How much grass do you 'allow' your Cushings Pony/Horse

[Eaglestone]

Motor is a 14.3hh horse who has had Cushings for 3 years now and seems to be doing just fine

He is on 1 1/2 mg of Pergolide a day and I have 'allowed' him to graze for an hour a day out of his 'controlled zone' of a little patch of grass throughout the summer

His 'extra' patch is a small paddock, which is currently grazed down, but still quite a bit of grass

I am still giving him his hour a day and wondered how far I could push it now it is nearly December .... I did think about turning him out in it for about 3 hours last Sunday afternoon, then went into PANIC zone and kept him off it

What do the rest of you do, as a 'benchmark' for me

Thank you

 

[TGM]

I used to have a Cushings pony, on no medication, and the maximum time of grazing I found I could allow her was two sessions of two hours a day - so four hours a day in total. However, that was on an unfertilized patch of sparse grazing. I reduced the time spent grazing when frosty or when we had a spell of mild, wet weather.

 

[Eaglestone]

Thank you TGM ... I think atm I am being a bit too careful and Motor is getting a bit fed up, as he has even had his little patch taken away from him, as it was getting too muddy

He get so excited in the evening, when I get to him and is now not eating his hay which is a bit of a protest really, on his part

It has taken me so long to get some weight on him, I now fear that he will starve himself

 

[alisonpook]

Well I've found myself thinking the very same in the last few weeks! We did not get our hay cut this year and Jamie's winter grazing is potentially more prolific than in previous years. When he was 'recovering' from his initial attack we were very careful in what, when and where he was turned out - I lost two stone in weight with the worry and constant to and froing. Jack in the box would have been a more apt name for him. We set an eventual target of 5 hours minimum turnout - we used other horses as lawn mowers to create a 'sheep-grazed' basic paddock and then divided this off from more normal grass with electric tape. He would have his basic paddock extended each morning by about 20 square meters and more often than not again in the evening - although there was a time I cut the evening grass as he got a bit of a pulse. In recent years I have changed tack a bit and now give him a much larger area which has been grazed off extensively. This also has the benefit of a hawthorn hedge. I felt he managed better like this. Out of interest I started to let him through a couple of weeks for 30 minutes or so am and pm on the 'long' grass and while initially keen to go through the novelty is wearing off and after 10 minutes or so he is keeping an eye out for his breakfast or tea being ready. I have learnt not to take December too lightly as on a couple of occasions he has been off and whilst my blacksmith felt it unlikely because of the time of year a phone call to the vets found he had had an upsurge in laminitis cases - possibly because of the weather conditions. I have found it useful to have my sand paddock as a back-up. The next village also has a weather enthusiast who maintains a detailed website updated through the day which includes air temperature , soil temperature , solar radiation and frost warnings! I know the feeling of uncertainty. I often wonder just how much grass he could cope with but after the recent colic I feel super cautious and he always has soaked hay available as an alternative nowadays even when grazing. Nice to hear that Motor's doing well.

 

[alisonpook]

PS - His combined turnout time for long/short grass would be around 12-14 hours on a 'normal' day. This has been his standard turnout time for the last couple of years. I think the pergolide has been a big help in achieving this.

 

[brighteyes]

Two hours in a muzzle when she is not having a relapse and has laminitis. This is on long or short unfertilised grass. She gets none when she is footy, until she is sound and workable again.

Hi EllieP *waves* Good to see you again

 

[MurphysMinder]

I have just increased our Cushings pony to 2 hours turnout on grass . She is on 1x 1mg pergolide a day (shes 12hh). The rest of the time she is on her bare patch, and has hay. She used to be out for longer in a muzzle but got very clever at removing it so I prefer this regime when I know exactly how much she has had.

 

[pottamus]

Well my lad does not have cushings but he had a realy mild dose of laminitis last year and has just got through something very similar but the vet swears blind it was not laminitis...but my gut feeling says it was. So I have come to the realisation that he will have to live on his bare paddock full time now with hay all year round in a bid to stop this becoming a major problem and keep his weight off.
I have managed all summer and beginning of autumn to keep his weight off and have no problems with him being out 24/7 on a bare paddock and hay and then in October time, thinking the grass had gone off a bit, I started to move the fence 1 foot every other day and still feed hay. Well in 1 month his weight had started to creep back up and he got this recent episode of being a bit 'footy' on un-level hard ground...so that is it for me, I never thought I would see the day but I am going to leave him on his bare paddock full time with hay and so be it. I cannot risk him getting laminitis again and cannot seem to keep his weight off whilst eating proper grass.
I guess they are all differnt and mine is not helped by the fact that he is only ridden at weekends now because of work during the week.

 

[Eaglestone]

Elliep
So glad to hear that Jamie is doing fine

I know what you mean about the stress and worry and the constant toing and froing and I have tried to be ‘brave’ and give him more as my confidence has grown. Motor sounds a bit like Jamie, whereas when I do turn him onto the bigger patch I invariably find that he has put himself back into his paddock and is quite happily munching his hay

. So I then think I can be ‘braver’ and let him have longer out there as he is quite happy that he has got the option, it would appear

I am not really in the position apart from Saturday and Sunday to leave him longer than a hour, but I think I may start to do this and do the usual and keep my beady eye on all the signs as we 'suffers' have to

PS I would love to see pics of Jamie

Brighteyes
Thank you B … how is she doing?


MurphysMinder
I could never do a muzzle for Motor as I know him well enough to be confident that he would just stand there and starve and would not be able to eat his hay either

Pottamus
Oh no sorry to hear that your boy has had a couple of bouts of Laminitis. How old is he?

Thank you all again, for taking the time to post

 

[Flame_]

Work's cushings pony(on 1 pergolide a day) and EMS pony(on 1 pergolide and 1 modrenal a day) have been going out in a large field, muzzled for about eight hours a day. It will be less on most days from now on though because they're back in work getting fit for next season.

They don't go out if there's a frost, and only go out a couple of hours a day when there's goodness in the grass again.

 

[pottamus]

My lad is 10 years old...11 next year.

 

[Eaglestone]

[ QUOTE ]
My lad is 10 years old...11 next year.

[/ QUOTE ]

Do you think he may have EMS

... as it sounds like you have been so careful with his grass intake and that you cannot do any more