This message is from: Marsha Jo Hannah <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > "Jim and Tamara Hooper" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > I try to purchase only grass hay, but at times due to weather > conditions alfalfa may be the only thing available. I've heard the > bad thing about alfalfa is that a horse's stomach cannot properly > digest all of it so some of the undigested parts sit in the > stomach. Has anyone heard about this??
Alfalfa has many potential problems. For one thing (depending on just when it was harvested), alfalfa has up to twice the protein of grass hay. That's wonderful for cows making beef or milk; not so good for horses who like to "make" fat! Also, alfalfa is highly correlated with enteroliths (stomach stones, which can lead to often-fatal colic, due to blockages and even rupture of the intestines). One theory is that there is too much magnesium in alfalfa, and it precipitates out, "growing" enteroliths---adding layers, sort of like a pearl, around some bit of trash in the gut (gravel, a knot of hay twine, or whatever). For more details, see the current issue of EQUUS magazine. Some of these things get to be the size of grapefruit! Marsha Jo Hannah Murphy must have been a horseman-- [EMAIL PROTECTED] anything that can go wrong, will! 15 mi SW of Roseburg, Oregon
