Can I just feed alfalfa cubes and a mineral lick to horses with no additional hay or grain?

My gelding is on long-term stall rest for a ruptured medial stifle ligament. What do you recommend for support of healing soft tissues and associated inflammation and, of course, for prevention of gastric ulcers from the pain medication phenylbutazone (bute)?

Our 20-year-old mare died, leaving behind a month-old colt. For the last two weeks, we have been bucket-feeding the foal every four hours with a mixture of three quarts of goat’s milk, 2% milk, and warm water. He also gets a half cup of growth feed as well as alfalfa hay and water. He is turned out with a friend for much of the day. The colt seems to be doing fine, but I don’t know if I am feeding him correctly. I just want a professional opinion.

I have an 18-year-old Fjord mare with insulin resistance. She’s on limited pasture, ration balancer, and glucosamine/chondroitin, which I recently read was not a great choice for insulin-resistant horses. Should I be feeding her other supplements for the metabolic issue? Also, I’d like to know how much exercise she should be doing to help ward off complications of the insulin resistance.

We recently acquired a six-year-old gelding diagnosed with type 2 polysaccharide storage myopathy (PSSM). He is in moderately thin body condition (a score of 4), so he needs to gain weight. Right now, he’s fed a ration balancer and a fat supplement. He is also fed timothy/alfalfa mixed hay 24/7. We understand that diet can completely turn around some PSSM horses. What’s your opinion of his diet, and is there more we can do for him?

I own a 33-year-old gelding that weighs 1,150 lb (525 kg), so he’s in moderate body condition, and I’d like to keep him at this weight. I feed him a few flakes of alfalfa and 6 lb (2.7 kg) of a senior pelleted feed each day. Because of tooth deterioration, the pelleted feed often drops from his mouth, so I am not sure how much he’s actually eating. I strip alfalfa leaves off the stems, so it’s easier for him to eat. I feel he’s eating a lot of protein. Is there a better way for me to feed him?

I have an aged easy keeper that has been diagnosed with equine metabolic syndrome (EMS). He’s a BCS of 6 and I am OK with his weight, considering his age, and his hooves are in good shape now, though he is prone to laminitis. His coat is thick but shedding, and he seems lethargic unless something agitates him in his environment. He gets 8 lb (3.6 kg) of hay and 0.75 lb (0.34 kg) of controlled-starch feed each day. Because I am having difficulty sourcing an appropriate low-sugar hay, I was wondering if I can feed him timothy cubes and beet pulp to satisfy his forage requirements.

Rosa is my 10-year-old, 16.3-hand (170-cm) Quarter Horse mare (1,100 lb or 500 kg; BCS 5). She was emaciated when we adopted her four months ago, and she has rallied to almost ideal body condition, even while being pregnant. Days after we adopted her, she was diagnosed with anaplasmosis. Rosa is consistently lame, even at the walk, with swelling in all four legs, and she has near constant drainage from one eye as well as a sensitivity to touch. She is fed alfalfa hay (8 flakes), two scoops of a low-starch feed, flax oil, and a weight-gain supplement each day, and she is given bute as needed for pain. Does her diet adequately support her pregnancy and her health issues?

My 17-year-old, 16.1-hand Friesian gelding is at a body condition score of 8. He is trail ridden lightly and does some dressage. He was on four flakes of grass hay per day and his weight was normal but he had chronic diarrhea. I switched him to alfalfa in an attempt to clear the diarrhea. His diarrhea improved dramatically, but he has gotten too fat. He was on three flakes of alfalfa per day, then two and a half flakes per day, and now just two flakes per day. He still seems to be gaining weight. In an effort to clear up his diarrhea, I have also tried timothy and Bermuda grass hay, prebiotics, and probiotics. I have not found anything but alfalfa that helps Rally’s diarrhea. What about cereal forage, like an oat, wheat, or barley hay? Can I replace some of his alfalfa with this?

My 10-year-old Warmblood gelding adequately does the work asked of him for upper-level dressage, but as the demands increase, he tends to tire rather quickly. He is worked four or five days a week for about an hour each day, not including walking before and after exercise for warmup and cooldown. He’s a big horse, 17 hands (172 cm) and 1,400 lb (640 kg), with a body condition score of 6. In addition to hay, he’s fed 1 lb (0.45 kg) of ration balancer, sugar-free beet pulp, peas, and a handful of soaked alfalfa cubes. What diet changes can I make to improve performance but maintain weight?