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The Big Debate Over: Alfalfa does it make your horse hyper? Love to hear your thought

10K views 42 replies 25 participants last post by  mom2pride 
#1 ·
Well hello everyone, thank you for reading,

There is a big debate about Alfalfa hay/cubes make your horse "hot" or hyper.

I have heard many different opinions and have also read things on the internet about it being a myth if feeding this to your horse makes them hot or not.
Please express your thoughts.
Thank you
 
#2 ·
I feed alfalfa to my western pleasure horse with his evening feedings and when I go to out of town shows... I certainly wouldn't feed it to him if I thought it made him hyper! 8)
 
#3 ·
All my horses get fed alfalfa and I have never noticed any of them being "hot" because of it. IMHO, if a horse is hot, then it is generally a training issue and cannot just miraculously appear from being fed alfalfa. Sweet feed maybe, but that contains too much sugar.
 
#4 ·
Oh, there are two of these threads! I replied in the other one.

But briefly, I have always been a firm believer the it does not heat horses up. However I recently aquired a 20 year old tb gelding for my father to learn to ride on. This horse is VERY quiet, I can do anything on him, jump on him bareback and take him around the paddock, ride him with just a rope around his neck and get a dressage test out of him... he's a lovely old boy. But give him just ONE biscuit of alfalfa, and he is a raving lunatic!! He will gallop the length of the paddocking bucking and carrying on like a 2 year old! Without alfalfa, he serenely cruises the paddock nibbling grass.

So yep, I'd say it can definately hot them up!
 
#7 ·
I'm not mad.... :) Where is the other thread? Can you provide a link? I'll try to merge....
 
#8 ·
I'd say it depends on the horse. My friend and I added alfalfa hay cubes to our horse's diets last year. Her Quarter Horse showed no personality changes whatsoever. My OTTB started acting loopy with 7 days. It was a noticeable difference and the alfalfa was the only change. I guess alfalfa is a lot like alcohol for humans. Some get quiet, some get angry, and other get silly.
 
#10 ·
I'd say it depends on the horse. My friend and I added alfalfa hay cubes to our horse's diets last year. Her Quarter Horse showed no personality changes whatsoever. My OTTB started acting loopy with 7 days. It was a noticeable difference and the alfalfa was the only change. I guess alfalfa is a lot like alcohol for humans. Some get quiet, some get angry, and other get silly.
Haha so is that why they like it so much???? :lol:
 
#12 ·
"Alfalfa is the King of Forages"
For people raised in alfalfa country, these thoughts don't apply to you!

In the South, alfalfa is generally imported! As such, most people have not grown up with it; additionally, it is not common or inexpensive! Thus these are the impressions of a hay seller in the south.

Poor people - will take alfalfa or alfalfa mixes any time they can for the added protein they can get for their animals. They will take anything $3/bale or less.

Performance minded people who have been around quite a bit - use alfalfa as a tool. Some horses get it, some don't. Sometimes and certain times of the year, the whole barn may be on alfalfa, later in the year, only part of the barn.

Horse women with 1-2 horses - mostly pets! First words out of their mouths when they come in the barn - "I don't want anything with any alfalfa in it." This comes from several reasons. 1. the preception that alfalfa is more expensive, 2. "it ruins their kidneys", 3. alfalfa makes them hot, 4. "my horses are all insulin resistant" - high protein must mean high sugar - we cannot feed alfalfa.

BTW - 75-90% of our customers are women and we are very appreciative of their buisness. I am not trying to be derogatory. Interestingly, my daughter is 11 - very much into things equestrian. Likes to read the new "Black Stallion of the Windy Hills" type books. A lot of poor information is in these type books as the author is more romatic about the horse experience than they are a quality horseman. Additionally, the pony clubs often want nearly "tranked" horses for the young girls to ride and preach the anti-alfalfa propraganda to the little girls on these first mounts, and pretty soon you have a whole generation of people with a hesitation towards alfalfa.
 
#13 ·
^^Thats funny. All my horses have always been fed alfalfa; I have never had a horse with a case of colic, founder, or insulin resistance (not since we quit feeding sweet feed anyway). I prefer alfalfa because it does keep my animals......um, healthy (chunky). When I get on a horse, I like to feel like I am sitting on a horse, not a toothpick. If they are out of shape, that is because they don't get worked enough, but I am comfortable knowing that when they do get worked consistently, they bulk up a ton of muscle mass, not just trim fat. :D
 
#14 ·
I used to feed my hard keeper a flake of straight alf. per feeding. It didnt make him hot one bit.

