Talk to me about Alfalfa

[Sleipnir]

So my gelding is a good-doer and currently a bit too much on the chunky side. Due to work assignments I am unable to go to the yard to exercise him every day and currently we are without a saddle, so exercise is a bit limited (I still ride him bareback, lunge and long-rein him about 3-4 times a week). The yard I keep him at feeds all the horses in the field with app. 2 cups of straight oats a day + supplements (linseed + a vit/min supplement in his case), and I think I'd like to cut the grains and give him some sort of chaff instead. Thing is, options are limited where I reside and the only thing I can get unmolassed is alfalfa cubes or chaff. He's in the field 24/7 with unrestricted grazing and adlib hay in the winter. Considering the circumstances, would it be worth switching, or would a few handfuls of alfalfa be too rich for a horse who is already a bit too overweight? He must be fed something, as he won't just wait patiently in the field, while all of his herdmates get their buckets. Thanks in advance!

 

[Queenbee]

So my gelding is a good-doer and currently a bit too much on the chunky side. Due to work assignments I am unable to go to the yard to exercise him every day and currently we are without a saddle, so exercise is a bit limited (I still ride him bareback, lunge and long-rein him about 3-4 times a week). The yard I keep him at feeds all the horses in the field with app. 2 cups of straight oats a day + supplements (linseed + a vit/min supplement in his case), and I think I'd like to cut the grains and give him some sort of chaff instead. Thing is, options are limited where I reside and the only thing I can get unmolassed is alfalfa cubes or chaff. He's in the field 24/7 with unrestricted grazing and adlib hay in the winter. Considering the circumstances, would it be worth switching, or would a few handfuls of alfalfa be too rich for a horse who is already a bit too overweight? He must be fed something, as he won't just wait patiently in the field, while all of his herdmates get their buckets. Thanks in advance!

personally, if the horse is overweight, then the current regime is not working. I would certainly cut out the grains, but would look at what could be done to bring him off the grass for a set period each day and not feed extra. for example, my beast came out of winter a bit portly and due to personal reasons I have barely ridden since christmas. He is stabled every night all year round but over the winter was on straw, on coming out of winter he was on 2 nets a night plus a scoop of grass chaff am and pm with 1/2 cup of mix, then he would pick at his bed. Once I reduced to 1 net he started to eat more of his bed (which was good quality straw). Since he was getting no leaner, his breakfast and dinner were cut out, his bedding swapped to shavings and his field sectioned into two. He is now starting to shift the weight and will be starting exercise again in the next week or two.

I understand that it is difficult when there is a set routine but it is far better to make the changes that benefit your horse than the set up. Can you not speak to the YO/YM and see if they can bring him in off the grass for a few hrs a day to coincide with feeding time?

 

[Ladyinred]

Alfalfa can cause some pretty severe skin reactions in some horses. Most people assume their horse has sweetitch until they remove the alfa.. and it goes. There again, many are fine on it but I wouldn't recommend it as a way to lose weight. Queenbee is spot on.

 

[be positive]

As already said getting him off the grass would be better but if that is not an option I would not change to alfalfa for several reasons, 1 because it is strong tasting so he may not eat it and that could cause problems if he tries to go to a different bucket, 2 I don't think it will make any significant difference to his weight and am not sure 2 cups of oats is that high in calories anyway, although linseed is so could that be cut out/ down, 3 he may react to alfalfa.
Try and increase intensity of the work a good canter on the lunge or loose for 5 mins after long reining or a bareback ride will really help until you get a saddle and can do more.

 

[fattylumpkin]

Being purely practical, it's usually tough to switch a horse used to oats to unmollassed chaff, most will spurn it, and even the cheapest chaff is far from being free. After trying a lot of things, my horse has limited turnout on grass, a handful of plain mineral pellets, a mineral tub in the field, and timothy hay. With easy doers it's just better to keep it as simple as possible and to be able to give lots of poor forage. Alfalfa, even unmollassed, is the opposite.

 

[Sleipnir]

Thanks everyone for the advice! Change of setup is, at our current yard, unfortunately unavailable and the yard otherwise fits all of our needs, so I'm not considering to move right now. However, I appreciate your opinions and information about alfalfa, so I won't be feeding it + will try to re-organize my schedule to up his workload. He wasn't very happy when realized that he really IS going to canter more on the lunge today.