The Horse Forum banner
Status
Not open for further replies.

risks of turning out to spring grass pasture?

3K views 11 replies 9 participants last post by  Smilie 
#1 ·
I'm bringing my horse home from training in a couple of weeks and the pasture at home is full of green spring grass. He hasn't had access to this much forage in a couple of years. He will be turned out 100% of the time. I always hear people talking about the risks of turning a horse out on spring grass but don't have any experience with it. Do I need to be worried about it?

Natural landscape Natural environment Nature Tree Nature reserve
 
See less See more
1
#2 ·
I'm bringing my horse home from training in a couple of weeks and the pasture at home is full of green spring grass. He hasn't had access to this much forage in a couple of years. He will be turned out 100% of the time. I always hear people talking about the risks of turning a horse out on spring grass but don't have any experience with it. Do I need to be worried about it?

View attachment 632154
I know alot of people who do it by starting an hour or sometimes less time a day and build up to full time pasture,over a few weeks.

Me i just turn them out to pasture,fill them up on hay first then turn them out,never had an issue doing it that way.:wink: Looks like nice pasture there.
 
#7 ·
Grass founder is a more common occurrence, the some folks realize.

Since your horse has not seen this much grass in a few years, you aren't out anything but some time, to err on the side of caution and gradually introduce your horse to its new pasture.

The link provided above, is well worth reading:)
 
  • Like
Reactions: acorn and natisha
#9 ·
Agree with Walkin

You have to treat each horse as an individual. Some , just like people that eat a lot of calories, just get fat, others get type 2 diabetes
Some horses might only have slight low grade laminitis that goes un noticed, only showing up as tenderness when asked to walk on hard ground, but over time, that effect is cumulative
Jazzy, since you have ahorse that seriously foundered, I would not be so blaise, when it comes to managing horses and feed!
Some of mine are dry lotted part time, my IR horse full time, some go out with grazing muzzles, others I just manage the amount of pasture with portable electric fencing
Remember the old saying? An oz. or prevention, is worth a lb or cure, and that applies esp to laminitis and founder!
 
#10 ·
My horses seem to know what's best. I let them out on a separate pasture in the morning before the sugars are at max. They nibble a few green sprouts for maybe 10 min then head back for hay. When the grasses are at the most dangerous for horses is fairly cool nights and quite warm days. We are just starting to get this weather. As the grasses grow, so to the biting insects so my boys head inside about 8am and remain until almost dark. The grass is safest during the night. They get hay while inside.
 
#11 ·
I was reading something last week while looking into nutrition, wish I could find it because I'm just going from memory here, about estimating dry matter intake for pastured horses. It was interesting to me that the research done has shown that horses (not surprisingly) eat more grass in a shorter period of time the less time they were on pasture. Ie, they stuff their face if they know they only have a short time. A horse out for only 12 hours ate about 80% of what a horse out for 24 hours did and spent less time resting, walking or socializing than the horses out full time. A horse out for only 6 hours ate something like 60% of the full time pastured horses in only a quarter of the time. They were, in essence, stuffing their faces while they could.

It makes me wonder about how effective our strategies for managing horses and pasture might be. I agree with gradually introducing any horse to pasture, especially one that has been off it for so long, but if you have a grazing muzzle, I might suggest that leaving him out for a longer amount of time WITH the grazing muzzle would be more effective at helping him 'gradually' adjust to pasture than just smaller amounts of time. It would at least slow the grass intake to a more 'normal' rate for his gut to process rather than him stuffing as much in as he can manage in the allotted time.

I also think that once the horse is out for about 6 hours, it's probably good enough to just leave them out full time. I'd keep the grazing muzzle on for a few days after going full time pasture if you're introducing him gradually (ideal) or at least a week if just kicking him out on it (very typical and *most* horses do fine with).
 
#12 ·
yes, there is some evidence that horses allowed full free time feed, either hay or pasture will start to regulate themselves some.
At the same time, while horses evolved to graze almost constantly, it was on native grass and grass that was sparse, thus forcing them to cover many miles while foraging.
Many of our pastures today are en -riched,and there is enough data of wild horses getting into a riperian area and foundering, same as domestic horses
I have had horses that I could leave out on pasture full time and they never had an issue
At the same time, if you happen to have ahorse that leans towards being IR, then relying on self regulation is not enough.
Myself- I have one horse that is very IR, and dealing with hoof issues has taught me to err on the side of caution .
So many people don't even recognize when their horses are having some hoof damage, with hoof capsule getting longer, soles flatter. They don't consider the diet, but just decide that their horse has thin soles and must wear shoes!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
You have insufficient privileges to reply here.
Top