Horse on Grass

[JBM]

Hi my horse has gone out to the field for 2 weeks 24/7 on a new field to try build up some weight after losing weight due to a teeth problem (now sorted) was just wondering what to look out for as dangerous? Her poop has gone slightly watery after a few hours.
Also bought some fly spray it’s on its way should be here by Monday. Usually coopers spot on keeps them off but flies are while bad rn down by the river

 

[Birker2020]

The amount and quality of that grass is staggering. You need to get electric fence and posts (kits are better so you have everything because there is a danger she could just go through electric fencing without any power to it) as soon as possible and strip graze, i.e move the fence along every other day by a few inches.

No wonder her poo is runny! And she looks a bit overweight, although its hard to see from the photos - you need to keep an eye on her weight or you will be putting undue pressure on her joints and ligaments. Sometimes horses bloat due to the gas caused by the fermentation in the gut, but this can be dangerous as it can cause spasmodic colic.

An an ideal you should be able to just see her ribs ideally, although I know its hard with some horses that put on weight by just looking at a blade of grass.

You are very fortunate she's not gone down with colic or laminitis, you have to be very careful with these conditions, once you have a laminitic life will never be the same (fortunately that is a bullet I've always managed to dodge).

I would get her off that grass until you have managed to procure some fencing.

You need to check the boundary at least once a week, to check for rabbit holes/posionous plants/rubbish and check the perimeter fence line in general.

You do need to get a fly rug/fly spray if you can as fly bites can get nasty and if they are where the saddle or girth sit you won't be able to ride, although at the moment that is the least of your problems.

 

[JBM]

The amount and quality of that grass is staggering. You need to get electric fence and posts (kits are better so you have everything because there is a danger she could just go through electric fencing without any power to it) as soon as possible and strip graze, i.e move the fence along every other day by a few inches.

No wonder her poo is runny! And she looks a bit overweight, although its hard to see from the photos - you need to keep an eye on her weight or you will be putting undue pressure on her joints and ligaments. Sometimes horses bloat due to the gas caused by the fermentation in the gut, but this can be dangerous as it can cause spasmodic colic.

An an ideal you should be able to just see her ribs ideally, although I know its hard with some horses that put on weight by just looking at a blade of grass.

You are very fortunate she's not gone down with colic or laminitis, you have to be very careful with these conditions, once you have a laminitic life will never be the same (fortunately that is a bullet I've always managed to dodge).

I would get her off that grass until you have managed to procure some fencing.

You need to check the boundary at least once a week, to check for rabbit holes/posionous plants/rubbish and check the perimeter fence line in general.

You do need to get a fly rug/fly spray if you can as fly bites can get nasty and if they are where the saddle or girth sit you won't be able to ride, although at the moment that is the least of your problems.

I’ll try get up some fencing thought it would be alright as it’s a small field just an acre but I’ll get something up
She actually lost a lot of weight recently and her ribs are quite prominent closer up

 

[Birker2020]

I’ll try get up some fencing thought it would be alright as it’s a small field just an acre but I’ll get something up
She actually lost a lot of weight recently and her ribs are quite prominent closer up

An acre is a lot of grass for one horse when it's lush like that.
Are you aware of laminitis? We have had many horses by us suddenly develop laminitis that have never had it before and some of the owners are very diligent.

 

[JBM]

An acre is a lot of grass for one horse when it's lush like that.
Are you aware of laminitis? We have had many horses by us suddenly develop laminitis that have never had it before and some of the owners are very diligent.

Just measured it there it’s 0.35 of an acre would strip grazing be better or I was considering taking her in for a few hours during the day due to the flies being horrid here?
Yes aware of lam went down to check on here there her feet and all. Honestly more worried about the horse flies at the moment her poop has hardened up a bit but she wasn’t even eating anything for a while due to flies chasing her around the field

 

[PurBee]

Did you slowly introduce grazing to the pony? Or did you put her in the paddock 24/7 immediately?

 

[JBM]

Did you slowly introduce grazing to the pony? Or did you put her in the paddock 24/7 immediately?

She has been on a different field in a different area out during day and in at night so she was on about 8-10 hours grazing

 

[Birker2020]

Just measured it there it’s 0.35 of an acre would strip grazing be better or I was considering taking her in for a few hours during the day due to the flies being horrid here?
Yes aware of lam went down to check on here there her feet and all. Honestly more worried about the horse flies at the moment her poop has hardened up a bit but she wasn’t even eating anything for a while due to flies chasing her around the field

I think you should strip graze her.

When you see how much grass a horse can consume with a grazing muzzle on,you would realise that a few flies are hardly going to stop something gorging itself.
You really need to act fast. In my experience it would be better to strip graze than keep her in.

 

[JBM]

I think you should strip graze her.

When you see how much grass a horse can consume with a grazing muzzle on,you would realise that a few flies are hardly going to stop something gorging itself.
You really need to act fast. In my experience it would be better to strip graze than keep her in.

Roger that thank you

 

[PurBee]

She has been on a different field in a different area out during day and in at night so she was on about 8-10 hours grazing

So if the previous field wasnt so lush and now shes on long grass, thats possibly the reason for the watery poops. They should firm up in 48hrs but, as flies are a real pain right now…maybe bring in during day with hay then let her out on that new grazing at night when flies are ‘asleep!’….just to regulate a bit rather than let her gorge on all that lush grass.

If its difficult to bring her in then has she used a grazing muzzle before? That would help her eat the grass slower.

