Free-Feeding Alfalfa and/or Grass Hay

[paintponylvr]

(and I still miss the like button!!)

As stated by several people there are different feeding protocols depending on the area of the country you are in and your herd management techniques.

Something no-one seems to be considering these past couple of years is the weather. All over the country, here in the USA, it's been "weird" according to everyone I've talked to in person, spoken with on the phone and emailed or forum talked, chat roomed with. The temps and storms have swung from one extreme to the other - throughout the growing season(s). This affects everything that is fed to our horses.

Hay (alfalfa, timothy, clover, orchard grass, meadow grass, coastal, bermuda, fescue, kentucky blue grass) AND pasture grass AND oats AND barley AND corn will all develop a higher sugar content when the temps drop below certain levels. It's one of the reasons some livestock owners have to be careful after a frost. Hay is generally not cut - after a hard frost, even if it is a decent "height" before that frost. It's a similar type of "lush" that the first spring grass is. I'm struggling to remember all the proper terms for this phenomenon - and I'm drawing blanks right now. When the weather cools off, growing crops go dormant. Some die (oats & corn) while others do a huge "sugar push" that will keep it "alive" during the cold season (grasses & hays).

Also, horses have changed over the years. I feel that it includes minis and shetlands as well as most, if not all, other breeds. You see (or maybe hear of?) many more metabolic problems now than you did years ago. Maybe the numbers are the same as in years past, but with all the media we just "see" and hear of more but I just don't think so. This is my OPINION - not supported by any studies that I'm aware of.

AND your description of your own three, AngC, is awesome. Very descriptive and ... hmmm... reminiscent of body types! A learning experience I'm sure and now you know. I'm sorry that you and Baby had to have such a harsh learning curve and I'm happy that you are discovering better ways to care for her - even if different from the other two.

Hip, HIp Hooray for learning horsemanship! or maybe it's called horse husbandry.

..........Edited to pull the vaccination "stuff" and put on AngC's other thread......

 

[jandjmc]

AngC; Wow, I'm really sorry that my last post sounded so judgmental! You clearly are a caring owner and I applaud you for seeking more information.

I think the reason I responded so strongly is that several local people have come out with blanket statements about not feeding alfalfa at all. Alfalfa, like many other feeds, has pros and cons.

Keeping and caring for this little equines is not an easy task, though very rewarding! My own learning curve has been steep at times.

Best of luck to you and your little one, she's lucky to have you.

Julie Mc

 

[AngC]

No offense taken--you have to smack me around pretty hard to hurt my feelings. I really do care about our minis, jandmc. I bought 'em so I owe them the best.

Alfalfa's great stuff; our 3 fat-bombs would cheerfully gorge on it all day long and then (probably) lay there on the ground with hooves wagging in the air, whining at me because their tummies hurt.

It is difficult to figure out a feeding regime.

Let me back up a little here and explain... It's my husband's fault we have horses. We bought a property that happened to have a barn and some pastures. My husband, who would do pretty much anything to make me happy (as he perceives it) started emailing auction listings for a bankruptcy sale. I kept saying "No, no, no, NO!" And he kept saying things like: "Why not? You only live once."

So I got sucked in. I did try to be responsible: Made him clean out the barn; kicked the fences; bought a horse trailer; found a farrier; found a vet; earmarked extra cash for emergencies. Initially, I was deluding myself that we might not buy a mini horse from this auction; I was thinking maybe someday we could get a slightly larger (riding) horse for me after I looked around more. Yeah, right. That didn't happen; we were picking out minis on the internet listing before we ever got to the auction.

I came to the table with ideas about taking care of horses, that were perhaps outdated (emphasis on the perhaps.)

During childhood, I was exposed to various animals. There was stuff I didn't see, because it was deemed not suitable for children (for example: branding, castration, butchering, birthing.) But I somewhat remember feeding. My father grew stock corn, sugar beets/mandrels, hay, etc. The horses were on pastures that contained primarily grasses, and they ate grass hay. Unless some stray alfalfa seeds blew over, horses weren't fed alfalfa. Horses weren't fed any grains/oats, unless they worked. "Worked" wasn't the pleasure rides we children took or little gentle walks. It was 8-plus hours of hard work. Alfalfa was for cows at a certain time to finish them. Corn was for pigs; although, the stalks went through some sort of conveyer belt chopper-thing and the choppings were fed to cows. Beets/mandrels were primarily for pigs; although the cows may have got them at some point. I forget.

So then, there I was with minis. And then I started reading on the internet. Wow. I read about shaving, greasing, make-up, etc. I was flabbergasted.

And perhaps horse have changed, as paintponylvr says, but maybe owners have changed. For example, I genuinely did not know that people rented barn space to keep horses (other than rich people with fancy, expensive race horses.) If we had not happened to have a property with a barn, fences, pastures, etc. it would never have entered my mind to buy a horse. So yeah, I reckon people with horses in barns have differing requirements than people that put horses on pasture.

 

[paintponylvr]

That whole post had me giggling and laughing.... THANX for the explanation. NOT telling my hubby that part - he already proudly displays his t-shirt @ work - has a guy holding his own head up and saying ... " ....need my head examined. I JUST BOUGHT ANOTHER HORSE" w/ a herd of horse heads looking over his shoulder and a horse and another person standing in front of him. I am the "horse enabler"/lover in our family.

:SoHappy

Never heard of folks boarding horses?? I grew up in the Navy but my "Gramps" had a farm in Kiron, IA. He "boarded" livestock for other farmers/folks off and on during their livestock days before I was born. Kept a 2nd pony while we had ours - not sure of the "boarding" arrangement there - I was 5. Anywhere that we took any type of lessons over the years in the 60s onward - there were horses boarded. The first place that "I" did that was on the Big Island in HI. When we purchased our first horse, he was boarded there, too.

