We are hopefully moving our horses to a large pasture and I am worried about two main things. The first is easy to take care of(poisonous plants) but the second has many different solutions and I am curious which one y'all would suggest.
It is fall here but the pasture is quite green and rich due to the recent flooding, so it would almost be like turning them out for the first time in spring. I am worried about my older mare (15 or so years of age) the most due to her age and the fact that she hasn't been on any pasture since the beginning of June, and that was only for a short time every day. What would you suggest I do to reduce the possibility of founder/colic?
Should I get a grazing muzzle for her? What about the 5 month old filly that's never seen a pasture a day in her life? I'm not too worried about my 2.5 year old filly though because she's been out on pasture regularly all summer. Mind you it's not anywhere near as lush and green as the pasture we'll be moving them to but still.
I will be giving them all probiotics every day and we were thinking about limiting their pasture time to daytime only until they learn the fenceline.
TIA
MD
It is fall here but the pasture is quite green and rich due to the recent flooding, so it would almost be like turning them out for the first time in spring. I am worried about my older mare (15 or so years of age) the most due to her age and the fact that she hasn't been on any pasture since the beginning of June, and that was only for a short time every day. What would you suggest I do to reduce the possibility of founder/colic?
Should I get a grazing muzzle for her? What about the 5 month old filly that's never seen a pasture a day in her life? I'm not too worried about my 2.5 year old filly though because she's been out on pasture regularly all summer. Mind you it's not anywhere near as lush and green as the pasture we'll be moving them to but still.
I will be giving them all probiotics every day and we were thinking about limiting their pasture time to daytime only until they learn the fenceline.
TIA
MD