Grazing time, per day???

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jomax

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Just wondering how long everyone is grazing there horses for per day?
My girl came to me having at some point in her life suffered Laminitis, she had rings on her hooves and my farrier could see were there had been signs of separation at some time in the past of the laminae.

10 months on, and the rings are slowly growing out and the farrier is really pleased with her feet.


She 10 years old 15.1h ISH, of light build.

I only allow her 1to 2 hours in the morning and 1/2 to 1 hour in the evening out in the fields a day. I have good grazing with no shortage of grass.
The rest of the time she stays in a soil/sand indoor school, with ad-lib hay.

She has 2 small hard feeds aday consisting of Happy Hoove, barley, conditioning cubes, soya oil, garlic and Turmeric with chopped veggies.

So far she's staying nice and trim and the vet says it's nice to see a horse that's not over weight at this time of year.

So, again, I'm just wondering what everyone else is doing with their horses that are prone to or had Laminitis in the past???
 
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I have a cob and a shettie, both good doers. They are on 24/7 turnout over summer and in at night with ad lib hay over winter, token bucket feeds only. Once had a lami prone horse on loan and managed him the same way with no issues
 
I don't know if I am just lucky, or if allowing them 24/7 forage stops them gorging? My big thing is as much turn out as possible though
 
Mine are it 24/7.
One has had laminitis in the past- but from stress/trauma not food.
However, because of that she has a reduced area and is strip grazed.
I would start to slowly increase the time out yours has, but because you don’t know the cause or when she had it, I would probably not do 24/7 this year.
Are you able to have her on a reduced area/strip graze?
 
Mine was not at grass over winter, then the wet weather meant delay again.

I grazed in hand for just over 2 weeks, starting with 10 minutes and increasing 10 minutes a day until she was up to an hour, and we stuck at an hour waiting for the fields to dry up.

She started with 2 hours grazing, then 1 hour morning and 2 hours night, now into 1 hour morning and 3 hours evening.

Soon she will be out for the day, although that tends to be out at 7am and back in around 2pm so I can ride.

I don't trust them out at night as we have a dog living nearby that I have three times found in my field chasing horses, so like to be about to keep an eye. I have also now covered the field with CCTV!

Our fields are very lush, and were scalped a week before we used them!
 
I would prefer them to be out longer on less good grass, although I do not like muzzles I would use one to allow more time out if restricting the grass in other way was not an option, mine are out 24/7 as far as possible, even my oldie who had laminitis in the past.

I would not be feeding that amount of starchy food to any horse in my care, you are restricting her grass intake yet overloading her with high risk food which is contradictory but if they are small may be little enough to get away with if she is in regular work.
 
Two regimes in different places. Away from home three fatties share a small paddock and get half a bale of hay put out when poo picking each day. They have been in this field all winter. At home where it has been a lot wetter three have been let out of the winter mud patch/fold yard and allowed to graze round the buildings. This has been built up to an hour a day and this morning they got let into a paddock that has been grazed by sheep all winter and had a bit of new seed scattered on a few bald bits. The rams had three days in this first to eat any really lush growth off. They will be allowed an hour out today and for the next few days. They have barley straw in a ring feeder in the fold yard and get a bit of hay each end of the day.

All are in little or no work though.
 
both mine (one had laminitis last year) are still on their winter field which is just under half an acre, the grass is still coming through so they are both muzzled and I put hay out to make sure they have roughage going through, (they can eat it really well through their muzzles) they currently go out in the evening around 18.00 and come in around 07.00 for the day on soaked hay, my bigger Dales who is laminitis prone due to PPID is looking amazing weight wise but I put him on the richer grass the other week for only an hour with his muzzle and he had bounding pulses the next day.
My little Dartmoor is still far too chunky for my liking despite being muzzled all winter and fed soaked hay.
as soon as the winter field is harrowed I will build the track system so they can hopefully stay out 24/7 with hay, at least I am going to have a lot of standing foggage over the winter to feed them!
 
Rings don't always mean lami, can just be change in diet or worming etc. If she's not showing symptoms I wouldn't panic too much about the rings.
 
