Re: Re: Re: hydration and hay type

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

> Opinion please...am feeding 30%alfalfa and free choice grass (timothy and
> bermuda mix) to 12 and 28 month old Arabs.  Along with a little Equine Jr
> (Purina) and vita-mix vit/mins.  They do drink more water,( fresh and
> refilled every day in southern  heat and humidity!) and pee clear ( also
> more frequent).  Should I supp calcium/protein other ways?

No, they are getting sufficient calcium and protein already.  I'm okay with
babies getting some alfalfa, just not free choice or straight, as the
research is pretty overwhelming that doing so produces a very high incidence
of DOD lesions.  However, it is *critical* that babies get the right levels
of several of the microminerals, namely copper and zinc, and not every
vit/min mix will supply those in the right levels and ratios.  My suggestion
would be to switch from Equine Junior to Omolene 300 and feed each baby a
few pounds of that a day instead---the price per bag is pretty close, so you
shouldn't be affecting your cost by much.  Never feed enough of anything
that the babies are fat---a little cover over the ribs is fine, but you do
NOT want roly-poly babies, it's a sure fire way to produce DOD.  Go for the
quality growth instead of quantity growth---they'll all mature to the same
size anyway, and the foal raised at a moderate rate instead of fast rate of
gain will by far be the sounder horse when you're ready to ride.

 I feel, since
> they do drink more due to weather, anyway, that they are well hydrated
> enough to do ok on some alfalfa.  Should I make alterations in winter when
> they are less likely to drink enough?

Heat the water by whatever method you can and make sure it's really fresh
and clean.  Water consumption really does go up when the water tastes
better.  A recent study demonstrated that dairy milk production increases by
an average of 10% when the waterers were scrubbed out once a week.  Amazing.

Susan G

  Headed for endurance world with
> these two youngsters and want to to the best I can at this early stage.
> Beth Gunn
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Susan Garlinghouse <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>
> To: <ridecamp@endurance.net>; DreamWeaver <nvrider@home.com>
> Sent: Sunday, September 09, 2001 2:32 PM
> Subject: RC: Re: Re: hydration and hay type
>
>
> >
> >
> > > Susan:  Don't horses that are fed straight alfalfa or an otherwise
high
> in
> > > protein diet usually take longer to recover, and have higher pulses
> while
> > > being worked?
> > >
> > > I know I don't see very many people feeding straight alfalfa hay at
> rides
> > > that run in the top ten on rides with a 60 pulse criteria.  I know
more
> > > used to feed straight alfalfa years ago, when the pulse criteria was
> like
> > 72.
> >
> >
> > I get a lot of feedback from riders that went from straight alfalfa to a
> > grass based forage (including alot of top ten riders in all parts of the
> > country) and part of the list includes lower pulses, faster recoveries,
> less
> > general metabolic problems (tying up, thumps, colicky), sweat less,
better
> > attitude overall, thinner sweat, fewer skin problems like scratches,
etc.
> > There are physiologic reasons to explain all of those.  I also work with
a
> > lot of show people and while they don't track the performance parameters
> > that endurance people do, most of them have noticed improvements, too.
> You
> > just have to be looking for the differences.
> >
> > The best feedback I ever got was from a very large breeder/show person
> that
> > recently told me they used to send at least five horses a year for colic
> > surgery to have enteroliths removed, and they didn't always survive.
They
> > stopped feeding alfalfa five years ago at my suggestion and havent sent
a
> > horse for enterolith surgery in the past four years.  Pretty strong
> argument
> > if you ask me.
> >
> > Susan G
> >
> >
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