Is alfalfa that bad?

[Hormonal Filly]

Especially for barefoot? I constantly see people saying to avoid it for barefoot.

My mares been on one of Dengies chaffs with alfalfa in for 6 months and had no issues, but shes getting fussy thinking of changing to Alfa-A Oil which is just alfalfa and rapeseed oil. Shes really fussy and just gets a scoop of chaff a day to carry supplements required. Any other recommendations.

 

[dominobrown]

if your horse is intolerant then yes, but I don't believe it to be as bad as someone make out. I have a few barefoot horses on alfa pellets with amazing feet.
I think it gets a bad press as in America they often feed it instead of forage and its a legume not a grass, so in that quantity its could cause a problem as its high in protein. I personally wouldn't feed it to anything that had skin conditions, namely sweet itch.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Especially for barefoot? I constantly see people saying to avoid it for barefoot.

My mares been on one of Dengies chaffs with alfalfa in for 6 months and had no issues, but shes getting fussy thinking of changing to Alfa-A Oil which is just alfalfa and rapeseed oil. Shes really fussy and just gets a scoop of chaff a day to carry supplements required. Any other recommendations.

Alfalfa A oil can be like rocket fuel for some horses so beware.

 

[Barton Bounty]

Not for some horses, some horses are intolerant. Some are wackos on it but if yours is fine just keep feeding it

 

[Gloi]

I've never had any problems with it.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

Alfalfa A oil can be like rocket fuel for some horses so beware.

Thank you.. Will keep that in mind and find something else!

 

[Squeak]

Thank you.. Will keep that in mind and find something else!

If your horse is already on it then chances are you're fine. For some reason Alfalfa has fallen massively out of fashion. No, it doesn't suit all horses but neither do most feeds. It's still really good for horses with stomach issues and for helping put condition on. I'm not clued up on barefoot though so can't help from that angle.

 

[TheOldTrout]

My barefoot mare eats alfalfa without any problems.

 

[Maxidoodle]

I have two barefoot who get very footie when fed anything with Alfa in. Pretty much all of the feeds here have it in (I buy imported UK feed) and doesn’t seem to be sighted as an issue over here.

 

[Goldenstar]

No alfalfa is not bad that’s like saying strawberries are bad because some humans are intolerant to them .
alfalfa is full of energy so it’s not a good choice for fatties but its a high quality protein in forage form that good for muscle building it’s high in calcium which makes it a good buffer for the stomach but it’s also high in iron which is not so great for some horses .
Its a good food for horses in medium to hard work who are the correct weight or who can do with gaining weight .

 

[Hormonal Filly]

Thanks all

It’s a good food for horses in medium to hard work who are the correct weight or who can do with gaining weight .

She is the correct weight but not exactly in medium or hard work. Just starting to do a lot more now she’s been signed off though.

Just need a tasty chaff she can have a scoop everyday for supplements, but she’s incredibly fussy. Anything like ‘just grass’ she won’t touch.

 

[ycbm]

it’s also high in iron which is not so great for some horses .

This could explain why it's regarded as "not good" for barefoot. If you have a horse which is teetering on the edge of metabolic issues (and I've had a full on EMS thin 2 year old so it can get any one of them! ) then the iron can, I understand, interrupt insulin regulation. So the reaction to alfalfa would be insulin triggered sub clinical laminitis.

I have fed alfalfa pellets to several barefoot horses with no issues with their feet at all.
.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

When I started feeding my stallion on it, long time ago now it improved his feet enormously. He wasn't ridden then so no idea how it might have affected him but he didn't seem to change in temperament.

 

[Red-1]

Both of mine are on chop with some alfa pellets in. It means it looks more like a 'proper' feed as they only get a little speedybeet and chop as a carrier for vitamins. They are both fine, hacking out barefoot.

 

[ihatework]

Alfalfa is a great feed, I use it as a base or a compound containing it for pretty much every working horses I’ve ever had. In all the years I’ve only had one react to it badly (they obviously never got it again!). It was one of the only feed bases my very good reactive dressage mare could tolerate!

