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Around Christmas time we were having temperatures in the 20's with sloppy
rain and snow mixed.  One horse started shivering.  He was so wet the water
had run down the inside of his back legs.

I made a quick trip to the feed store for a bale of alfalfa.  They had
free-choice timothy, plus some beet pulp once a day.

He loved the alfalfa and warmed up.  We continued with free-choice timothy
and adding a couple flakes alfalfa several times through the day and night.

The next day this gelding had turned into a different horse.  He was *very*
aggressive.  He ran across the pasture and charged back at me and reared.
He had no attention span and was bucking -- really!  Head down with all four
feet off the ground.

I cut back on the alfalfa and he turned back into a sweet thang.  The mare's
behavior didn't change.  He's had episodes of unruly behavior before and I
believe it's tied to the alfalfa.  He turns into my ADD child on steroids
with too much alfalfa.

It's a limited study.  Not sure if others have observed this behavior, but
it's something I'll monitor and make sure he doesn't get too much alfalfa in
the future.

Susan




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