What a great website! I wish I had found you sooner. I have been feeding my 15 year old Arabian 3-way hay(Oat, wheat, barley) for a few years now. He gets beet pulp and EquiPride every day. I try not to feed and calcium rich feed as he has had calcium carboniate crystals in his urine and I was told to stay away from alfalfa. I have read that too much starch is not good either. Now I am confused. The other choice of hay is Oat but it isn't great qualitly, Teff which is new and here on a trial basis and Orchard that is pricy. Timothy is way out of my price range.
He is ridin' 4 to 5 times a week.
I would also like to know what you think about EquiPride as it is farily new but we all love the results we are seeing in our horses in this area. Thank you, Cathy

Where are you from? Riverside, CA.

How did you locate this forum? reading about Teff hay

Hi Cathy,

Thank you for writing.

First about hay.... grain hays such as oat hay and teff hay contain too much starch and are generally low in protein quality. Timothy, orchard, brome, and even some alfalfa, are worth feeding.

And that brings me to the calcium carbonate crystals in his urine... this could be an indication that the diet is low in magnesium. Or, it could be due to a diet that is low in quality protein. The best bet is to have bloodwork done to test his kidney function.

I took a look at EquiPride and it is a basic multiple vitamin/mineral supplement. It does not contain added lysine, which is very important for grass diets. And, it also contains mineral oil, which binds B vitamins in the digestive tract, making them unavailable. So, I would suggest a different supplement to fill in the gaps. Beet pulp is excellent, and can be fine for maintenance. However, since you ride him several times each week, he likely requires more calories. An excellent way to do this is by adding flaxseed meal to his diet. I recommend Nutra Flax.

But the majority of his diet should come from a grass hay, not a grain hay.

I hope this is helpful. If at some point you find that a closer look at his overall diet and health would be helpful, I'd be delighted to assist you.

All the best,

Dr. Getty

Where are you from? Bayfield, Colorado