 x TB, 1 x ISH and 1x Welsh C.

1 of the TBs is a bit stressy but seems to be calming down the last few days, I haven't had her very long.

I had one of my TBs on Blue Chip many years ago but had to take her off it, she went loopy. I now have them all on Topspec Balancer. It may just be the combination of the Alpha A & the Blue Chip, try changing one or the other, maybe that will help.
 
I was just about to say - I had no problems on the alfaA but the Blue Chip caused huge behavioural problems. My previously laid back WB became a monster. I had never had an issue with leading/riding or handling but he had dropped some weight so I tried the blue chip - nightmare - never again as soon as I took him off it her reverted back to the nice laid back chap I knew
 
I have fed alfa-a oil to natives for a number of winters without any extra liveliness in their behaviour (they get oats too) - although I do cut back to Hi-Fi as the grass improves. I think it must vary with individual horses
 
We had an old clydesdale type mare.sweetest and most gentle soul you ever met..until we fed her alfa-a....we still have a TB mare who is also very good natured...and she turns into the alien if we feed her alfa-a. We have more horses, doesn't seem to bother the rest of them but we feed all of them Hi fi and don't have any problems.
 
My mare is a TB ex racer and she was on Alfa A last winter.
She was on the Alfa A until she was turned out overnight for the summer. She was also on Pasture mix at the same time and I still had a nice sane horse..
I think it depends on the horse..
 
yep totally agree- I use the Alfa A light and mine are fine on that however on the odd occasion the shop has not had the light in stock so have had to buy the normal Alfa-A and although they don't have a lot I can definitely notice a change in their temperament and concentration levels.

As soon as they go back on the Alfa-A light, hey-presto I get my normal horses back.

Think its to do with the sugar/protein levels .

I'm sure mine are intolerant to sugary feeds.
 
I don't put Alfa A near mine as not only is it rocket fuel but it also turns him into an evil, biting, kicking thing and he is NEVER like that, he can't cope with the energy!
 
I'm just swapping back onto Alfa A, after her summer diet, so far not noticed any change but she has been on it before and I didn't notice any change then either, but all horses are different! Maybe try the Alfa A lite Janette? It has slightly less energy per kg than the Original, I looked at it for mine when I changed over but I needed the higher energy version - I may live to regret it yet though!
 
Alfa A is quite high protein. It sends my warmblood loopy, but doesn't affect my TB at all. I guess they all just react differently to different feed. As they say, feeding's an art and a science!
 
It is rocket fuel for my horse and I know of a few others that it effects too.

Why it effects some more than others I don't know.
 
Yes and natives have to be careful with it. I fed Chancer alfa a lite as a youngster and he is now on simple systems green gold.

I was told that Farra our clyde did not agree with alfa and got very excitable on it, so she is on just grass instead.

Maybe you could change her to a grass based forage. Also a lot of alfa has molasses in it, again this can be heating, hence why I feed SS products which don't have any.
 
Shouldn't be in the amount's you are feeding.
Weight for weight it's similar to a compo mix but you do have to feed a lot to equal the weight of the two products.

Sure your horse has not just the 'winter weather hots' ie reacting to the rain , wind and chilly mornings !!
 
I've also found that Alfa A is rocket fuel, especially with my last hot mare. She spent every winter on Hi Fi Lite and Spillers High Fibre cubes!! I'd go to Hi Fi and even the Lite version if necessary as it has less sugar added. I've found feed has always made a BIG difference to my horse's behaviour, along with turn-out time.
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Are we talking Alfa A or Alfa A with Oil here?

Alfa A has added Molasses so could be the sugar causing some fizziness. Alfa A with Oil is as it says, added Oil, and that cannot cause fizziness. However, your mare will have more energy (on Alfa A wit Oil) so if that is what you are feeding, she is just probably feeling well as opposed to being fizzy, which you are maybe not used to.
 
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