SaffronWelshDragon
Well-Known Member
Morning all,
Just been thinking about a few things regarding my ponies and wanted your opinions. The background, Penny suffers with laminitis and moved up to my friends field a few years ago. This field used to a wooded (well, very thick bushes) which was cleared. As far as I know it didn't have any treatment, so the grass has started to come up, but is poor, plus there are a large number of bushes (hawthorn etc) and weeds / plants growing. For the first couple of year Pen's been great, she looks very fit as she walks up and down a hill all day and hasn't had a hint of laminitis.
Problem is, this field has quite a bit of ragwort in it, which I dig up, I think we're making progress but it's still around. Last year Penny suffered with bad burns on her nose, we think were caused by the increasing st. john's wort growing in the field. She got over it, and carried on through the winter fine, but with the nice weather the st. johns wort has grown even more. Also, Penny has a companion, a shetland cross who's 5 and doesn't have a history of laminitis.
Options: My other two, Saffron and Misty, live 5 minutes walk away in a lush 6 acre field. We use electric fencing to fence off a 3rd of the field in which they live. Now, theres nothing stopping me moving Penny and Rose back to this field, although if Penny gets out of the electric fencing we could be in serious trouble with her laminitis. This field is the complete opposite of Penny's field, barely any nasties at all.
So, do I leave Pen where she is, preventing laminitis, but increasing the possibility of poisioning, or move to Saffron's field, which is safe but could cause laminitis?
Bear in mind that neither of these fields belong to me, so I can't fork out for proper fencing (hence the electric fencing). Should I move Penny temporarily, and see if I can get rid of the st. johns wort? Does anyone know a good weed killer?
Thanks for reading, but I'm in a quandry.
Just been thinking about a few things regarding my ponies and wanted your opinions. The background, Penny suffers with laminitis and moved up to my friends field a few years ago. This field used to a wooded (well, very thick bushes) which was cleared. As far as I know it didn't have any treatment, so the grass has started to come up, but is poor, plus there are a large number of bushes (hawthorn etc) and weeds / plants growing. For the first couple of year Pen's been great, she looks very fit as she walks up and down a hill all day and hasn't had a hint of laminitis.
Problem is, this field has quite a bit of ragwort in it, which I dig up, I think we're making progress but it's still around. Last year Penny suffered with bad burns on her nose, we think were caused by the increasing st. john's wort growing in the field. She got over it, and carried on through the winter fine, but with the nice weather the st. johns wort has grown even more. Also, Penny has a companion, a shetland cross who's 5 and doesn't have a history of laminitis.
Options: My other two, Saffron and Misty, live 5 minutes walk away in a lush 6 acre field. We use electric fencing to fence off a 3rd of the field in which they live. Now, theres nothing stopping me moving Penny and Rose back to this field, although if Penny gets out of the electric fencing we could be in serious trouble with her laminitis. This field is the complete opposite of Penny's field, barely any nasties at all.
So, do I leave Pen where she is, preventing laminitis, but increasing the possibility of poisioning, or move to Saffron's field, which is safe but could cause laminitis?
Bear in mind that neither of these fields belong to me, so I can't fork out for proper fencing (hence the electric fencing). Should I move Penny temporarily, and see if I can get rid of the st. johns wort? Does anyone know a good weed killer?
Thanks for reading, but I'm in a quandry.