 

[Peglo]

I use Hifi molasses free. My mare got really itchy so swapped it for a grass chop instead incase it was the alfalfa causing the itching. It wasn’t and her coat (and possibly feet) were better when she was on the hifi so I’ve put her back on it.

 

[deicinmerlyn]

I think Alfalfa affects some bf horses but not others. Pellets or nuts rather than chaff is supposedly better for barefoot horses. It’s the bagged chaff that gets the criticism because of additives apparently.
it’s also being criticised quite heavily on a ‘Feeding with ulcers’ FB group by a nutritionist who claims it causes ulcers because it’s short and spike. No idea if there’s any truth in it.
very few horses are actually allergic to Alfalfa though and it’s a good forage choice for many.

 

[Elno]

Alfalfa is great if it's pure alfalfa without additives and the horse is not intolerant. I think often the intolerance to alfalfa is greatly exaggerated, and few of the horses are actually intolerant to the alfalfa, and not the additives that they put in the chaff or whatever feed you feed. Alfalfa is high in protein and calcium and low in sugar and energy and is concidered a forage. It's great to add 1-2 kgs pure alfalfa pellets on top of your hay/haylage if the forage is a bit low in protein.

I get the feeling here that people are for some reason scared of protein, blaming it to fizz the horses up. That is simply not true. Especially since actually testing your forage for energy, protein and minerals doesn't seem so widespread in the UK, and because of that you actually have no clue at all how balanced your horse's total feed is, so it's easy to blame the protein when in reality it can be as simple as that the horse gets too much energy compared to it's workload and putting in a chaff, or mix or anything extra makes it worse.

 

[ycbm]

The protein thing I heard for the first time back in 1991 when I moved up here. I thought it was nonsense them, and I still think it now.

Over the years, though, I've come to believe that the fizzy reactions you read about on oats/haylage etc are mostly not due to excess energy at all, but due to gut disturbance.
.

 

[Widgeon]

Over the years, though, I've come to believe that the fizzy reactions you read about on oats/haylage etc are mostly not due to excess energy at all, but due to gut disturbance.
.

That's interesting. We have several horses (a cob, a TB and a couple of warmblood types) on our yard on rolled oats straight from the farmer as part of their winter feed / hard work and it doesn't seem to fizz up any of them.

 

[Goldenstar]

Oats are greatly underestimated food for horses .

 

[Widgeon]

Oats are greatly underestimated food for horses .

I found them hugely useful for adding an energy boost - my cob is permanently on restricted grazing but he can get a bit "flat" when we're doing lots of long hacks in the summer. A scoop of oats was the easiest way of giving him the energy he needed and it didn't seem to make any discernible difference to his waistline.

 

[Hallo2012]

The protein thing I heard for the first time back in 1991 when I moved up here. I thought it was nonsense them, and I still think it now.

Over the years, though, I've come to believe that the fizzy reactions you read about on oats/haylage etc are mostly not due to excess energy at all, but due to gut disturbance.
.

inclined to agree-just had to swap mine back to hay as one had gone wired, spooky and footy on haylage......i think it was gut not energy/sugar as also noticed he was snatching and quidding his bucket feed like something was off. Been back on hay a week now and already calmer, less footy and less snatchy at fed time.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Agree re gut disturbance. Once my mare's hind gut issues were sorted out after her Equibiome analysis, she went from not being able to tolerate the tiniest amount of linseed to being happily now on a mugful a day.

Interestingly, alfalfa was one of the recommended additives. I raised my eyebrows at that thinking that it would send her loopy loo, but she was grand on it.

 

[ownedbyaconnie]

I'm guessing it's like anything. Milk/dairy etc doesn't bother me at all, but renders my sister completely useless.

 

[NinjaPony]

It’s a useful feed if your horse gets on with it. I fed my connie Alfa-A molasses free for years. He needed more condition and energy than from the hi-fi equivalent as he was training and competing, but needed something low sugar and non-heating and it did the job very well.