Grazing/Turnout Question

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JewelsOK

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We just got our little yearling gelding 2 days ago and we built him an approx. 30' diameter round pen for turnout and it has grass growing in it. It has been mowed regularly it is basically a "lawn" not a "pasture" type of grass. Maybe 2-3" in height.

My question is, is it safe to put our little guy on it for large chunks of time or does he need to "build up" his time on it? I know he had some turnout time with his breeder (not sure how much, I've emailed him to find out). Up until a month ago when he was brought to the barn to recover from being gelded, I believe he was turned out 24/7. Like I said, his turn out area is not huge - just about 30 feet in diameter. I imagine that once he eats the grass down it will end up being a "dry lot" as has happened to all the other turn out pens of the big horses.

This little guy is so precious. When I figure out how, I will post pictures of him!

Julie
 
well, were in the same situation with our yard beign lawn and not pasture... however we have a lot of clover and on friday out vet came out and my mom asked her about grass and she said for our horses that 1/2 hour is enough for hours... however i do remeber reading a thread on her posted by marty and she said she builds up by an hour and from that i would probably do that every week go up by and hour, im not to shure though...but you could probably pm her and ask...

also to post pix, first you need a photobucket account after you uplpoad your pics off the computer onto it (very self explanitory) you highlight the bar that says "direct link" next to it second from top then left click and a bar will pop up that will say copy or the word copy will automaticly appear (htat means its copied) then when your posting to add picture click on the lil icon with a tree on it and then a bar will pop up, right click then press paste and click ok

i hope this helps if its to confusing theres info on the practice board
 
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I would start out slowly, and build up over a week.

Day 1- 1 hour

Day 2- 2 hours

Day 3- 4 hours

Day 4- 8 hours

Day 5- all daylight hours

Day 6- same

Day 7- day & night
 
We do it gradually over a week or so and then they are out from about 10-6pm and it is plenty. I only give the mares enough feed in the evening to get them up to the pens. They all have good weight on them. My little studs still get 2x a day pellets because they are not out as much on the meadow & the studs that are breeding get supplements.
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You need to find out how long he was on grass, and how long he was off of it. Is your lawn lush?

Depending on all of this, times will differ. For horses that are new to grass I start out with 15 mins a day, then add up every day, unless its real lush, then every other day add 15. I know it sounds like not a lot of time at all, but founder from spring grass is NO fun!
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I would start out slowly, and build up over a week.

Day 1- 1 hour

Day 2- 2 hours

Day 3- 4 hours

Day 4- 8 hours

Day 5- all daylight hours

Day 6- same

Day 7- day & night
In an area only 30' in diameter, with 2-3" of grass to start with, by about day 3 or 4, there won't be any grass left to worry about!!
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I have a pen that I regularly set up on my lawn to let my 2 minis "do the mowing for me." When set up as a circle, it encloses about 25', but most areas of my lawn aren't that big, so it gets set up in some other shapes. Even on the best areas of the lawn, I can't leave them more than about 2 hours without them chewing some spots to the point of damage. Since you are more concerned about excercise, not growing grass, I'd say, go slow for the first few days, after that, he won't find enough grass out there for it to really matter any more.
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I had to build mine up slowly because I have large very plush fields.

I also had used a porta coral in the past and set it out in our yard where the grass is different from the pasture grass; no problems occurred. But you are speaking about a very tiny area so I am guessing that he will have that grass depleted one day's turn out time. They are grazers and that is what you ultimately want him to do as much as possible so can you make him another larger area and rotate?
 
If this works, here is a picture of Image's little area and the condition of the grass. It is quite sparse and short.

imagegrass.jpg
 
With the grass so short, I'd think that just a few days of gradually increasing his time on it should be sufficient. It's like any diet change, a gradual introduction is best. And as Bunnylady said, before long there really won't be any grass to worry about!
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I had to build mine up slowly because I have large very plush fields.

I also had used a porta coral in the past and set it out in our yard where the grass is different from the pasture grass; no problems occurred. But you are speaking about a very tiny area so I am guessing that he will have that grass depleted one day's turn out time. They are grazers and that is what you ultimately want him to do as much as possible so can you make him another larger area and rotate?
We board at a full size horse barn and I don't have a lot of control over where I can put his pen. They are being very accommodating by letting me do the little bit I have to miniaturize things for him and they are letting me do it for a very reduced price on board. There is a largish pasture where we can turn out the horses to graze, but it is kind of first come first serve and any boarder can turn their horse out at any time, but the have to stay at the barn while their horse is turned out. There will be times when we will have access to it without their being other horses there.

This situation worked great with my daughter's former full size mare as she was insulin resistant and had to be on a very strict diet. With her current full size mare, we just give her about all the hay she wants (usually about 5 large flakes per day).

Image was getting some turn out (I am waiting to hear how much), about 1.5 cups of pelleted feed am & pm and 1/3 flake of hay am/pm. So I am trying to duplicate that feeding schedule. Thankfully the pellet that they fed him is the same pellet we already were feeding our full size mare.

Thanks for the advice.

Julie
 
Quite frankly, on that small little lot with such a little bit of grass I would have no qualms about turning a yearling out for however long you want to leave him out. Would be different if it was a large lot with very lush, thick grass, but in this case I don't see that overeating on grass would be a problem at all.
 
Quite frankly, on that small little lot with such a little bit of grass I would have no qualms about turning a yearling out for however long you want to leave him out. Would be different if it was a large lot with very lush, thick grass, but in this case I don't see that overeating on grass would be a problem at all.

I agree........and in about a week you'll probably end up with a drylot area.
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I think he's fine. That grass is so short, it would take him all day to get full off of it. Just cut back his hay so he isn't getting over fed. But like most said, it'll be dirt in no time.
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The floods here in Wisconsin ruined our pasture so we tie them out on the lawn, we started out at about 45 minutes to an hour aday, we do not put our preg. mares on it right now.
 
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