Its like saying you car will always go faster, just because it has more gas in it. It really depends how hard you push the petal ;-)

A horse with alot of excess energy-from food, will usually be a little hotter to try to burn it off. If a person skip meals, its sort of the opposite reaction. Over feeding any horse can lead to hyperness. I think you have to look at the whole feed plan, not just the alf. they are given. My horses eat grass 24/7 in the summer, which is very green and has lots of protein. They arent one bit hotter for it. They even get about a scoop of alf. pellets once a day, with no adverse effects.
 
#15 ·
Me thinks that Alfalfa is a part of the total diet. We feed it to the horses who are working for a living as a protein boost.

We use the cubes as a reward for a good job done well. The horses think ist the best thing since sliced bread for sure. You can always tell who did good today--just look for the green lips!!
 
#17 ·
I love the stuff, have fed it to all my horses. If I want to ride in the morning I have always fed half a biscuit before I ride, it is much better for their digestion if you plan on exercising them soon than hay or hard feed it.
However just this one horse I have not been able to feed it! He's certainly not over fed, he's in a large paddock with a 'girlfriend' and being the middle of an Australian summer right now there's not a hell of a lot of richness in the crckling, brown pathetic excuse for grass. But one biscuit of alfalfa/lucerne and it sets him right off!
 
#18 ·
I was always led to believe straight alfalfa hay/cubes wasnt good for our equines feet because of the high amount of sugar/richness? Someone told me that they cant process that high amounts of sugar or something...I dont feed straight alfalfa but have and if your horse is an easy keeper, you dont want to do this ... lol ... ;)
I do believe though that horses can get hot with a straight alfalfa diet, I have experienced it first hand with some of my horses while some dont react at all except pack on the pounds!
 
#19 ·
I was always led to believe straight alfalfa hay/cubes wasnt good for our equines feet because of the high amount of sugar/richness? Someone told me that they cant process that high amounts of sugar or something

Sugar does not equal Alfalfa, nor does alfalfa equal sugar! 3 forage tests on alfalfa lying on my desk currently would qualify for "Low sugar" status and thus on that basis be accepable for "insulin resistant" horses. A forage test determines sugar levels in a hay, and that is the only thing!
 
#20 ·
At the barn I used to work at we always fed our horses straight alfalfa or and alfalfa/grass mix. I don't think it made them hot at all. It is a very high quality, nutritious fodder, so you don't need to feed as much of it. I think that they only time it might cause problems is if the horse does not get enough exercise and is stalled all day. But a lack of exercise can cause a horse to become hot anyway. All of our horses would be turned out for most of the time and just came in to be worked and to eat. The only horse we had stalled all the time was our stallion. He was fed straight alfalfa and was worked four or five times a week. He was a stud, for sure, so he got excited at times, but he was the most laid back stallion I have ever known. I most certainly would not call him hot, and he was half thoroughbred!

So I am a believer in feeding alfalfa, but everyone has their own opinions. Oh, also, if you have broodmares it is the safest thing to feed them because there is no chance of getting fescue mixed in. Plus there are lots of nutrients in it for the growing foal.
 
#21 ·
I have never heard or thought of alfalfa as being a problem in making horses hot. I feed it to my horses, a flake with each feeding, along with unlimited mixed grass hay,and plenty of grass in summer and lots of hard work. But I have been at clinics and shows where I have had people tell me Im going to wreak my horses kidneys by feeding alfalfa. I know my horses look great, alot better than most in my area, so I must be doing something right. Can anyone tell me for sure if it does damage the kidneys or not? Thanks
 
#22 ·
If you are feeding way too much protein for the work the animal is doing, the kidneys will have to pull that extra nitrogen out of the body and thus they are runing more water adn nitrogen out of the body than "normal".

I have never seen a study that showed this would "ruin" the kidneys on the horse, nor have I experienced this phenomon!
 
#23 ·
Thankyou, my horses really like their alfalfa, but I was concerned. Do you know what does cause kidney damage? I just lost a horse to that, but I suspected she had been through hard times before I got her. She was 24 yrs only. Once again I was told it was because I fed alfalfa, but I only had her 3 yrs! Her weight improved so much no-one knew who she was any more! So I was just wondering.....
 
