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I'm sure some vet will weigh in but in the meantime here's my opinion 
for what it's worth.  You don't say where you live which might make a 
difference.  But if it were my horse, he would not be getting any 
alfalfa, just more hay.  I give my horses just enough Purina Equine Sr. 
(could be just the maintenance just as well)to mix their vitamin/mineral 
supplement in so to me the amount of Ultium you're feeding seems a bit 
much.  My horses never go near the salt lick and I can't imagine giving 
any horse, even one doing the Tevis today, a cup of salt/trace minerals. 
 If he's concerned about a mineral imbalance it would be much better to 
do tests to figure out the imbalance instead of giving lots of 
everything which might include what is already out of balance.  Soaking 
his feed is a good idea.  If you're really concerned about his water 
intake, I'd switch to beet pulp instead of the alfalfa.  It's a great 
medium for getting water into a horse!  If you live in a sandy area and 
he eats off the ground, you might think about a possible sand build up 
in his intestines.  Beet pulp is good for that too; as is psyllium.
	To sum up my opinion which is only my opinion: he'd be better off 
getting his calories from higher fiber stuff: more hay and beet pulp., 
less alfalfa & Ultium. As working horses go, what you've described as 
his work load isn't very high unless you're ripping around your loops, 
so a diet richer in fiber that's also balanced in vitamins/minerals 
should help his intestines.
Laney

Soli Sorokin wrote:
> My arabt recently coliced quite badly. He has recovered, but the vet
> and I have been trying to nail down the cause - there was no change in
> feed/routine/activity level and this horse does not have a history of
> colic.  We think that it was partially due to a lack of
> electrolytes/drinking combined with the fact that he has a small
> (3-5lb) supplementation of alfalfa cubes which he was eating - but
> then (as I discovered) sometimes stealing the remainder of the other
> horses' cubes - making his diet mostly alfalfa cubes. This probably
> wouldn't have been an issue normally, but with the extreme
> heat/humidity we've had, combined with the fact that this horse just
> will NOT freely take in salt from his salt/trace mineral block,
> probably combined to make him 1) not take in enough water and 2)
> become impacted on those cubes.
>
> Vet recommends feeding him separately and soaking the cubes - which
> we've been doing - and feeding supplemental salt/trace minerals thrown
> in his feed. He will eat it this way, but I am concerned with how much
> I am supposed to be giving. He says thrown a cup in. That seems
> excessive when using the trace mineral formula, but I could be wrong.
>
> So, my question is - how much of this should be given on a daily
> basis? And should it be increased on particularly hot days and/or days
> that he gets ridden? We ride a 5 mile loop about twice a week and a
> 15-25 mile ride about once a week. I've not had a horse before that
> refuses to use their salt block entirely, so this is a new thing. His
> rations right now are 3-5lbs of cubes per day (weight before soaking),
> about 1-2 lbs of Ultium per day, and as much medium quality grass hay
> as he'll eat (which isn't much).
>
>
> Thanks!
>
> ~S
>
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