hmmmm

L

LuanneCat

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Was given a general horsey book by a friend from back home in the UK and was happily reading along until I hit the paragraph stating.

".. as a stabled Horse can be kept much fitter than a grass kept horse, which will not be fit enough for much more than general riding."

Well OK am probably missing an important point here but as a stand alone idea I have to say I strongly disagree with this. Both my Sisters and my Horses are totally field kept and both are very fit and also compete. Feeding was not mentioned in this chapter btw.

Opinions?
 
I disagree with the statment, surley a grass kept one could be kept fitter as it is constantly walking around and playing with field mates so their muscles are constantly working. Surley that would benifit the horse's fittness than just stood still in a stable 24/7?
Even if that wasn't the case there is no reason why a grass kept horse cannot be fitter for hard/fast work, utter stupid statment IMO.
 
i think it depends on certain conditions. i mean, most grass is richer than hay, so the horse is naturally going to be getting more nutrition when in the field. but if you ad lib hay/haylage in the stable, the horse is not going to be eating any more (in terms of quantity) than when in the field, and most will not spend all day eating! i am riding mine from the field at the moment, but, that said, i am giving her at least 2 hours after coming in before i ride her. i do however know of some ponies up the road who are ridden from the field, and they are grossly fat and puff like steam trains! i think it depends a) on grass type, b) on horse/pony's nutritional tendencies! and c) on amount of work horse required to do.
 
In New Zealand some horses are raced and evented off grass.
I agree with MizElz depends on the horse type and feeding.
 
This is a very outdated view (btw when was the book written). Most endurance horses are kept out nearly all the time and some of these compete in rides of up to 160 km in a day, averaging speeds of 19 k/hr +. These must be some of the fittest horses in the world!
 
Sounds rubbish to me. I evenbted a horse to Novice level this season just on grass and appropriate feed and I prefer them to live as naturally as possible.
 
[ QUOTE ]
"Both my Sisters and my Horses " - do your sisters like being kept in the field??? I know house prices are steep but...just joking.

[/ QUOTE ]



hehehehe
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also oooops I make no sense LoL
 
I think it depends entirely on the feed they receive and, more importantly, the exercise they receive. We work all our animals straight from the field, they are never stabled, and they are all reasonably fit, and would be more so if we exercised them more.
 
We event off grass all summer, much healthier horses than when stabled. Just starting to hard feed again now as our grass is poor now, but otherwise no problems!
 
This post reminded me of a book my Aunt sent me that she found in a charity shop. It was written in 1949 and has some ideas that to today's riders must seem very un-PC ...

Every woman should learn to ride both side-saddle and astride ... some women should only ride side-saddle because they are not built to ride astride and let me say here that there is no reason, so far as I know why the average woman having knees without an undue covering of fat should not ride as well as a man. When I say some women should only ride side-saddle I refer, of course, to those who are very heavily built

Do you think there were 'fat-knee police' to make sure you were within the limits for riding astride
grin.gif


or my favourite under the chapter on clothing

Don't wear black leggings with black boots, which is the conventional uniform for grooms

Heaven forbid that anyone should be mistaken for a groom!!
 
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