Feeding/hay suggestions

[Jennifer Thompson <jlthompson@earthlink.net>]

Hi all,

I am looking for some feeding suggestions.  I board my 10 yr
old Arab mare at a friend's house here in Southern
California, who has two of her own Arabs.  Between the two
of us, over the years we have lost three horses to
enteroliths (intestinal stones - we had been feeding
alfalfa-only diets).  So now we are understandably paranoid
about feeding alfalfa.

We have tried switching over to oat hay, but our horses do
not like it, and even when they do eat it, they lose
condition.  My vet told me that just oat hay doesn't give a
horse enough nutrition and suggested Timothy hay.  However,
Timothy hay is not readily available in our area, and when
we are able to get it, it costs about 2x as much as oat or
alfalfa for bales half the size.  My vet cautioned against
Bermuda hay, said it tends to cause impactions...?

We are currently feeding about 25% alfalfa and 75% oat, but
the horses still pretty much just eat around the oat hay.
We have also tried oat/barley, and oat/barley/wheat
combinations - all with less than satisfactory results.  I'm
afraid our horses are spoiled after years of yummy alfalfa
and they just lose weight when we try to take the tough
stance of "if they're hungry enough, they'll eat it."

I am now supplementing my mare with Equine Senior, just to
keep her weight up, which is ridiculous.  A healthy 10-year
old horse shouldn't have to have supplementation just to
stay at a good weight.  I would think that good forage or
hay should be enough, unless she's being used hard.  But,
she isn't even being ridden hard right now at all - she's
pretty much a pasture pototo due to my work schedule and
recent storms - she gets ridden maybe 2x a week.

Any suggestions?  We are planning on feeding 50%
alfalfa/grass, 50% oat/barley starting in March, when the
feed store gets some alfalfa/grass in stock, but have my
doubts about that regimen, too.

Thanks in advance for any help.

Jennifer