Perhaps daft question- what are the effects of...

holeymoley

holeymoley

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I know someone with a laminitic pony which is on rations all year round- constantly fenced off with limited bare grazing , given about 2 slices of hay over night and then given high fibre cubes and happy hoof chaff in winter. What are they effects of giving it straight Alfa A ? :eek: I personally thought it was very dodgy, given this time of year is when laminitis can attack. Thoughts?
 
Alfa a isn't on the list of what he's being fed?
Personally in my mind it depends on weight of pony as its naturally low in sugar and starch and in fact is prob lower than the happy hoof by quite a bit. If your talking Alfa - a org that's molassed which is not good though
 
Sorry not explained to well. It was fed as a one off as she ran out of chaff. However I would have thought that feeding a drastic change of such a high mollassed / protein etc chaff would be a danger to bring on laminitis? I personally wouldn't take the risk and either feed a bit more cubes or increase hay.
 
FfionWinnie said:
Why do folk feed bucket feeds to ponies who are so restricted, I really don't get it, better to feed more hay and a mineral lick surely?
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Thank you, my thoughts too! She restricts hay but feeds happy hoof which is mollassed but obviously fantastic because it has laminitis trust logo :rolleyes:
 
In that no totally wrong. I would up the hay and give a balancer or lick in field but a good luck not one of these laminitis in a tub lick. I wouldn't fed happy hoof to a laminitic either.
 
thatsmygirl said:
In that no totally wrong. I would up the hay and give a balancer or lick in field but a good luck not one of these laminitis in a tub lick. I wouldn't fed happy hoof to a laminitic either.
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Ahh, all hell will let loose in the next few days when the heat and pulses arrive! Pony will be rationed to a few whisps if hay!

I just thought it was completely daft. She's so stubborn about the whole thing and not willing to hear from anyone else but then goes and feeds it a good scoop of Alfa A. :eek: bizarre.
 
holeymoley said:
Thoughts?
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MYOB springs to mind.

If the pony is laminitis free, fine. If he stays laminitis free, good. If he gets lamintis, it's unfortunate but it still isn't your problem.

The analysis of Alfa A are 10% sugars 'as fed' I don't think would do a huge amount of harm short term if she is buying more chaff tomorrow. ETA- this is assuming pony is still getting hay though.
 
Thing about laminitis is its horrid to manage and every horse is different. I know far too many people who starve their ponies as they think this is correct, i also know people who overfeed 'lami-safe' products...

I personally wouldnt feed alfalfa due to risk of fructose....hi fi would surely be better for bulk. BUT, unfortunately every horse is different and they do not always follow textbook examples.
 
RiderLizzie said:
MYOB springs to mind.

If the pony is laminitis free, fine. If he stays laminitis free, good. If he gets lamintis, it's unfortunate but it still isn't your problem.

The analysis of Alfa A are 10% sugars 'as fed' I don't think would do a huge amount of harm short term if she is buying more chaff tomorrow. ETA- this is assuming pony is still getting hay though.
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Oh for goodness sake . I new someone was going to moan. It's purely a question and I wanted to confirm if my thoughts were correct. Personally couldn't give a damn if she fed it sugar by the bucket load.
 
Offt, pardon me for expressing MY thoughts, after all, you did ask!
Did you read the bit about the sugar content? What I was trying to say is that if it was one bucket just to tide them over, it isn't going to be that harmful as it is very short term. Over a long period of time, of course it will cause issues.
 
RiderLizzie said:
Offt, pardon me for expressing MY thoughts, after all, you did ask!
Did you read the bit about the sugar content? What I was trying to say is that if it was one bucket just to tide them over, it isn't going to be that harmful as it is very short term. Over a long period of time, of course it will cause issues.
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Yes I did and found them helpful, but would've valued your post even more if you didn't start with 'myob' .
 
Didn't mean it to come across as rude, so sorry if you read it that way.

As a bit of a tangent from the thread and not directed just at you OP, BUT I am tired of reading posts on here slating the way other people do things with their horses. If it is that much of an issue to you, bring it up with the owner or yard manager to voice your concerns. ETA- Everyone is different and for small things like this, where the welfare of the horse isn't going to be drastically (hopefully) compromised, it's one of those things where as a friend, you could approach them with an "I read in a magazine once that...." and voice your own concerns directly to them.
 
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RiderLizzie said:
Didn't mean it to come across as rude, so sorry if you read it that way.

As a bit of a tangent from the thread and not directed just at you OP, BUT I am tired of reading posts on here slating the way other people do things with their horses. If it is that much of an issue to you, bring it up with the owner or yard manager to voice your concerns.
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No hard feelings, it was more of a thread to ask if my thoughts were along the right lines. I just wouldn't have fed Alfa A to an extreme laminitic pony, but then thought perhaps I was being over cautious for the sake of one feed , and then I thought that one scoop of Alfa a out the blue could be more harmful! So I decided to ask on here for answers to my curiosities.
 
Well going from what the website says about their content, there is approximately 4g of sugar in one stubbs scoop of Alfa A chaff. It depends on how many scoops of the stuff the pony had, but 1 1/2 scoops wouldn't be a massive amount of sugar. You do also have to take into account the starch content too (IIRC anyway).

But in relation to your post..
Long term feeding- yes, concerns are valid. One off feeding- worry not. :)
 
holeymoley said:
However I would have thought that feeding a drastic change of such a high mollassed / protein etc chaff would be a danger to bring on laminitis?
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holeymoley said:
She's so stubborn about the whole thing and not willing to hear from anyone else but then goes and feeds it a good scoop of Alfa A.
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Protein is not the cause of laminitis.

As Happy Hoof as both molasses and alfalfa in, I can see why she thought that one scoop on one occasion wouldn't hurt. Personally I wouldn't be giving a laminitic either of them. Neither would I thank someone else for questioning my decisions about the way I keep my horses. This is why I can't bear livery yards.
 
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