Letting graze

[lucky seven]

After my qh mare died of founder I am very nervous about my mini and his eating habits. I think he is too fat but there could be a thick winter coat adding to his weight.

 

[Poodlepill]

WOW what a wave I am riding with you all. To graze or not to graze...........Have to admit its scaring me and making me second guess even getting horses.

I have pasture, this will be my first spring/summer with my two mini's and I plan on letting them graze during the day and put in the corral with the barn at night. I dont stall them, I feed them a daily probiotic to help with digestion and am confident this will help with summer grazing.

Tracy

 

[wingnut]

Right now, everything is covered in ice and snow. We have a small pasture that's still maturing so they came off of it in November. We give them (4) all the hay they want (which roughly comes to 4 - 6 flakes of hay per day) The hay we're currently use is 1/4 alfalfa and 3/4 orchard grass. When the grass is lush again in April / May, we will start allowing them out on the pasture in a graduated fashion, building up to a 10 hour day once we get past the super lush point. They will continue to have hay overnight.

We are coming into our second full spring/summer season with them so we are aware that adjustments may be needed yet. Last summer, the only one who never seemed to stop eating the whole time they were out was our now 3 yr old. The rest could be seen resting in one fashion or another at various points. The two yearlings could be seen laying flat out for their snoozes while the oldest mare (soon to be 12), would find a corner to back into and stand with her nose almost to the ground. Or, during the heat of the day, all 4 would come back up to the barn to stand in the shade and get water.

We dealt with the 3 yr old by putting a muzzle on her. The only problem is that she became a master at getting it off, so we have to watch her.

 

[Marty]

Depends on what time of year it is. I'm a firm believer that horses have to graze. My objective is to keep the horses out as long as possible without risking grass founder or obesity. Right now they are outside all day long.

In the spring, I will ease them slowly into the new spring grass growth just about an hour a day for a week and slowly increase that time until they can be out all day long again. This will take about 3 to 4 weeks. By the time the new grass is established, we keep it mowed down which helps. I also have several fields for rotation and allow them to over graze it on purpose. If anyone is getting obese I can always pull that one back into the barnyard which doubles as a dry lot.

 

[Michelle@wescofarms]

I'm like Rabbit, the horses have access to pasture 24/7, but I'm in Northern California and we don't really have the rush of growth in Spring as it grows year-round. Heck our grass is ankle high now except for where the horses have it mowed like a putting green.

We've had one gelding that keeps trying to founder on us, but the farrier and I are starting to suspect he has a metobolic disorder, this happens with him in the middle of summer too (dry brown pastures), so isn't a "Spring new grass thing".

As for keeping show horses - sorry I know they look great - but the handful of hay 2x a day, a feeding muzzle 24/7 on a stalled horse that is wrapped up like a mummy. I don't know, not how I want mine to live.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I am not willing to condemn show horses merely because I have come to know people on here who do show horses, show to win, and, I am sure, keep the hay at a minimum, yet still have happy horses.

I show myself, and I tend to just not limit hay, but exercise well, and that will work just fine so long as you do not have an air fern!

If I do have one I am afraid I should just not show it- it is not worth it, to me, to have to put a horse through all that. If I had a horse with a nervous disposition I should not harness train it, if I had a horse that put on loads of weight on a small amount of hay I should not show it- that is the way I do things.

I think though, having seen the high standard of care that some of these show horses get, I would now be reluctant to say it is "wrong" per se. After all, a horse lives for 30 years and is shown, usually, for three. The people I am thinking of then allow their horses to lead a natural (or at least more natural, we do not all have pasture, I know)life.

So, a trade off of three years of limited hay, stalled but with a stall so full of toys you tend to wonder where the horse is, and exercise twice a day, against the rest of their lives loafing, having and creating, babies, having proven themselves in the showring and thus making their babies very sellable......seems OK to me!