Another welcome! Sounds as if you are on the right track on your feeding program...I have been feeding horses for over 55 years. I feed(this horrifies some people, you will find)a mix of VERY good alfalfa, and VERY good grass hay(timothy, orchard grass, brome), in a proportion of roughly 1/3 alfalfa to 2/3 grass hay(I mix it myself, do NOT like a 'mixed' grass/alfalfa hay, as there can be SO much variation in how much of each is in any given portion of a bale---AND, it's next to impossible to cut such hay at an optimum nutritional stage of both the grass(es)and the alfalfa.) That said...the proportion will vary somewhat depending on the individual horse, AND the time of year, but ALL get some combo of each.I bought a scale so I could weigh the hay and know what to write down for the people who take care of my horses when I am gone--the amounts vary, but go from @ .2/lb. of grass plus @ 1 lb. alfalfa, to an individual mini, to @ 2.2 lb. alfalfa plus @ 5.5 lb.grass to my 15 hand Paint mare; most of the minis get @.5 lb. alfalfa plus @ 1-1.2 lb. grass, per feeding. I do not care for the pelleted hays, though I have used SMALL amount of them when I was running a bit short on hay(I have at least one mini who WILL choke on that kind of stuff). I also have some horses on Eq. Senior. I use a ration balancer on the others, along with Black Oil Sunflower Seeds-some get a little corn oil and /or rice bran, too-and all have both a white and a mineral salt block. I feed fairly minimal amounts to most(as in, a total of @ 1/2-1 1/3 cup, total, per feeding); only the ones who actually are doing some WORK get a bit more of the concentrates.
Am curious--what amounts of hay did your Purina rep recommend?
Good luck-sounds like you are doing just fine!
Margo C-T
467916[/snapback]