Let me preamble this by welcoming anyone's opinion, but please respond to me privately so as not to clutter up Ride Camp -- UNLESS you feel it is beneficial to others to read. I have a 12 year old mare who is about 15.1 H, 960 lbs. Unfortunately, we have NO pasture and must feed hay year-round. Before her purchase seven years ago, she was fed a flake of alfalfa hay a day, along with her regular hay. When I purchased her, and up until the time I married my current husband, I used alfalfa cubes as treats and a handful lumped in with her feed (literally as many as I could grab in both of my hands). I recently started mixing a couple of handsful in with her feed again, usually mixed in with her beet pulp so that the water softens it. She LOVES it. We also offer a pan of wet alfalfa at the vet checks at our endurance rides. Last night he questioned me as to why I have started feeding her these cubes and suggests that I talk to a vet about it. He seems to think that it might be potentially detrimental to her, and does not feed his own horse any other than at rides. To my knowledge she has never suffered from anything resulting from feeding alfalfa (in any form) in the 12 years she has been alive. He said his concern was that I didn't electrolyte her in the past (we've been doing endurance for only 2 years now). I only electrolyte her now at ride time, or if we have been on a particularly strenuous training ride. Getting to my point. . . should I be concerned? Am I jeopardizing my mare by giving her alfalfa cubes? ? ? Any insight would be appreciated.
Thank you very much. Beth Bennett
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