Alfalfa sensitive horses

ycbm

ycbm

Overwhelmed
Joined
30 January 2015
Messages
61,638
Visit site
How many of us have them?

I think I've just bought one. My new little fellow has been getting more twitchy since I tried to use up a bag of Saracen Re-leve that has alfalfa in it (listed as lucerne). He started getting picky with it, so I've stopped feeding it, and he seems to be calmer.

Of course I could be imagining it, but what about yours?
 
How do you know it’s the alfalfa? There is other stuff in it too, including flaked pea which can be rocket fuel to some.

On the Alfa subject, I think it gets a bad press. I have certainly had one years ago that was a complete loony on Alfa, so I do agree it can buzz some up, but I don’t think it’s quite as prevelant as made out. In fact Alfa was a ‘safe’ feed for my very fizzy dressage Horse who turned herself inside out on most commercial feeds and micronised linseed!
 
IME it is very much dependent on which horse you feed it to :) We had one cereal intolerant WelshDxTb who could eat alfalfa and did really well with it. The Appy mare could not manage any of it at all :eek: She turned into a complete fruit loop on it. On one memorable occaision she stood in the middle of the road doing an impression of a rocking horse, front end up, back end up and repeat until I got off! It also seemed to make her itchy, when we stopped feeding alfalfa she returned to her usual self, slightly bonkers but safe :). Is it your spotted that has the problem with it? I do wonder if there is something in the make up of the Appy's that causes them a problem with it. The Appy who couldn't cope with alfalfa also couldn't handle carrots.
 
I have 4 which get quite itchy when I tried Alfa. Took them off it and never had a problem again . It was the only change in their diet so I knew it was that
 
my lusitano turned into a stroppy, histrionic twit on it. He'd been very spooky on Greengold before and when I changed yards, I specifically asked that he wasnt fed any alfalfa. YO put him on Dengie pellets because she thought I was mistaken. Couldnt work out what was going on at first-didnt like me grooming him, was pulling faces when being tacked up (he was a sweetheart on the ground), literally threw himself on the ground when I lunged him. He was foot perfect to lunge normally but as he was only 4 at the time, I put it down to trying it on. Took him for a hack and he was a fruitloop-no sense of self preservation, tried taking me backwards through hedges/ditches, over a 5 bar gate etc. Got back shaking and one the girls mentioned the feed. within 48 hours of coming off it he was his normal self again-sharp but with a brain and loving being pampered again. This horse also would go footy on beet-even Fast Fibre.
 
Many horses are fine on it, but those that are affected seem to suffer a cumulative effect and get worse and worse. Never had one go loopy on it but definitely had a couple who itch terribly and a friend's horse came up in huge nettle-rash like lumps all over when she had alfalfa.

Like most things, it's a matter of trial and error, there is no 'one-size-fits-all' in horse feeds.
 
One of my cobs was very itchy on alfalfa chaff... I would have thought it was sweet itch if it hadn't been a freezing cold January as he completely destroyed his mane and tail.... I'm not sure it was the actual alfalfa though, apparently the chaff is coated in some sort of oil to keep it separated - has anyone else heard that?
 
I sold a horse that was fed alfalfa by her new owner, and she was itchy and behaved like a total idiot. The owner then decided it was MY fault for not telling her!! As we never use it how could I have known???????? Some people should look into these things BEFORE they feed it.
 
Yes, mine reacted badly to Alfalfa. We moved yards and onto full livery where all feed was included. They only buy in Alfa-A and Alfa-A oil. I had a bag of my own chaff to use up, so he had this with a gradual switch over to the Alfa-A, which took about 3 weeks. He seemed quite happy with the yard move at first.

Once he was only fed the Alfa, his behaviour changed dramatically. On the ground he OK if a little rude (at the time I wasn't doing very much, though) but ridden, he was very out of sorts. Very, very reactive and spooky, no matter where you were. Throwing himself around, would hump his back and just felt like he would explode at any moment. He was un-rideable. Apart from the yard move, the only other thing to change was the feed.

Took him off the Alfa-A and within a week he had settled down.

Of course this could all be coincidence and could all be related to being unsettled with the yard move, but the changes were quite quick and very dramatic!
 
I know of at least three on our yard that are sensitive to alfalfa, especially Alfa A and it sends them loopy. The same with calm and condition by A&P.
 
Oldie LOVES alfalfa and does well on it.

it brings Welsh D out in lumps if she has it in any quantity - OK if it's the base of a supplement but if I buy alfalfa nuts or chaff she gets big zitty welts all over in the space of a couple of days. Doesn't seem to affect her behaviour though - not much does, feed wise.
 
Alfalfa/Lucerne I'd like rocket fuel to my horse ! It's taken me quite a lot of research to find a food without it in (it's often added to supplements too)
 
Mine comes out in lumps and so so itchy.
She also unbearable- completely wired, stresses over everything and insanely spooky.

Shes allergic to an awful lot but removing the alfalfa calmed her down
 
Mine is sensitive to it - interestingly he's also part trotter (which if this is about your lovely new boy, and you're the poster I am thinking of, may be of interest!) and a cobby type

He was changed one year from mollichaff to a plain chaff, was meant to be laminitic friendly, no sugar, non-heating etc. but it did have alfalfa in it. B wasn't on any cool mix at the time, just had a chaff so he didn't feel left out when the others were fed which was why I got said chaff. He went absolutely loopy, became a ball of energy that would just charge round the place, no amount of lunging/cantering laps seemed to tire him out, he was much more spooky and reactive than normal and was an absolute nightmare. I didn't think it was the chaff (as it was also over winter) until I went to replace it and nowhere had it in so ended up with cherry chaff (with no alfalfa) and once the chaff was changed he calmed back down very quickly so I can only assume it was the chaff as none of his other management changed.

