[SportPonyCrayzi]

I know it might be a little early, but I wanted to get a head start...

For the winter, a few ladies at the barn suggested I feed my horse some extra hay--something like alfalfa or timothy because of the protein and such. But, I was wondering...what about Bermuda? What does that have??

My horse is 18 years old, half Connemara, half Thoroughbred, and is in dressage training. He gets small amounts of Moor-Go, alfalfa pellets, and Senior feed, and currently is on 4 flakes of grass hay a day. He's an easy keeper, too.

This is his feeding schedule:

Early Morning: 1 flake of grass hay and 1 pound (I think) of alfalfa pellets
Mid Morning: Feed and Supplements
Noon: 1 flake of grass hay
Early Afternoon: Feed and Supplements
Late Afternoon: 2 flakes of grass hay

My plan was to either give him one flake of timothy or alfalfa at noon time, but I don't know which one I should use.

A lot of people there use timothy, but I don't exactly know why. I heard that alfalfa has a lot of protein and carbs/fat or something, and also lots of calcium, but that it was bad for older horses.

Which one should I use? What does Timothy and Alfalfa actually have and what purpose do they serve? Feel free to ask any questions and rant!

Thanks bunches for any help!
~SPC

[jumpers4me]

I have never heard of bermuda but, I feed a timothy and alfalfa mix. it is all in one bail. then you are getting half of each. it keeps weight on our old guys really good. Alfalfa is very rich and puts weight on and provides more energy then timothy would. also timothy is very rich in nutrients as well. make sure when you do but it that you get very green bails.

[KZWestern]

I honestly think it sounds like your horse is getting enough to eat... BUT ok, here's what i've got to say.

Timothy hay is basicly grass hay. Timothy is just a certain kind of grass. It does not have as much substance and is not as rich as alfalfa. I'm not sure about bermuda because I have had no personal experience with it however.

If you want your horse to be healthy and maintain his weight, then just feeding him plenty of grass/Timothy hay will be fine. If you want your horse to gain some weight alfalfa is more ideal, and in cold climates in the winter it is richer so it helps generate more heat. I would caution that if your horse eats too much alfalfa there is a risk of founder so even if you are trying to get your horse to gain weight I would only feed maybe two to three flakes of alfalfa a day and the rest should be grass, except for extreme situations. (I knew a horse that was in her 30s and would not eat grass hay so she was on a full alfalfa diet and did fine on it)

So, in your situation. If I where you and wanted to throw in some more food I'd just give him another flake of grass hay. He gets plenty alfalfa pellets which are a substitute for actual alfalfa hay, so in a way he's already getting alfalfa.

[Blistering Winds]

SportPony...MOST Bermuda is higher in almost everything than timothy. We feed it regularly here in Texas and I LOVE it. To me, it is softer and more consistant than the timothy hay I have personally seen.

When I moved from texas to Kansas for a bit, I was disappointed in the Brome and Prairie hay texture since I was use to bermuda's soft, easy to deal with texture. And I didn't like my horses performance on it either. And neither did he. Took me FOREVER to finally force feed him that hay till we got back here. He sucked the first bale down like it was candy!! LOL

I highly recommend bermuda hay.