dry lucerne to racehorses

Question
hello ma'am. my trainer used to feed 1/2kg chopped alfalfa legume to all the horses in the morning and evening. suddenly, he switched to chopped alfalfa hay(dry lucerne). may i know the use of dry lucerne to horses? may i know why did he switch to dry lucerne?

Answer
Hello Caine,

Thank you for your question.  I'm not entirely sure I understand your use of terminology here...but it appears that you're asking what the difference is between chopped alfalfa grass and dry alfalfa hay?  Alfalfa is a legume, whether its fresh, choppped, fermented (silage) or dry.  From what you're describing, the only difference I can identify is the manner in which the alfalfa was fed.  The only difference between fresh and dry alfalfa is the amount of water in it.  Drying does little to change the structure of the plant aside from removing water.  Alfalfa silage results from fermenting partially dried alfalfa.  Fermenting any forage results in bacterial fermentation of the plant's fibrous structure that makes the forage more easily digested once consumed.  Silage can be safely fed to horses provided it has been properly fermented although we recommend inoculating horses for botulism before feeding silage.

There is no way of saying for sure why your trainer switched to dry alfalfa, aside from the fact that dried forage is easier to store for long periods of time than fresh alfalfa or alfalfa silage.

Thanks, Corlena