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  Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
   
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | I have another new gelding in as a train & resale project. He's race built, which are normally hard keepers anyhow. Normally,my go to is adding alfalfa for horses like this, but he won't touch it. I have fed the Standlee compressed bales that are gorgeous and green but he won't take even one bite. His regular fescue hay he'll gobble up but turns his nose at alfalfa cubes or hay (tried local alfalfa too). He eats his feed well too, and he's gaining weight. Has anyone ever had a horse that wouldn't eat alfalfa at all? Why do you think they didn't? Also, how much of a difference in calcium & other nutrients between alfalfa and bermuda? |
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 The BHW Book Worm
Posts: 1768
 
| Fairweather - 2016-01-08 2:04 PM
I have another new gelding in as a train & resale project. He's race built, which are normally hard keepers anyhow. Normally,my go to is adding alfalfa for horses like this, but he won't touch it. I have fed the Standlee compressed bales that are gorgeous and green but he won't take even one bite. His regular fescue hay he'll gobble up but turns his nose at alfalfa cubes or hay (tried local alfalfa too). He eats his feed well too, and he's gaining weight. Has anyone ever had a horse that wouldn't eat alfalfa at all? Why do you think they didn't? Also, how much of a difference in calcium & other nutrients between alfalfa and bermuda?
My mare HATES alfalfa....enough so back when I fed ADM senior glow she wouldn't touch it because it was alfalfa based....recently she has grown to finally eat maybe 3 cubes of alfalfa a day and was absolutely shocked when she did. ..it mostly had to do with feeding a another horse close to her then offering her it LOL..no real help but your not alone. |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| Treat for ulcers. Mine all had ulcers on the scope when they turned their nose up at alfalfa. A light dose of probiotics for a few days might help too. They won't eat what they can't digest.
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 Expert
Posts: 2097
Location: Deep South | Agree with classicpotatochip. Only horses I've seen not eat alfalfa, ate it just fine after being treated for ulcers.
Also, I don't think it's true that OTT horses are normally hard keepers. I think it is due to 90% of race horses coming off the track with ulcers and not being treated for it. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1857
| classicpotatochip - 2016-01-08 2:17 PM
Treat for ulcers. Mine all had ulcers on the scope when they turned their nose up at alfalfa. A light dose of probiotics for a few days might help too. They won't eat what they can't digest.
I guess I don't understand that. studies have found that Alfalfa actually helps by increasing the pH of gastric fluid which reduces the severity of the ulcers. I would expect a horse to turn away grass hay before alfalfa if it were ulcers. |
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Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | BamaCanChaser - 2016-01-08 2:41 PM
Agree with classicpotatochip. Only horses I've seen not eat alfalfa, ate it just fine after being treated for ulcers.
Also, I don't think it's true that OTT horses are normally hard keepers. I think it is due to 90% of race horses coming off the track with ulcers and not being treated for it.
I referenced the race part really in regards to how he's built. He's thinner framed, and long bodied like a classic TB. Every long bodied horse I've ever seen has been a harder keeper than a short bodied horse. |
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Location: Not Where I Want to Be | I brought a new broodie home a few months ago. I feed oats and alfalfa only.
She didn't want to eat the alfalfa, when she got hungry enough she decided she loved it.
no problems since. |
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Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| FlyingJT - 2016-01-08 2:53 PM
classicpotatochip - 2016-01-08 2:17 PM
Treat for ulcers. Mine all had ulcers on the scope when they turned their nose up at alfalfa. A light dose of probiotics for a few days might help too. They won't eat what they can't digest.
I guess I don't understand that. studies have found that Alfalfa actually helps by increasing the pH of gastric fluid which reduces the severity of the ulcers. I would expect a horse to turn away grass hay before alfalfa if it were ulcers.
I don't understand it either. I had a mare that would only eat the stems out of the alfalfa, and a gelding that would eat the leaves and not the stems. Treated for ulcers, they were cleaning up the alfalfa. Then I've had three others that were begging for and scarfing down trashy leggy coastal hay, and ignoring the "dead rats" in their tub, ie $20 a bale fresh alfalfa from New Mexico.
Same story, they were eating it great after a couple days of Ulcergard and light probiotic treatment. Horses are psychotic, but I love them. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 999
Location: Sunny So Cal | Have you tried Beet Pulp? That has always worked well for my hard keepers. If this doesn't help and you have tried for a few months of nurmerous other things then I would treat for ulcers. |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | I have never had a horse turn down alfalfa unless it was bad, but have always bought good bales. |
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Twin Sister to Queen Boobie
Posts: 13315
Location: East Tennessee but who knows?! | Cowgirl Kat - 2016-01-08 4:37 PM
Have you tried Beet Pulp? That has always worked well for my hard keepers. If this doesn't help and you have tried for a few months of nurmerous other things then I would treat for ulcers.
I'm trying beet pulp now and so far so good, but it's only been a couple of days. I have had horses go off all their feed when they've been on beet pulp, and every horse I've put on it has gotten hot on it. (Non-molassas) I feed it now to most of mine to stretch hay & as a prerace boost so if the beet pulp helps it would be good. I justgot him leveled out as far as energy. He definitely doesn't need to be hotter! Lol. I've put him on an herbal mix for ulcers and he's on a probiotic.He's gained even without the alfalfa, just want to get a little more calcium in hhis diet. |
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