Is there any advantage to feeding my horse timothy hay?

Question

I was giving him T & A but I am trying to figure out the cause of his allergic skin condition and decided to start with eliminating alfalfa from his diet. He loves the Timothy by the way!!

Answer 1

They love it!  May be a little higher in price, but there is no waste! Hence saves you money!  Remember, when it comes to feed, shoers, fly spray e.t.c. you get what you pay for!

Answer 2

All of our horses are feed a mix of grass hays.

I have ex-race horses and they do wonderfully on just a nice grass hay mix and a couple of pounds of pelleted feed.

We do not feed any alfalfa. It can be one of the causes of entroliths and I feel it has to much protein for horses.

Answer 3

He should do fine on straight Timothy, with mineral supplements if needed.  If you don't have the hay tested, you should consult your vet for the best supplemental feed for your particular horse and how you use him.

Answer 4

timothy is high in leaf content low in stem.  It is among the highest quality horse hay you can get.  It does not too high in protein like alfalfa and will not cause the problem sometimes associated with alfalfa (I myself like alfalfa but prefer alfalfa grass mixes).  As a whole timothy compares fairly well with brome hay.  As a whole only brome or and alfalfa timothy (or brome) mix would be better but since you suspect an alfalfa allergy you don't want to go there.  However after reading you other question I am suspecting not an alfalfa allergy but a fungal growth or an allergy to a fungus or something rubbing on the horse.  That said I know someone with a horse that has grass allergies so who knows.

Answer 5

It depends on how rich. At my barn our horses have a diet of grazing in the pasture, fed sweet feed, pellets, and alfalfa cubes. Then give them brown/yellow timothy hay.

DO NOT give your horse green timothy hay if they graze in a pasture, green timothy hay is only meant for horses that don't have a pasture. Be careful how rich the hay you feed your horse, you might want to ask the staff at your barn because I don't know the feed he gets or his excerise.

But there was a woman trying to pamper her horses at my barn, so the horses diet was high quality green timothy hay, 3 meals instead of two the feed was high quality sweet feed with extra molases, and green timothy hay. He got colic and was sent to the hospital.

Just be careful how rich the hay is.

Hope this helps!

Answer 6

Hi Adele

Timothy hay is a good choice.  please remember when introducing your horse to new feeds to do it slowly as your horse is sensitive to drastic change in their feed.  which could bring on colic.  Start with 1/4 of the timothy or whatever you try to his normal feed that your are giving now and every 3 days give him a 1/4 more while giving less of the other.