Am I right to be annoyed/concerned?

J

jumpthemoon

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Got down to the yard this morning to turn out my horses. Turned out my mare, fine - went to turn out my gelding (separate paddock on his own) and discovered YOs OH has mowed down the weeds
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He had a grass collector on the back of the mower, but there are loads of grass cuttings all over the paddock! The weeds/long grass were in the front right corner, front middle and all along the back of the paddock.

So now my paddock is covered in grass cuttings and there is no way I can fence them off because they are everywhere!
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So my horse has stayed in today and I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow/in future
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Am I right to have left him in? I think they expected me just to turn him out as normal? Would you be annoyed? What shall I do?
 
give it a couple of days and it will be fine to turn out again.. Its been done for your benefit really. And I probably would be a bit annoyed, but I wouldnt get my hair off.. Its tough titties really, he owns the Yard.

Lou x
 
that's what I'm thiniking Ali_m
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Problem is it's over the whole bloody field! About an acre paddock and he must have gone over 1/3 of it with the mower
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There is nowhere else to turn my horse out either....
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give it a couple of days and it will be fine to turn out again.. Its been done for your benefit really. And I probably would be a bit annoyed, but I wouldnt get my hair off.. Its tough titties really, he owns the Yard.

Lou x

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Are grass cuttings ok after a few days then? Or will they just not be appetising?
 


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Are grass cuttings ok after a few days then? Or will they just not be appetising?

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I think if the grass cuttings are spread out they just dry out and become hay and your horse would probably prefer the grass anyway. I think the danger lies in piles of grass cuttings that warm up and ferment.
Correct me if I'm wrong!
 
Has it left all the weeds as well behind? or did the collecter just pick up the weeds but the grass cuttings where that fine it didnt pick them up?

I'd keep him in until they dry out etc which hopefully shouldnt take long if there spread about the field.

However I'd explain to your YO why you left him in and suggest the field is sprayed to prevent the weeds growing in the first place (in an ideal world/livery yard that is
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), then he won't need to go over it to cut them down.
 
I have to say that I regularly cut long grass and weeds down with a lawn mower - the mowings are long and dry out within a day (I only tend to do it on a hot sunny day for this reason). My horses never have come to any harm and I have carefully watched them pick through the cut nettles and thistles and eat them but not the cut grass for some reason.

Probably best to err on the side of caution though if you are worried he may eat them.
 
The cuttings will be fine after they have dried a bit. As sunnymane says, it is when they are green and juicy they are a problem and once they are dry the horses will eat the growing grass in preference anyway.
 
mown - with a sit on lawn mover thing. It had a thing on the back to catch grass but there are quite a few lines of grass cuttings a few incehs thick where the grass has not been caught.
 
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Bugger!

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Hmm yes! I don't want to put him out if there is a possibility of him eating them and them being dangerous. On the other hand, I don't want him staying in for ages either!

A bit annoyed....
 
I would be annoyed, yes YO's have to maintain the fields and we'd be annoyed if they didn't do so but its courteous to let people know so that they can prepare alternative TO or leave time to keep the horse in. If I arrived at the yard on the way to work to find this I'd be really annoyed.
 
I would rake it up just to be on the safe side, even if you just do a small patch to turn out in.
Could be worse though, the last livery yard I was in, I came up one afternoon to find the topper going round my paddock, with my horse in it!
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Horse was dripping sweat from having been upset and charging round!
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Fortunately I was not the only person who pointed out to YO that topping a field with a horse in it was not such a great idea!
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I think the danger lies in piles of grass cuttings that warm up and ferment.


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Is this not what happens in the stomach? I'm sure I read something about it the other day. I'm sure there was a reason why horses shouldn't eat 'hay' made from grass cuttings, either
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LOL, my boss has just had this brainwave. I managed to talk him out of the lawn mower but even the tractor's cut really close and there's loads of grass on the floor. Its took two and a half days to rake it all up (they're laminitic and fragile so taking no chances
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). We've just finished picking up the piles with the tractor and the ponies are out again. Hooray.
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[ QUOTE ]
LOL, my boss has just had this brainwave. I managed to talk him out of the lawn mower but even the tractor's cut really close and there's loads of grass on the floor. Its took two and a half days to rake it all up (they're laminitic and fragile so taking no chances
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). We've just finished picking up the piles with the tractor and the ponies are out again. Hooray.
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Cheers Flame_! That's cheered me right up
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I think I'm going to have to pick it all up now
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I just don't want to risk colic
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How long are the grass cuttings? if they are long enough to force the horse to chew them properly, then they will be OK.
 
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