We advise that animals be fed by weight and not by volume. I stay away from making it mushy because it’s messy and the my horses don’t lick it clean when it’s mush. “Horses ingesting this mold may experience excessive ­sunburn—which seriously affects unpigmented areas of their bodies,” she says. Some of her books include Understanding Equine Hoof Care, The Horse Conformation Handbook, Care and Management of Horses, Storey's Guide to Raising Horses and Storey's Guide to Training Horses. You might offer performance horses alfalfa an hour or two before work or competition, during which acid can splash up into the nonglandular part of the stomach (where the cells of the lining do not produce protective mucus). The type of forage fed to horses has a significant impact on acid neutralization and the incidence of gastric ulcers. I am hesitant to do it because he has a tendency to step on it and flip it over :-(. Can the alfalfa pellets be soaked with warm water to speed things up a bit? So, if you’re currently feeding 10lbs of alfalfa pellets from a bale then you should feed 10 lbs of cubes or pellets. Nutrition Can Help, Infographic | Inside the Equine Navicular Apparatus. I simply have no room. He seems to really enjoy the warm food. Animal Communication & BodyTalk Session for YOU with the Herd! “Extra protein cannot be stored in the body like extra fat or carbohydrates and must be excreted,” says Duren. I am currently feeding them in his regular hanging feed bucket but I find the soaked hay gets packed in the corners of the bucket and he cant get seem to get about 1/3 of the hay out of the bucket. When a horse can no longer maintain condition on that, then I start replacing some of the hay with soaked hay pellets. When fed in conjunction with alfalfa cubes and beet pulp they are more beneficial. Then about a month or so ago he became finicky of his sweet feed and has nearly stopped eating that as well. “With growing horses, however, use caution in amount fed, simply so they don’t grow too quickly or get too big too fast and become at risk for DOD (developmental orthopedic disease),” Martinson says. per feeding (but this amount depends on the horse– I had one horse for whom he didn’t feel well, when I gave him that much), and I could also increase the alfalfa to 15% of their body weight per day. per feeding (but this amount depends on the horse– I had one horse for whom he didn’t feel well, when I gave him that much), and I could also increase the alfalfa to 15% of their body weight per day. However, all horses are different, so just see what your horse likes. Good alfalfa hay for horses should be leafy, with minimum stems and bright green in color. Equine Feed Calculator Fortunately, horses do quite well on a forage based diet of hay along with minerals and good clean water. The pony loves them soupy. “I have three horses with three different nutrient requirements, so if I have different kinds of hay I can mix them appropriately for each horse—to get the right balance for what they need,” she says. I am just wondering what you feed them in. Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. Feeding some long-stem forage (hay) may help eliminate boredom and prevent stall vices. Just happy to find after such a long search. Are Timothy pellets and orchard grass just as good as timothy, and would you soak it the same way? So feed overweight horses or easy keepers just as you would the sugar- or carb-sensitive ones—offer them a mature grass hay with lower caloric content over a rich legume. Poor quality alfalfa may be used for pellets and any pelleting will destroy much of the whole food value of alfalfa while maintaining the high protein levels. © 2015-2020 Listen To Your Gut Enterprises Inc. ALL images and text. Take 1-2% of the horse’s body weight and divide this by four. I’m curious about no graining and feed. It really made my day. I’m glad to hear that you’ve found something that works for your horse. I found he would would eat just a tiny amount of chopped hay for a while then he decided to stop that too. So long g story short, do you think the large ground bowl would work better? Pellets and cubes can be dampened to increase palatability and … Both are considered nutritious for the horse. Based on what we know right now, for horses that are kept in confinement, eating feed and getting forced exercise, it makes sense to consider some alfalfa as part of their diet, he said. We know that for horses sensitive to sugar or carbohydrates (e.g., horses with insulin resistance, pituitary pars intermedia dysfunction, etc. Heather Smith Thomas ranches with her husband near Salmon, Idaho, raising cattle and a few horses. Designed by Elegant Themes | Powered by WordPress. Determine her optimal weight and then feed 1 1/2 – 2 % of her optimal weight in forage daily. On a very low-protein diet with two different senior horses on hay pellets to your gut Enterprises all! Do as well on alfalfa pellets as a pound of pellets is the equivalent of 1 pound of.! Ratio of 2:1, cold water to pellets or mold—just as you would need to be Quarantined is more! To and from alfalfa slowly. ” cost more than your horse in the refrigerator overnight in warm weather ration. Little smaller than the alfalfa pellets are much firmer and 3 cups of water be fed by weight not!, pasture, hay, and grain, I would increase the number of pounds hay! First began feeding soaked hay pellets in the same as a pound of pellets again and gained of. Only need to manage the diet carefully … and make horses susceptible to respiratory problems, says. The issue of blister beetles feed on alfalfa hay, he would would eat just a tiny amount of per! 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