Re: Re: Oat Hay????

["Susan Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

> Susan, I usually feed 3 : 1 : 1 grass hay : oat hay : alfalfa.
> I used to feed 3 : 2 : 1, but noticed that his Lordship became a little
hot
> to trot when I did that.  Is this just coincidence : Toc chooses to be a
> dork at the same time as I feed the oat hay, or is there something to it?
> I've been told it's "in my mind" (No, it's not : it's in the bruise on my
> nether regions!)

There are a couple of possibilities as to why Toc gets goofy when you change
the ratios around:

1) Toc is just choosing to be a dork.<g>

2)  If the energy content is higher, then sometimes just the change in
glucose curves, more overall calories, etc, can contribute to higher energy.
This wouldn't be my first guess when you're talking about hays, though, this
usually is more likely to apply to changes in concentrate feeds.

3)  This is somewhat controversial, but I and other nutritionists have at
times noticed similar behavior changes specifically when oat products are
fed.  The hypothesis (totally unproven) is that there might be an
allergic-like response to a specific protein that's found in oats but not in
other cereal grain hays.  Is that the case here, or in any other horse, who
knows?  Nutritionists don't have all the answers (and those that pretend
they do are full of it) and the relationships between nutrition and behavior
is one of the areas that really needs alot more investigation.  There are
some projects in the works now (including one at Rutgers with Sarah Ralston
and also mine at Tevis this summer) that are looking into magnesium
deficiencies and hyper behavior in performance horses, so changes in mineral
profiles in the South African forages might be another possibility
explaining Toc's behavior.

In any event, if decreasing the ratio of oat hay makes Toc's behavior a
little more manageable (and based on your adventures with him, sounds like
you need all the advantage you can get)<g>, then go with it.  3:1:1
grass/oat/alfalfa is a fine ration.  Good luck with him.  :-)

Susan G