Alternatives to Alfalfa? Pretty please?

[hackedoff]

I may have just had a blinding flash! Just read some threads on another site about bolshy aggressive behaviour due to feeding alfalfa. and... well... my 6 year old coblet is no menace, but is sometimes shall we say :rolleyes: opinionated :) . When I got him at 4 he was Mr Laid Back then I moved him for more grazing and a forage-based diet and I've always put his behaviour down to The Terrible Cob Teens but hey I've just realised he got switched from sugar beet to alfalfa at the same time!!!! So-
1) Do you think he may be an ASBO teen due to alfalfa?
2) What is a good unmolassed chaff alfa alternative for a good doer on beaucoup hay?

[carthorse]

He may just be trying his luck, cobs can be opinionated & at six he could have decided he's a grown up! I'd certainly try cutting out the alfalfa though, you can go back to it if there's no difference.

I'd try freeze dried grass as an alternative, there's a few on the market eg Spillers Readigrass, Balanced Horse Feeds Just Grass.

[MelanieD]

My coblet has been known to produce some ASBO-worthy behaviour after scoffing alfalfa. It should be pretty easy to cut it out and see if behaviour improves. I feed mine D&H Safe and Sound, it's chaff with some pony nut type thingies in and smells lovely, it's ideal for fatty coblets to think they've had a nice dinner. It does have a tiny bit of molasses in but is suitable for fatties and laminitics. Readigrass is good as well, not really a diet food for fatties type of feed but then neither is alfalfa.

[hackedoff]

Thanks to you both thats given me some ideas when I go to the feed store rather than wandering around in total ignorance. Ideally he could live on just hay but we cant put any out at night (dont ask:rolleyes: ) so he comes in for hay and a little extra to keep him warm and get the supplements down him.

[alwaysfallingof]

Hifi lite's about as lo-cal as you can get, I used to mix it with some bog standard pony nuts to make Maxi think he was getting pony food. You could also put bits of apple in it to make it tastier :)

[carthorse]

Alwaysfallingof although Hifi Lite is very low calorie it does still contain some alfalfa (not a lot I know but if a horse is sensitive to it then it can still be too much). When I started thinking about it there aren't a lot of unmollased non-alfalfa chaffs/chops.

[alwaysfallingof]

carthorse - good point :o

[hackedoff]

Yup, Hi-fi lite is what he has been getting recently but I want to get the alfalfa out of his diet completely (and the molasses) and everything lo-cal seems to have those 2 ingerdients!

[LindaAd]

Thanks to you both thats given me some ideas when I go to the feed store rather than wandering around in total ignorance. Ideally he could live on just hay but we cant put any out at night (dont ask:rolleyes: ) so he comes in for hay and a little extra to keep him warm and get the supplements down him.

You may find he's fine on just hay - put it in a small-holed net to make it last longer - and that he doesn't need the supplements.

Linda

[Jessey]

I have found the same for Phoenix - he has cushings so avoiding alfa and sugars is advised. I have settled with HiFi Lite and Just Grass/redigrass, as that was about as low in both as I can get readily.
Perhaps one of the grass ones with some high fiber cubes might work?

[eventerbabe]

Badminton horse feeds do a new product called easy rider. It's suitable for good doers and laminitics. It's a blend of pure, dried grass and oat straw. one of it's claims is being totally alfalfa free. Might be worth a look?

[hackedoff]

Thanks again for replies. There is a thread on General Board about Simple Systems which a friend had also recommended but I didnt know about their grass-only feeds, Just ordered some, but if the boy hates it I have all your other recommendations to try....

[Bay Mare]

hackedoff - with the SS stuff you'll need to introduce it quite slowly. Saffy hated it when I first introduced it because it didn't have the molasses like other brands did. I gradually mixed it in with Happy Hoof and she now prefers it to the other stuff!

[Alfies-slave]

My friend exports coloured cobs to the USA where the main feed is Alfalfa. He sends out top quality animals with temperaments to die for. He has had lots of complaints along the lines of; that nutter that you sent me isn't the chilled out ned that I viewed in the UK. He has even had threats of legal action. It was all sorted when these horses had the alfalfa taken out of their dite. Only conclusion to draw is that Alfalfa does not agree with lots of cobs. Now all his cobs that go to the USA come with feeding instructions!

[hackedoff]

@ BM- Roger that :) I have a bag of Hi-fi lite to finish and they cant deliver til next week so I'll be sure to mix it in sloooooowly.
@ A-s :eek: thats quite a piece of evidence!! Cob+alfalfa= b*****d- by george I may be onto something.

[Megans mum]

Hi Hackedoff you can get unmolled oat chaff' cant remember the name, I get it from my supplier and it is supplied to the chaps who have the heavies' shires etc I put mine on it on the advise of the homeopathic vet years ago when I had to get off sugar' I feed no mollassed feed now but do feed SS lucie nuts which have no addatives at all' most of the feeds have loads of addatives iff you read the labels and it is often those that cause the problems

[hackedoff]

Simple Systems delivered yesterday ( a week early now that's service). How's this for spooky- Archer had been fed by my lovely YO and he had hardly touched it :eek: this is a horse who will eat you raw and twitching if you get between him and his grub! It was like he was waiting for his new feed :D so I mixed half a scoop of RuffStuff in with the untouched HiFi Lite and he snarfed the lot!!
Was reading the backs of all the feed bags in the feed room (how sad) and I had really not noticed that the Hi-fiLite's first and therefore main ingredient is alfalfa so it is more alfalfa than chaff -I thought it was the other way round.
Will let you know if cobling becomes a reformed character. Thnaks to all who replied and helped me with this.