Alfalfa withdrawal time

little_critter

little_critter

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Horse is being investigated for poor performance.
I'm trying to understand whether a new symptom is related to the poor performance issue, or whether it was due to switching to alfalfa chaff.
I understand some horses can become spooky / reactive / fizzy when fed alfalfa.
So, how long after stopping feeding alfalfa would you expect to see the fizzyness disappear?

Timeline
Day 1 start feeding unmolassed alfalfa chaff
Day 6 horse starts spooking / leaping when schooling, this continues (to a greater or lesser extent for 4 days)
Day 10 stop feeding alfalfa and go back to unmolassed grass chaff
Day 15 horse is still being reactive when schooling

General demeanor of horse is fine, not stressy or over exuberant in the stable or field or to handle.
 
My mare has problems with linseed. I added it in recently because I was hoping a tiny amount wouldn't hurt - took about 48 hours to see a problem and another 48 hours off it to get her back to her normal self. When she was on it for longer I think it was about 2 weeks of not having it before she started to look better.
 
Are you sure there's no alfalfa (it can be known by other names) in your new chaff. When I was having feeding issues with my ulcer prone mare who absolutely explodes on alfalfa, I had a heck of a job finding a chaff with no alfalfa whatsoever. They seem to put the darned stuff in everything ! Also double check your hard feed, supplements, treats etc etc. mine is now fed on thunderbrooks healthy herbal chaff and agrobs gut restorer mash.
 
She’s gone back to the exact same chaff she was on before (with no problems for the last year), the rest of her feed is unmolassed sugar beet and a balancer (neither have changed recently)
The chaff is dengie meadow grass with herbs. Just going to google ingredients but it’s never been a problem before.
 
I was asking a Spillers rep about this last week, she said a few weeks.

She also said Alfalfa sensitivity is very rare and it's usually something else. The only way to tell for sure would be a full exclusion diet and even then you'd need 4-5 week gaps for any residual impact to go. (Between the food being tested, not sure if I explained that well)
 
little_critter said:
She’s gone back to the exact same chaff she was on before (with no problems for the last year), the rest of her feed is unmolassed sugar beet and a balancer (neither have changed recently)
The chaff is dengie meadow grass with herbs. Just going to google ingredients but it’s never been a problem before.
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The problem is that if there was a small amount in the first chaff (and I've no idea, I've never used it), that she could cope with, after her system has been challenged with a larger amount of alfalfa, it is likely that she won't be able to tolerate a small amount, at least for quite a long time - at least months, rather than weeks.


I'm not sure that I agree with the Spillers rep about the rarity of alfalfa intolerance, either. I have had one mare who was fine on alfalfa when she couldn't tolerate cereals and grass chaffs weren't commercially available, it is so long ago that we had trouble sourcing alfalfa, it had to be imported from Canada. I think that was because it wasn't used much here she hadn't built up an intolerance during her early years. Now alfalfa is readily available but it isn't a natural food for horses, it's a legume not a grass, so horses that are fed can indeed build up an intolerance to it, especially as it is used in treats and supplements as a filler, very often.
 
I've just checked the Dengie website and as with a lot if manufacturers, they are playing their cards v close to their chest re ingredients. I would just email them and ask for a full breakdown of ingredients. They just state 'chopped grass, grass pellets, rapeseed oil and herbs' but I would want more detail than that.
 
Muddywellies said:
I've just checked the Dengie website and as with a lot if manufacturers, they are playing their cards v close to their chest re ingredients. I would just email them and ask for a full breakdown of ingredients. They just state 'chopped grass, grass pellets, rapeseed oil and herbs' but I would want more detail than that.
Click to expand...
If there's no alfalfa at all I may actually swap onto this chaff myself as it looks similar to the Thunderbrooks but is a bit cheaper and more readily available !
 
it only took about three days for my old horse to recover from our alfalfa experience (and boy, was it an experience!). I do get annoyed when people say it couldn't be that-it was that, it was Dengie alfalfa pellets that were fed without my knowledge while at livery.
 
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