feeding grass cuttings

[u02srg3]

My horse is on box rest with lameness (usually out at grass 24hrs a day) and was wondering if it would do any harm to hand pick grass and feed it to her (straight away). I have heard that you should never feed grass cuttings but presume this is from lawn mowers due to the fermentation? Just thought I should check as although I would love to give her some yummy grass, I would not want to risk colic etc.

 

[Blizzard]

If you are literally picking a handful and putting it staight in her mouth then that is fine.

 

[u02srg3]

Was just going to fill a bucket with the grass then give it to her (would take a few minutes tops)? Surely it cant ferment in that time?

 

[Blizzard]

No but it depends how long it takes her to eat it

 

[NewHeights_SJ]

Ive always found this subject a bit grey....

Why not buy something like ready grass? I dont think it is expensive and it just grass, so could be fed any time of the day as an extra to feed/hay etc....

 

[Happy Horse]

My horse was on box rest for four months when he broke his leg and I used to pick him a bit of grass and feed it to him. He loved it and didn't get any problems. I'm sure this time of year there's not much in it anyway.,

 

[Donkeymad]

If the grass is of a decent length, not short like lawn mower cut grass, then it will be fine. One equine charity actually recommends picking longer grass and feeding it in a haynet.
It is the fact that mowings are so short and the horse does not need to chew them thus does not produce saliva that makes mowings ferment and cause colic.

 

[Haniki]

Our local stud used to use a tractor and mower to cut a swath of grass for his stallions who were stabled all the time.

 

[isabella]

when izzy was on box rest for a few days (wasn't sure how long she would have to be in) i picked grass, it was up to my knees lol and put it in a haynet for her to have a good munch didn't seem to do her any harm

 

[amandaco2]

i picked a feed manger(removable ) and picked a lot of grass.
took her about 10misns to eat it.
she had 2 a day for about 3 weeks.

 

[RachelB]

I used to pick grass for my box-rested horse and feed it to her. When I had the time I'd pick her a bucket full of grass (she ate it in about three minutes though so not a problem). She also used to love ReadiGrass.
My YO used to pick whole haynets of grass for her mare when she was on major box rest.

 

[Rabea]

When my horse was on boxrest for 3 month, I fed her one bucked full of grass in the evening and left one bucket for beeing fed in the moning, which means the grass was overnight in the bucked abd didnt harm her at all.
On my old hard the farmer cutted grass and fed it for evening, so it wasent eaten imediately.

 

[cloppy]

at some county shows they provide cut grass for you to feed in the stables overnight,

 

[Tia]

As Donkeymad says, long stem grass is quite different from short bladed grass. That added to the fact that lawn grass is a totally different variety of grass to those grasses seen in pasture/hay fields. The composition is entirely different and they do not compose in the same fashion, hence we make hay from cut hay grasses.

 

[bensababy]

QR - I would just like to add that my pony went down with Lammi due to some idiot feeding him cut grass... dont do it.