Help, left swans, returned to potbelllied pigs!

[Dandy]

Well, my daughter and I left for an 8 day trip to the NBHA youth world barrel race and since we didn't want to make my hubby work too hard we put the mares and my stallion out in our mini pasture. That just left him with the moms and babies. When we returned, my mares are huge! Two of them were mares that I had bought underweight and was working on filling out. Well, they are filled out now, but not where I want them. Never knew they could blow up so fast. Little blow flies. No founder though. Thank the lord. How do you guys who leave them out 24/7 cope with them getting so out of shape? I am planning on selling some mares and now I doubt anyone would want the heifers.

 

[lyn_j]

[SIZE=14pt]I dont leave them out 24 7 and expect them to be in shape. They have lots of gut fill from the grass.[/SIZE]

Lyn

 

[rabbitsfizz]

What do you need them in shape for??? Are you going to be showing them??

 

[Jacquee']

If you put the food on one end and the water on the other, they will walk back and forth and that helps get them some exercise. Also mine run around like maniacs all day - ESPECIALLY the boys - and that also helps keep them in shape. My boys are pastured in a very hilly pasture, and so they end up running up and down hill all day long. This is great because they learn how to "stand up". They learn how to negotiate tricky terrain. I don't have to wonder if they will cross a ditch; they do it every day about a thousand times, chasing and playing with each other. (Not that it guarantees they will do it first time on the lead!!!

) Even my grouchiest mare will charge around and run and play, but of course the younger horses do it more.

 

[Margaret]

One of my mares will bloat up if I leave her on Pasture 24/7.. And it is medium short pasture right now.. But after trying years to figgure out how to get her weight balanced, I met a man that raises cattle in my area that told me something that is seeming to work, for the few months that I have tried it. It has to do with the "timing" that your horses are out on pasture.. morning til afternoon... then dry lot with "grass hay" in the evening. Reason: The sugar content rises, from the grass roots into the grass blades in the evening, and so it makes them more susceptible to weight gain,-if allowed to graze pasture durring that time. Since I have tried every thing else to control this mares weight, I decided to give this a whirl.. All I can say is that I am becoming a believer about the sugar content going up in the evening, as her fat pads are not returning, and her weight is maintaining now.

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Mine are out from 6 am to 9pm and I have the worst pasture and I love it that way. They aren't starving cuz they're chubby.