A Veterinarian Interested in Studying the Causes of Enteroliths in Horses

A veterinarian interested in studying the causes of enteroliths in horses suspects that a diet high in alfalfa may be a cause. The veterinarian decides to use the following design: identify 30 horses at high risk for enteroliths, and divide them into 10 groups of 3 horses. Some groups consist of horses in barn stalls, some groups consist of horses in outdoor paddocks, and some groups consist of horses in pastures. Within each group, one horse is randomly assigned to an alfalfa diet, one is assigned to a grass hay diet, and one horse is fed oat hay. When a horse is in a pasture, all the other horses in that pasture will also receive the diet of the study horse. Therefore, only one horse could be selected from a given pasture. The study is:

A) a randomized block design.
B) a matched pairs design.
C) a completely randomized design.
D) a comparative observational design.