It depends entirely on the horse, it's health, any conditions that need managing, and whether or not your grazing is sheltered or exposed. Plus some horses really don't like being out for hours on end. Saying horses have to be out 24/7 or similar is too inflexible.
Years ago I had a horse from inner London who had never been out to graze in his 11 years. His eventual limit, with careful management to start with, was 5 hours.
I have a PRE who had never seen grass til I imported him and who isn't keen on being out, but will now do 3 hours, and if it's very hot, another hour late aftrrnoon. My paddocks are exposed with no shelter whatsoever. I also have a black TB who would stay out happily but feels the heat badly. Both of mine strip graze. OP, it sounds to me as though you are managing the whole situation very nicely for your particular horse. Well done. Other regimes suit other horses. They are all individual.
 
Yes, I know, it was thought originally that the rings,which are on all 4 hooves, were signs of a previous dietary deficiency.
But when my farrier came and took her shoes off he could see signs that the laminae had been compromised at some point.
So as we did not know the cause of the Laminitis we thought it best to follow the regime we have implemented.
I am paranoid about this disease though, as I lost a section D mare last year with laminates, and it is a cruel horrible disease.
 
Thank you for your comments, it's really difficult knowing what's best.
But to be honest,she is proving to be a mare that enjoys being in and shouts at the gate as soon as she's had enough!!
 
Ems laminitic shetland grazes 12hrs muzzled (out during day in winter, overnight in summer) on a large hill field with a herd of other ponies.
All other ponies graze 12hrs during day in winter and 24hrs in summer. I prefer them out and moving when possible. Also only feed clean feed, no byproducts, molasses, gm ingredient setc which has worked really well.
 
jomax said:
Yes, I know, it was thought originally that the rings,which are on all 4 hooves, were signs of a previous dietary deficiency.
But when my farrier came and took her shoes off he could see signs that the laminae had been compromised at some point.
So as we did not know the cause of the Laminitis we thought it best to follow the regime we have implemented.
I am paranoid about this disease though, as I lost a section D mare last year with laminates, and it is a cruel horrible disease.
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If I were 'paranoid' about laminitis, I would stop all hard feed at this time of the year and only give a small amount in the depths of winter if the horse seriously lost condition. I wouldn't feed garlic under any circumstances, especially to a laminitic, as it destroys the gut flora. A compromised digestive system can lead to laminitis.
I lost a Shire to laminitis, she was aged 6 and had what we now believe was undiagnosed Cushings disease. My horses live out 24/7 in Summer, in overnight in Winter. We have old pasture which has not been fertilised in over 30 years and cross graze with sheep.
 
There’s no way I would be feeding a horse who had had laminitis barley and conditioning cubes I am feeling queasy thinking about it .
If this horse where mine she would be getting a good quality balancer chosen with hoof health in mind ( I would use a forage plus one ) some dried grass 200 grams micronised linseed and some oats and hay when in obviously how much you feed depends on the horse.
I would be working towards turning the horse out at night ( when the sugars in the grass are lowest ) and bringing her off the grass by 9am until evening I would have the horse in work six or seven days a week I would be watching her carefully and increasing turnout as much as possible .
 
Goldenstar said:
There’s no way I would be feeding a horse who had had laminitis barley and conditioning cubes I am feeling queasy thinking about it .
If this horse where mine she would be getting a good quality balancer chosen with hoof health in mind ( I would use a forage plus one ) some dried grass 200 grams micronised linseed and some oats and hay when in obviously how much you feed depends on the horse.
I would be working towards turning the horse out at night ( when the sugars in the grass are lowest ) and bringing her off the grass by 9am until evening I would have the horse in work six or seven days a week I would be watching her carefully and increasing turnout as much as possible .
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Exactly, me too.
 
be positive said:
I would not be feeding that amount of starchy food to any horse in my care, you are restricting her grass intake yet overloading her with high risk food which is contradictory but if they are small may be little enough to get away with if she is in regular work.
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^^ agreed

