Major rant alert!

pistolpete

pistolpete

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No reason to this other than I know you will have some sympathy/eperience/possible suggestions for me so get comfy.
My retired 17 year old 13.2 highland is currently in a seven acre field which is split 5/2 acres.
He’s a very good doer and his weight is always a concern. Occasionally muzzled when things get very bad. It’s grass only and no tap or stables. Super basic. His field buddy up until last week as a shire x cob also amazingly good doer. She has recently dropped off quite a lot so she went over into the five acres to do some catching up.
All fine so far except the woman in charge she sub lets it to us has said the splitting fence has to come down due to the field getting poached. It’s really not badly poached at all. Well drained flat chalk land.
The other two horses are retired TBs. Who obviously need ad lib hay.
If the fence comes down mine will camp by the hay boxes. The field won’t be any less poached. The TBs will potentially get less hay! No good can come of it. The fence has been up for a year and has worked so well. I have no clue what to do except try to find somewhere more suited to a hardy fatty. Really hate moving but can’t communicate with this woman much as I really have tried. Sad
 
Oh no that rubbish. But at least it's this time of year when there isn't as much goodness in the grass.

All I can suggest is to look for somewhere else and in the meantime rug as minimally as possible and drop any hard feed down to as little as possible if not able to stop completely.

Hope you find somewhere soon x
 
Damage limitation for the moment which might be in the form of muzzle (just make sure grass is long enough for him to get some through it as obv with his colic history he’ll still need enough going through his gut) and I’d personally shave as much fluff off as you can get away with without rugging (or take the lot off and rainsheet / 50g)

Fingers crossed you can find a place with a less crazy YO / that your current one changes their mind again in a week or so.
 
Boulty said:
Damage limitation for the moment which might be in the form of muzzle (just make sure grass is long enough for him to get some through it as obv with his colic history he’ll still need enough going through his gut) and I’d personally shave as much fluff off as you can get away with without rugging (or take the lot off and rainsheet / 50g)

Fingers crossed you can find a place with a less crazy YO / that your current one changes their mind again in a week or so.
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Thank you. He’s so settled here it’s heartbreaking. Taken him eight years to be this calm. 😔
 
pistolpete said:
I usually do but he’s looking so good this year I wasn’t going to. He’s never rugged.
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I thought I'd get away with it this year too but it's been so mild and we have so much grass that my boy's put on weight through November. Please excuse the headcollar, I didn't put it on him! I shouldn't really have clipped as I have trouble standing and weightbearing but someone needed to do it. ETA he isn't rugged either but this suits him well.
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It’s very frustrating when you’ve found something that works & then somebody moves the goalposts!

If you find somewhere with a nice chilled vibe he’ll likely cope better than you think. (Prince could have absolute meltdowns when things changed / weren’t as he wanted them but he coped relatively well with doing quite a bit of moving about in the last year or so of having him)
 
Boulty said:
It’s very frustrating when you’ve found something that works & then somebody moves the goalposts!

If you find somewhere with a nice chilled vibe he’ll likely cope better than you think. (Prince could have absolute meltdowns when things changed / weren’t as he wanted them but he coped relatively well with doing quite a bit of moving about in the last year or so of having him)
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Yes that’s a good point. I really hope I can sort something soon. He deserves peace too.
 
Any chance of having a chat with the yard owner to ask if you could move the fence, instead of taking it down? You might have to promise to rotate the grazing areas to prevent poached ground, but if you explain your concern, and point out the amount of poached ground that will surround the hay boxes, common sense might prevail. And wine and chocolates as a thank you if you are successful!
 
Highmileagecob said:
Any chance of having a chat with the yard owner to ask if you could move the fence, instead of taking it down? You might have to promise to rotate the grazing areas to prevent poached ground, but if you explain your concern, and point out the amount of poached ground that will surround the hay boxes, common sense might prevail. And wine and chocolates as a thank you if you are successful!
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Sadly not. She’s not going to change her mind. I’m so fed up trying to appease her.
 
Highmileagecob said:
If the other horse has gone onto better grass, why do the TBs need hay in the field? And if your Highland is anything like my old cob, he won't eat hay if grazing is available. Maybe give it a try - and ask other liveries to complain to the YO if yours hogs all the hay!
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Welll the fence is down and he’s camping by the hay as predicted. Hopefully he will go off and eat low sugar grass at some point and maybe even stop for breath but don’t bet on it! Weight taped today so I can monitor the damage! Got to move but he’s so settled. It’s hard.
 
Winter grass isn't as good as the summer stuff, so hopefully you get time to sort this out before the weight starts to pile on. It's difficult. My old boy lived for about four summers in a Tough 1 Easy Breathe muzzle, which allowed about 60% normal grass intake without making it hard for him to graze. Good luck.
 
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