RE: [RC] alfalfa/behavior - Susan E. Garlinghouse, D.V.M.
You can also tell your boss that I just
changed a whole barnful of baby racehorses out here in California from straight
alfalfa to a grass hay blend with a few pounds of alfalfa, and not only has
gate training idiocy reduced significantly, breezing splits have gotten faster,
too. And straight alfalfa is NOT ideal for growing babies---there’s
good research to demonstrate that incidence and severity of developmental
orthopedic disease increases on straight alfalfa rations.
Susan Garlinghouse, DVM
From:
ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:ridecamp-owner@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Chris Eickleberry Sent: Saturday, January 22, 2005
1:14 PM To: sjones@xxxxxxxxxxxx Cc: ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [RC] alfalfa/behavior
…I work at a
Thoroughbred farm, and my boss LOVES to feed alfalfa hay- as the lowly grunt
who feeds and cleans stalls, I HATE it when the horses get alfalfa- they are
all much more of a management problem. (they are all different ages- some weanlings,
some broodmares, some home from the track for R&R, some retired)….I
know the little ones and the lactating broodmares benefit from the alfalfa (and
it doesn’t seem to bother them as much) but boy!! the untrained two year
olds get RANK!!!..........the boss is finally listening to me lately-I think I
showed her some of Susan G’s hay info--
and the last batch was better- an orchard grass/alf mix…..YAY!!