Mine are going crazy with the horseflies right now - choosing to stay in shaded shelter than be in the fields during the day - theyve been letting themselves out at night for grazing. Flies can get to a level of really stressing them out, which no spray works for when there’s 10 horseflies trying to bite all over their body etc..so best to bring in during day if you can.

Zebra fly rugs work well.

 

[JBM]

So if the previous field wasnt so lush and now shes on long grass, thats possibly the reason for the watery poops. They should firm up in 48hrs but, as flies are a real pain right now…maybe bring in during day with hay then let her out on that new grazing at night when flies are ‘asleep!’….just to regulate a bit rather than let her gorge on all that lush grass.

If its difficult to bring her in then has she used a grazing muzzle before? That would help her eat the grass slower.

Mine are going crazy with the horseflies right now - choosing to stay in shaded shelter than be in the fields during the day - theyve been letting themselves out at night for grazing. Flies can get to a level of really stressing them out, which no spray works for when there’s 10 horseflies trying to bite all over their body etc..so best to bring in during day if you can.

Zebra fly rugs work well.

All our other animals are out 24/7 (cows and sheep) so plenty of space for me to put her a few hours in the day I borrowed some fly spray off a friend while mine is on its way and coated her in it tho the horse flies don’t seem to care! She’s only home for 2 weeks then back to her usual less fly spot so no point buying a rug by time it got here she wouldn’t be wearing it long same with the muzzle

 

[windand rain]

my horses eat ad lib grass year round even the laminitic one. grass nuts/grass chaff/foggage live out 24/7 the grass is long probably knee deep and all are fine on it wouldn't worry too much about a skinny horse on decent grass it is what vets prescribe good old Dr Green

 

[luckyoldme]

Was I the only one ?

 

[JBM]

my horses eat ad lib grass year round even the laminitic one. grass nuts/grass chaff/foggage live out 24/7 the grass is long probably knee deep and all are fine on it wouldn't worry too much about a skinny horse on decent grass it is what vets prescribe good old Dr Green

What do you do for horse flies?

 

[windand rain]

What do you do for horse flies?

use a 70% dettol 30% water sponged on it works for them but the horse flies round here only seem to be about for 2 weeks. i have fly rugs but to be honest rarely need them

 

[JBM]

use a 70% dettol 30% water sponged on it works for them but the horse flies round here only seem to be about for 2 weeks. i have fly rugs but to be honest rarely need them

Is dettol safe? I’ll try that tomorrow the horse flies are killing her

 

[Flowerofthefen]

use a 70% dettol 30% water sponged on it works for them but the horse flies round here only seem to be about for 2 weeks. i have fly rugs but to be honest rarely need them

This is the only thing I have found to work better than fly spray. Much cheaper too!!

 

[Auslander]

The amount and quality of that grass is staggering. You need to get electric fence and posts (kits are better so you have everything because there is a danger she could just go through electric fencing without any power to it) as soon as possible and strip graze, i.e move the fence along every other day by a few inches.

No wonder her poo is runny! And she looks a bit overweight, although its hard to see from the photos - you need to keep an eye on her weight or you will be putting undue pressure on her joints and ligaments. Sometimes horses bloat due to the gas caused by the fermentation in the gut, but this can be dangerous as it can cause spasmodic colic.

An an ideal you should be able to just see her ribs ideally, although I know its hard with some horses that put on weight by just looking at a blade of grass.

You are very fortunate she's not gone down with colic or laminitis, you have to be very careful with these conditions, once you have a laminitic life will never be the same (fortunately that is a bullet I've always managed to dodge).

I would get her off that grass until you have managed to procure some fencing.

You need to check the boundary at least once a week, to check for rabbit holes/posionous plants/rubbish and check the perimeter fence line in general.

You do need to get a fly rug/fly spray if you can as fly bites can get nasty and if they are where the saddle or girth sit you won't be able to ride, although at the moment that is the least of your problems.

Are we looking at the same pictures? OP said that the horse needs to put weight on after illness, and horse doesn't look overweight at all! The field is tiny, and as the purpose of putting the horse out on decent grass is for it to put weight back on - strip grazing is counter-productive. The majority of blood horses can cope with a bit of decent grass - it's just the ones with metabolic disorders that are at risk, not every horse ever born!

 

[JBM]

Are we looking at the same pictures? OP said that the horse needs to put weight on after illness, and horse doesn't look overweight at all! The field is tiny, and as the purpose of putting the horse out on decent grass is for it to put weight back on - strip grazing is counter-productive. The majority of blood horses can cope with a bit of decent grass - it's just the ones with metabolic disorders that are at risk, not every horse ever born!

I’ve left her field the way it is and her poops have hardened so feeling much better! Didn’t like the idea of strip grazing due to the fact it would keep her out of shelter from the trees as the sun moved. I’ve tried dettol and fly spray today! She seemed to really like the water in this heat! See how it goes seems to be working! Thank you everyone

 

[I'm Dun]

Are we looking at the same pictures? OP said that the horse needs to put weight on after illness, and horse doesn't look overweight at all! The field is tiny, and as the purpose of putting the horse out on decent grass is for it to put weight back on - strip grazing is counter-productive. The majority of blood horses can cope with a bit of decent grass - it's just the ones with metabolic disorders that are at risk, not every horse ever born!

This! A third of an acre of that grass is going to be just fine for a horse that needs condition. Reading the replies about strip grazing had me scratching my head in confusion wondering if I had missed something. The one thing I would have done differently is introduce it a little bit slower, but its done now and sounds like its fine, just something to bear in mind for the future