Grazing - advice please.

leanne1988

leanne1988

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Hi all.

I've had my welsh X mare for about a month now, at her previous home she was just living on grass, so i kept her diet the same. However she strips every blade of grass available untill the paddock is white and completely bare!

I have to move her paddock around every day, strip grazing her. but as soon as i do she has turned it into nothing, wthin hours!!

Is this normal? I drive past fields with horses in and they are constantly in the same field, with grass in-tack !
im worried about her getting laminitis as she is already a lil overweight & as to whether im starving her or not?

Do you think i need to put a grazing muzzle on her? or maybe feed her some hard feeds?

any advice appreciciated.
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Its really difficult with greedy ponies but i would definatly suggest a grazing muzzle to limit the grass intake and to save your feeds as it prevents them grazing it to the ground. The biggest mistke people make with ponies is to not feed them at all and so they lack in all the vitamins and mineraly needed. I would suggest either hanfull of chaff with a vit suppliment in a day or a complete good doer feed such as falcon feeds fibre care which i have found great for my older pony. Good luck
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don't really have the facilities to stable her, there is a cow shed that she goes in for me to tack her up, or when im moving her paddock about but she really hates being in there, she gets very frustrated, pawing the ground etc.

in her past 2 homes she has only ever lived out 24/7.

i think i will invest in a grazing muzzle, can u leave them on 24/7? can they use a salt lick though it? i know it has a hole but is it big enough? will also look into the feeds, thanks guys.
 
EAB, is your pony grazing 24/7 aswell as having falcon? does that help with their grass-binging? or is that just to feed if they do not have much grass avail?
 
If you're worried about her weight don't change her strip every day - allow her to forage for the grass - being on a bare paddock won't do her harm as long as there are shoots coming through she'll have enough to eat
Kate x
 
Can you put some soaked hay out for her and stop the strip grazing to control her weight? Some pnoies will just eat and eat and eat but at least if you give her some thing with fewer calories than grass it will fill her tummy a bit more.
 

Refering to horses like yours as gready,is rather unfortunate,because they are not.Native breeds have evolved t survive on very poor grazing consumed in large quantities.Your horse does not feel full and satisfied on a grass intake which will keep her slim and trim.If you simply restrict the grass you will put yourself in line for all sorts of problems.
I would advise you to restrict the grazing but offer ad lib feeding straw and a mineral ballancer.Have a read of the replies to Puccinponis post today, with reference to Fat scores, I wrote a bit more about straw but my typing fingers are worn out now,so I dont want to go through it again.
All the best,
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I have the same probelm with my cob. He is on strip grazzing on his own although there are other horses in the same field. He has a muzzle on until the grass is eaten down intially then I move the fending a tiny bit each day, but other than that its pretty bare....but the interesting thing is his head is always down and he's constantly grazzing, so although I dont think there is much grass, there must be! It so tough I hate him being on his own but its the only way I can control his weight and he can enjoy the summer not being couped up inside his stable. Good Luck!
 
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