native type ponies that live out at grass

sally87

sally87

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hi

in the field behind my house there is a small group of horses & ponies. some of them are native type. they all live out 24/7 365 days a year & as far as i can tell do not get ridden. i was just wondering why these horses/ ponies are not horrendously overweight & laminitic especially the native ones? there is plenty of grass in the field so its not like their grazing is limited at all.

i have had 2 native ponies in the past (one welsh x, one new forest) & despite them only being out during the day & being ridden most days have had my work cut out keeping their weight down. both ponies went on to get laminitis when i sold them on as they werent getting so much work with their new owners.

so if the horses are getting twice as much time in the field & no work why are they not affected too? there are loads of sheep in the field could this make a difference?

i have never wanted to keep a horse on grass livery before as i was worried about laminitis & weight problems but here it doesnt seem to be an issue. however if it could be done safely it could save me lots of pennies in the future!

just wondered if anypne knew of a reason why or are these horses just lucky?

thanks

Sally
 
I would think the sheep are making a huge difference. They eat everything close to the ground. They will be eating stuff the horses wouldnt touch due to stale gound. So the field may look fantastic but in fact for the horses it may be really poor grazing, hence no laminitis.

But i am no expert on sheep. Well I am no expert on any thing really! Quite good at maths...:D
 
it is possible they could be being exercised and you don't know about it?

some grasses are worse than others for lami and it could also be possible that they are not being feed any concentrates or rugged up so they slim right down during the winter esp if there is snow and then put back weight on in the summer but not so much that they get overweight but just as part of their natural cycle that they would experience in the wild.

they might be more prone to getting fat if they were stabled at night and getting good quality hay and hard feed and wearing rugs in the winter than if they lived out in a natural state.

my pony lives out and in the summer months when it is very hot and there are flies around they restrict their own grazing as they stand in the shade during the day to get away from flies and heat.
 
hmm i like maths too...

i dont think they get exercised, obviously it could be that i dont know about it but everyone in the village (& it is a very nosey village) says they are just kept as pets & one of the ponies can only be 10hands max & there are no kids in the family that owns them. i dont think they look wormy, they just look healthy to be honest. i dont think there is anything wrong with these horses, im just a tad jealous that they can live out this way! i dont think they get hard feed (although again there is no way i would no for certain) but they get hay in winter. its probably the sheep then

thanks for your thoughts!
 
I would think as they live out 24/7 in a herd they are probably exercising themselves more than you think. Also if they are not rugged and get any extra feed they will naturally lose weight when it is cold. Keeping sheep with them not only will help keep down the grass but also help control the worm problem. I think its an excellant management system as native ponies have been naturally selected to live ouside 24/7.
 
I wish I was lucky enough! It feels like a kick in the teeth when I have to muzzle and excersise daily just to stop him putting weight on but the rest of Phils herd aren't that bigger than him :(

I do often wonder if it also depends on the regime they're in. Are they fed over winter? if not they may be a very 'wild' type herd in that they drop a lot of condition over winter and put it back on in summer.

Are the sheep a new thing? If so that could be bad news.
 
the sheep were there before the horses so they are not new, but if they were why would this be bad? only the bigger horses (i.e. the not native types) are rugged & only a middle weight rug in winter
 
All my horses live out 24/7 they are all natives and have never had lami, I suppose the quality of grass my be a factor also, if mine were on too lush grass that may be an issue.
 
I'm sure the sheep will make a big difference, and when it was dry not so long ago there was very little grazing (here at least) so perhaps they lost a fair bit of weight then?

Last time our vet was out I was discussing with him why my well looked after ponies who were restricted food wise, exercised, etc etc were prone to laminitis and colic whereas the neglected ponies at the top of the village never seemed to ail a thing (they were pretty poor looking though.)

He said that the chances are that they did suffer from laminitis/colic exactly the same, but that it was probably never noticed and the ponies would either recover naturally or deteriorate until it became obvious that something was very wrong, although as they are rarely checked it would probably be too late anyway :(

I also think that the effects of excess grazing are cumulative, and as a pony ages it becomes more vulnerable to the effects. A huge amount depends on the quality of grazing too, I just moved from a paddock with lots of natural meadow grasses, not fertilised for about ten years to one that is almost all ryegrass and was heavily fertilized up to a few years ago and I'm certainly seeing issues with LGL this year.
 
We have 13, 8 natives and the others a mix of TBx and warmbloods, all live out 24/7 although some of the horses may have to come in over winter and will be rugged shortly, they will also be fed through the winter. Last year they all lived out pretty much all winter with just hay or haylage constantly available throughout the freeze. Some of them dropped more weight than I would have liked but we have 3 natives and a horse who have suffered from lami in the past and also one with sweetitch who has always had to be rugged 24/7 all year round. This year, with no 'management' not a single case of lami and the sweetitch pony has gone all summer without a rug for the first time in his life! I am convinced that they detoxed last winter and that it why there were no nasties through the summer. One of the lami prone ponies came out of winter almost as fat as he went in, has remained the same size through summer. They exercise naturally chasing around several times a day and are also in hilly fields which help.
 
sally87 said:
the sheep were there before the horses so they are not new, but if they were why would this be bad? only the bigger horses (i.e. the not native types) are rugged & only a middle weight rug in winter
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I would presume they are more naturalistic then and drop a lot of weight through winter and gain through summer rather than maintaining a consistent weight.

As for the sheep, afaik their droppings make for very rich grass; not so good for fat laminitic types. However I may be wrong :o
 
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