Reader's Horses - Zeus and Sami

Pam and Patrick McConnell sent pictures of their horses, Zeus and Sami.

Zeus is an Bay Irish Thoroughbred, who was a rescue horse. Very gentle and very sweet guy but does have some health issues. He is allergic to Alfalfa hay and maybe more since he breaks out in hives every once in a while. They have not had him too long but he was under weight when Pam and Patrick got him but now is perfect weight.

Horses can do well just on grass hay. I feed about 50% grass, 50% alfalfa in hay. I have a couple horses that get 95% grass and 5% alfalfa. It's getting harder and harder to get grass hay - which is more expensive that alfalfa. However, before I totally eliminated alfalfa from Zeus diet, I would try soaking a flake of alfalfa in a hay net in a stock tank, then seeing if that changes Zeus' reaction to the alfalfa. I have also used Tri-Hist (a powdered antihistamine) but I would hate to use it routinely.

If you are concerned about Zeus not getting enough protein than maybe consider feeding him some pelleted grain with a 14% to 18% protein content.....grass hay is generally 10-12% protein. I have also used Calf Manna which is around 25% protein. But start with small amounts such as 1/2 cup then gradually increase as the horse tolerates it. I never feed more than 2 lbs of 12% - 14% pelleted feed at any one time and much less if it's Calf Manna. Corn oil can also be a good feed supplement, but can get expensive at today's prices.

Ask you Horse Vet about this and realize all horses may react differently. In the wild, horses are eating natural grass. When we insist on owning them and penning them up, then feeding all sorts of things that in nature they wouldn;t get,...well, that's when problems are more likely.

Sami is the Paint gelding, and a good looking Paint Horse he is.