Haven't tried him on anything with alfalfa in since when he's had a hard feed and we've had no repeat of his behaviour. He's very easily wound up and is a reactive horse as well though.
 
Made Nugz incredibly uncomfortable in his hind gut. Was only fed at recommendation of vet and feed specialist as supposed to help as it has good calcium levels.

Wasn't anything else as nothing else had changed.

But have seen good results for other horses.
 
Mine had 2 episodes of lymphangitis brought on by alfalfa (feed blocks)
She went on to become allergic/sensitive to soya, linseed, bute, sugar, magnesium... Sigh!
 
fairhill said:
Mine had 2 episodes of lymphangitis brought on by alfalfa (feed blocks)
She went on to become allergic/sensitive to soya, linseed, bute, sugar, magnesium... Sigh!
Click to expand...

Interesting!

My Appy can't have it - makes her photosensitive and her pink skin blisters. Took her off it after first summer when I realised what was going on but since then she seems to have become hyper sensitive to lots of feed stuff. I just assumed it was her sensitive tummy, but perhaps I've turned her into an allergy monster.

OP - there's quite a few Appy types that can't manage it, so give yours has spotty bloodlines it wouldn't surprise me if he had a problem.
 
I realised there was something in my share horse's feed that didn't agree with him one autumn when he was too fat for feed and his scabby rash didn't appear. For years he'd had a funny rash on his back legs and we (vet included) were stumped by it. I fully expected it to be alfalfa from all I had read. When we started feeding him we introduced everything one at a time and he was fine on Alfalfa but his rash went nuts as soon as he had anything with sugar in it. Might be worth taking him right back to just grass/hay, then reintroducing things one at a time to see what it is that makes a difference? We introduced something new every 10 days to give his body a chance to react and for us to notice but once we gave him the sugar we noticed within 2 days so 5-7 days might be ok.
 
YorksG said:
IME it is very much dependent on which horse you feed it to :) We had one cereal intolerant WelshDxTb who could eat alfalfa and did really well with it. The Appy mare could not manage any of it at all :eek: She turned into a complete fruit loop on it. On one memorable occaision she stood in the middle of the road doing an impression of a rocking horse, front end up, back end up and repeat until I got off! It also seemed to make her itchy, when we stopped feeding alfalfa she returned to her usual self, slightly bonkers but safe :). Is it your spotted that has the problem with it? I do wonder if there is something in the make up of the Appy's that causes them a problem with it. The Appy who couldn't cope with alfalfa also couldn't handle carrots.
Click to expand...

Yes it's my spotty, and he doesn't seem to be as happy to be touched as he used to be. If it isn't the gelding, then I think it's his food.
 
ihatework said:
How do you know it’s the alfalfa? There is other stuff in it too, including flaked pea which can be rocket fuel to some.
Click to expand...

I don't, but it's in a feed I have no need to feed him and was using up just so as not to waste sixteen pounds after selling the horse I bought it for. . It does seem the most likely culprit though, and there are far more alfalfa pellets in it than flaked peas.

It does sound like Appys have an issue with it. He's off it totally tomorrow, so I'll report back in a week. Thankfully he wolfs down bran with a little copra and linseed in (also using up these so as not to waste them).
 
Alfalfa makes my pony itch and made one of my old ponies crazy

It has however been the making of my mare, she is doing well on it
 
There is an 18 month old at my yard who I'm fairly sure is reactive to alfalfa - I've never known a horse itch like he does. I casually mentioned alfalfa can cause itching in some horses to my YO (his owner) but he's still fed it so beyond that it's none of my business really but I do feel sorry for the poor chap!
 
brightmount said:
What non-alfalfa chaffs do people recommend?
Click to expand...

I've gone for plain oat chaff (topchop zero) given alfalfa seems to be in most chaffs that our local feed place have in. There are plain grass chaffs (i think dengie do one ) or if you're lucky enough to have a stockist then Agrobs do a nice range.
 
Brightmount- There's grass chaff/nuts, sugar-beet/speedi-beet as alternatives. Honeychop do a plain chopped straw chaff, Countrywide have their own brand Natual Fibres Chaff which is grass/straw/mint or agrobs leichtgenuss (posh version of grass/straw/herbs) or you have other chaffs from agrobs or thunderbrooks which are alternatives too. So quite a bit of choice out there nowadays :)
 
ycbm said:
I don't, but it's in a feed I have no need to feed him and was using up just so as not to waste sixteen pounds after selling the horse I bought it for. . It does seem the most likely culprit though, and there are far more alfalfa pellets in it than flaked peas.

It does sound like Appys have an issue with it. He's off it totally tomorrow, so I'll report back in a week. Thankfully he wolfs down bran with a little copra and linseed in (also using up these so as not to waste them).
Click to expand...



Forget reporting back in a week, it's as if someone has turned a switch. Last several nights he came in, ran out again, ran around the yard refusing to let me touch him. Tonight he was a different horse. I've changed nothing, except the wind has dropped a bit and I've removed the Re-leve from his diet.


What is it with Appys and alfalfa?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top