#24 ·
Princess Warrior, I have never heard that argument about alfalfa doing kidney damage. Too much of any one kind of food can be bad for a horse (I guess, except for just plan grass hay) but by your description you are definitely not feeding too much. I don't think it is the alfalfa that did your mare in. Kidney failure is a common problem in a lot of senior animals. They just stop working properly sometimes. Just a part of getting old. Sorry for you lose though.

Jubilee
 
#25 ·
Alfalfa does kidney damage to older horses. I have seen, first hand, an older horse slowly die from his kidneys shutting down due to an excess of alfalfa hay and oats. He first foundered, and from there his quality of life deteriorated extremely quickly. Because of the "over-work" the kidneys were doing, there was a constant stream of urine from his stall to the drain in the middle of the barn no matter how high the shavings were piled in his stall. He was drinking nearly twice the normal amount of water than a usual horse and it was not even hot outside (about -10C). He could not stay hydrated, when he chewed his eyes moved in and out of his skull (a sign of severe dehydration).
The vet was called after weeks of the horse being in agony after he foundered (and still was being fed a diet of alfalfa and oats) and the decision was made to put him down. The horse could not walk, and for the last few days he would not eat or stand up and was not urinating at all. He lay in his stall and groaned in agony. The horse was not even 25 when he was put down.

Most older horses have some type of Insulin Resistance or Cushings. Because of this, no horse older than about 20 (in my opinion) should be fed any alfalfa. They should strictly be on a low protein, high fat diet. A horse who is actually bad enough to be diagnosed with either of these conditions, could potentially die from only a few meals of alfalfa hay.
Princess warrior, although it is not for sure that alfalfa was the main cause in your horse's death, it was probably at least a small factor. Next time you need to put weight on an older horse, please consult an equine nutritionist and have your vet run tests before putting the horse on a high protein diet, like alfalfa.

As far as making horses hot, it really depends on the horse. Just like people, they will respond differently. It is more the sugars in the hay that are going to send some horses off the handle hyper, just like some people, if you give them sugar they go bonkers. Other horses and people can handle the sugar just fine. It is an insulin thing.
My horse is fed a 30% alfalfa mix and also gets oats because he is in such had work he needs the energy provided by the alfalfa and oats. He responds fine to this and does not get hyper, it just gives him more clean burning fuel :P For a pleasure horse, I would not feed excessive alfalfa or any oats. Some horses who respond badly to alfalfa can't have any. Just like any other thing with horses, their program needs to be individually tailored to them. Never treat horses as "this works for everyone" because it usually never works that way, and when in doubt, call a professional. Spending a few hundred dollars to prevent a few thousand dollar vet hospital stay, or having to put your horse down, is always worth it!
 
#31 ·
Alfalfa does kidney damage to older horses. I have seen, first hand, an older horse slowly die from his kidneys shutting down due to an excess of alfalfa hay and oats. He first foundered, and from there his quality of life deteriorated extremely quickly. Because of the "over-work" the kidneys were doing, foundered (and still was being fed a diet of alfalfa and oats)
Your statement could have also been "Alfalfa destroys horses's feet", and it would be equally out of place as you stated the horse was fed an excess to the point of founder. And based upon the same scientific mindset, you could also say "Omolene 200 causes damage to horse feet", and that could be the headline to a major newstory, and like a lot of newstory's you just put in small type or leave out the fact that you fed 25# per day to the horse, thus abusing the product.
Drinking a glass of wine per day will not probably damage your liver; drinking a case of milwalkie's best every night will damage your liver!


Most older horses have some type of Insulin Resistance or Cushings. Because of this, no horse older than about 20 (in my opinion) should be fed any alfalfa.
Insulin resistance is a sugar issue. Many alfalfa hay samples will actually have low sugar results, not high sugar!
 
#26 ·
Every horse is diefferent. My 3 yr old eats a flake each feeding and never seems to faze her. MY 8 yr old gelding on the other hand I have to be very careful about feeding it to him... or he can be a handful
 
#28 ·
My mare is usaually nice and quite (she is 18). But once I gave her alfalfa to boost her for the days speed events, but I forgot I had to do reining first!! As soon as we turned down the middle of the arena to do a stop on the other end, boy she turned like she was turning the last barrel! She took off down that arena and I sooo did not expect it! She acted up the whole class and made me want to just screw the class and correct her....which I wound up doing lol
 
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