I don't mind using muzzles, I'd rather that than have to keep the horses in, as it still allows them to get fresh air, wander about and trickle feed :)
I have retired mares 2 out full time on a mix of untouched long grass strip grazing and old pasture, no additional feed. They're looking good at the moment. The 2 in work are out between 8am and 5pm on decent grazing. I'll swap them over to be out overnight if it gets consistently hot but at the moment they are enjoying the sun on their backs. If they go out overnight then I'll reduce hay/feed given because they will be eating more outdoors :D
 
she would be better out longer, in the fresh air, and getting zero hard feed!

none of mine have had lami, but 2 are welsh ponies so good survival genes, prone to being fat! the other is ISH who has very mild cushings and is semi retired.

ponies are on smaller rougher paddocks than my sisters 2 (TB and WB who need good grass) with lots of long rough old grass for them to pick through.

the ISH is strip grazed as he gets gassy colic on any sort of long grass in the summer so smaller amounts per day work better for him.
 
Normally mine are out in summer from about 7pm to 8am, but Diva came down with steroid induced lami last week.

They get no hard feed in summer, just a handful of chopped straw to put supplements in and some soaked hay in the day.

Not quite sure what the plan will be with Diva once she’s allowed back out. She won’t wear a muzzle, although I will try again with that. We have far too much grass and not enough horses at the moment.
 
My fatty went out on a narrow strip overnight for 10 hours and came in lethargic with increased pulses and slightly footy over gravel. I'd put him out with a muzzle initially but he couldn't get any grass as it was too short (the grass has just not been growing here - 900ft above sea level in Scotland).

The worst thing is I can't get any oat straw or barley straw to feed him during the day (seems to be a massive shortage) so unfortunately I am having to soak timothy haylage and feed that (5Kg). I have ordered some efeed oat straw chaff so I can give him that to nibble on because he manages to inhale the haylage within 30 mins and then stands without anything to eat for 10-11 hours.

Feed wise he gets a small half scoop of speedibeet with pro hoof, micronised linseed, mag ox and salt twice a day. I also add alpha gold (tumeric) twice a day. No carrots or apples and the only treats are high fibre nuggets.

Anyway good news is he bounced in this morning - no footiness over the gravel and no pulses. A very happy chappy!
 
My two are out 9pm-6:30/7am on meadow grass and are looking well on it. I’m monitoring one of mine closely as he was looking tubby but a week in during the day has definitely helped but I will muzzle him if necessary. The 2yo came out of the winter lean and so she gets a bit more hay during the day.

I make sure they have a feed (agrobs fetura and musli) and a haynet an hour before going out so they have full tummies and less inclined to gorge.
 
personally I would not be feeding that hard feed- even if they are in a decent amount of work- if they are a decent weight and prone to lami there is just no point wasting your money! mine get a small handful of dry grass and speedy beet with linseed and a supplement that is meant to aid circulation and prevent lami. a bit more hard feed to winter, but personally I would rather just feed more forage.

if they are happy in their routine then it sounds fine. late afternoon is the worse time for sugars in grass, or a frosty morning. but you say she goes out evening anyway. personally I prefer as much turn out as possible as it keeps them moving (regardless of how much ridden work they are in) so I have set up a track for the spring and summer, so they have to move around a lot. out 24-7 pretty much (they did come into cool barn yesterday as still losing winter coat and 28+degrees). they maintain fitness better out on the track and as someone else mentioned- they don't gorge as much
 
As others have said, OP, you are micro managing grass turnout but giving 2 feeds a day of very starchy, calorific bucket food? Conditioning cubes??
I have one porky boy and a mainly TB oldie, it is hard to keep them both looking good at this time of year but I do like them to be out as much as possible. Electric fencing is my secret weapon! They are still on their winter field which is fenced off and once on a summer field, will be strip grazed. I'm lucky in that my 3 fields are relatively small and I can alter the fencing to suit myself.
 
It makes no sense to feed her the hard feed you are giving her, other than the turmeric not one of those ingredients would be what I would select for a laminitic horse.
 
Mine is out 24/7 but not on lush grass, he's also never had any health concerns and maintains a good weight with the amount of exercise & hard feed he has.
 
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