Since Dad was in the Navy - we traveled. We didn't own another horse until he ETSed (got out of the service), but in VA we went to various "riding stables" and we could either ride "their string" or board a horse of our own. Before I was born and also while i was young, my mom rode in CO, Washington DC, FL, MD at trail riding/boarding stable establishments. When I was stationed in Korea (only once) and GE, I went to stables to ride that also boarded horses.

When we had our own 5 acres in CO in the 70s/80s, we always boarded at least 1 horse for someone else for a period - sometimes just for work/riding and/or training.

Just goes to show - there is always a different way of doing things.

AS to how you cared for your horses growing up - there are many that STILL DO THAT. I wish I had the pasture to be able to manage mine that way. Most of the original ponies I started out with came from situations like that and I worried about switching them to a "managed care" type operation. That can be traumatic/stressful in more than one way w/ ponies used to running in open pasture care situations! I HAVE had problems getting out of state ponies to EAT our hay, pasture and feed! When I bought a 2nd stallion out of TX, I thought he was going to die of starvation before I got him to eat and I ended up doing everything that I abhor in horse maintenance/care to get him to eat. TOOK MONTHS - but finally he quit pacing fencelines when turned out and throwing himself at stall walls when stalled and ATE w/o being hand fed every couple of hours. Took 2 years to get the weight back on him that he lost in a matter of 60 - 90 days. And I've both sold and sent ponies out to trainers that did not do well w/ the care/feeding situation at the place they went to and had to "return home" if a different care plan couldn't be set up. I've also had several that just can't deal with the bugs here in the south (with ours - that runs in bloodlines, too) - some have had to have different drug interventions (gets expensive and yuck) and others have been sent further east/west as long as north out of really "buggy" areas. I've passed on good riding/breeding stock in the past due to the seller letting me know that the horse DID NOT DO WELL with the bugs and they wanted them going to less "buggy" homes.

I love my small pasture situation. We are working on getting the paddocks/pastures back into shape after the destruction of the last few years - too much drought, too much rain - causing serious erosion and weed explosion - too much swapping between cold/hot this year/season... It's always something w/ "mama nature"...

I grew up with horse/livestock boarding but it "blew me away" to find out about the "Doggy Daycare(s)" AND "Kitty Kare" available now!! Again, ROFLOL.

 

[AngC]

A few thoughts...

I was not buying alfalfa due to lesser cost. Baled alfalfa is not cheaper in our area. I think it's the most expensive option available here. The reason I started buying it as a supplementary feed was because a vet told me that I should feed it to Coco when she was pregnant. I was also told to feed her a bagged pregnant mare's mix--I've forgotten the brand name--it contained grains, rolled oats, corn, etc. stuck together with molasses. I looked at this stuff with skepticism. It looked like pig food to me with all that molasses and corn. (I picked out the corn, and fed her a miniscule amount of the suggested amount on the bag. It was a 40-lb bag; she received a smidgeon (a pound or so) during her entire pregnancy; I've since lost the stuff; when I run across it again, it's going into our mulch pit.) By the way, Coco loved it. [ When Baby had her laminitis, Coco was the fattest of all three; beats me why she didn't founder. ]

paintponylvr...I

It blew me away to learn of neck/body sweats and horsie chiropractors.

When Baby was born, I thought my husband was going to hand out cigars. Baby cured my husband of his horse fears.

You mention things that, quite frankly, are foreign to me. Where I grew up, in rural Montana, I don't remember any stables. In my teen years, I lost interest in horses. I knew there were rental stables; over the years I actually rode stable nags three times; once in CA, once in TN, and once in Iceland--because friends wanted to go riding. The CA and TN stable nag experiences were nasty. My friends didn't enjoy it, and neither did I, because they kept wanting to "go home." The Icelandic experience was pretty cool; very nice ponies, easy to steer, and the most fantastic gait. I never had lessons--I did have a few broken bones, but anyway when I was in 1st grade, I came home one day, and there was a little, fat Shetland pony in the corral (she looked an awful lot like Coco--I bet a shrink could have a ball with that.) I don't remember too well, but basically my mother showed me how to apply the bridle and saddle; and then mom just turned me loose in the pasture. By spring, I was allowed to take the Shetland out for rides (20 mile-or-so radius) the only rules were that you could not bring a horse home sweaty--a little damp between the front legs was ok. We could be gone during daylight hours.

Anyway, I grew up, left home and was pretty much out of the country for 20 years or so. I never thought about stables. After we got our goobers, I learned that people do board; around here the average cost is $300-650 per month. So if I were boarding our little knuckleheads, it could cost 1 to 2 thousand per month. I don't know about everybody else, but , errr, I love our goobs to pieces, but that's out of my price range.

 

[jandjmc]

Hi AngC:

Smart move getting rid of grain mix, with the formulated pellets that you can get from most reputable companies, sweet feeds don't have a place in my feed room. (Most of the good formulated feeds are lower in starch, more slowly digested and less likely to encourage metabolic problems. Safe choice is the one I feed right now and it also has a nice amount of fat and probiotic.)

Your early experiences sound a lot like mine. Grandpa was a mid-west farmer who gave in to his granddaughter's begging. Oh what fun I had with my first pony who drove and rode, across fields and down roads we went! Turns out that the 2nd mini I purchased is a ringer for him, didn't realize it til I had him almost 10 years! Sounds like we would have been good friends as kids.

How's your girl doing?