In a message dated 11/14/2005 6:39:13 P.M. Mountain Standard Time,
sherman@xxxxxxxxxxx writes:
My neighbor moved here last year, was feeding her horse
alfalfa at night, grass hay in the morning. I told her I thought that
was not correct, she checked with her own vet & was told to
switch to the grass hay at night for heat
generation.
My horses like having a lot of grass hay at night cause I can throw them a
lot of it and they can eat it, walk away from it, walk back to it and eat some
more.
Throw them nice alfalfa (at night) and they'll be standing around longer
without forage in front of them...having "wolfed" it down quickly because it's
so tasty.
So, grass seems to fit the rhythm of the horse's system better (at night)
than alfalfa. And, keeping active can generate calorie
burning.
Here in western Nebraska the winter nights can be so downright inhospitable
for horses that paying attention to fresh water, good forage (preferably grass
with just a little alfalfa) and exercise can mean the difference between a live
horse and a dead one...particularly for horses unable to use the natural terrain
to find those low spots out of the darn wind.
