Starvation paddocks and limited grazing - show me yours

Stinkbomb

Stinkbomb

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Im curious as to what people call a starvation paddock/ restricted grazing etc.. I have a friend who says her horse is on a starvation paddock but to me its not!!!! I think her horse should be on alot less but i could do with some pictures to show her!!

Also what feeds/hay do you suppliment with too, if any??
 
My fatty patch is actually bald mud.... Last years gateway
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But it has a hedge along the side of it which seems to be very well trimmed!!!

To be honest I dont use it as there is a shetland in there and he needs a little bit to eat!! Also merlin gets bored and starts chasing him round.... not a good thing really.

Last year he had a very short covering of grass in the fatty patch, but he didnt really lose any weight so a bit pointless.

This year we have been mostly wearing a muzzle!!
 
My formerly fat and lami-prone pony is in a pig paddock. All through the winter 4 piggies were kept in a large area next to the trees at one end of a paddock; they rooted out every blade of grass and every other edible morsel. I have fenced this off for the pony. Occasionally I move the electric line out by a foot or so so into the sparse grass.

The lime trees are now trimmed, every blade of grass around the edge is trimmed and judging by the state of his muzzle I am sure he has been licking the mud.

It's only disadvantage is that the mud balls up in his feet and accumulates small stones whenever it rains and this makes him uncomfortable until I get there to pick them out.

He gets 4 kg of soaked hay per day, and has been for the past 7/8 weeks, + his balancer. He looks well and performs well and is slowly losing a weight.

Does that paint a picture for you?
 
Mine is bare mud, but he's goes out overnight with everyone else to get some grass. He has a small handful of Baileys cool cubes with garlic, carrots and apples, oil and a splash of vinegar, plus spoonful of salt, in the evening he gets a tiny handful of chaff if he's done a lot of work!
 
emerald is on restricted grazing because she is on box rest but gets to go out in a play pen by day - and she could do with dropping a bit of weight. I would say her play pen is about the size of two large stables, not enough room to get up to a canter and I move the fence each day to give her a fresh strip of grass. She comes in every night.
 
To me thats restricted grazing, there is some available to her but a small amount. A starvation paddock relies on you to actually throw food over the fence!
 
I have very different views to my YO on what constitutes a bare paddock, and have had to resort to muzzling T as YO moved her out of her little paddock and back onto the grass so the grass could grow back in her 'starvation' paddock
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YO tells me big field has no grass as a Sec A is in there at night. IMO the grass in there is verging on lush
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If something is in a STARVATION paddock, there is no food available other than that provided by people i.e completely bare paddock/sandy area/corner of school.
If something is on restricted grazing, the access to grass is limited, so strip grazing or a large enough area that they don't quite graze it bare.

Feed wise, T's hay (which I've increased now she's muzzled) is being soaked for 24 hours, and she gets the recommended amount of a balancer and a little bit of AlfaA, but then you know that already Stinkbomb
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Some people just have no idea!
Seren is out on a very bald paddock, i am not risking losing her,her feet were already damaged beyond repair by imbeciles! We manage it by a very bald paddock, compared to every other paddock at my livery yard, and there are masses, ours is yellowing brown while everyone else's are green.
Would get piccy for you but cant as not been to yard for two weeks due to written off car and fractured wrist! could try post piccy over weekend as we are getting new car so i will try my best to show you our bald paddock to compare
 
Thanks everyone. I have mine on restricted grazing, very short grass but enough that they dont need hay. They have two feeds a day though. She kind of think im starving them!! TBH its been growing that much ive halved the field and once they have eaten that virtually bare ill give hay. Her horses can grab the grass all day long and to me thats not a starvation paddock. I think i need to badger her more, her pony isnt loosing weight!!
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This is my starvation track..
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There is a patch of sparce grass at the far end and at the top right hand corner but it is VERY sparce but keeps them occupied along with a trickle of soaked hay evry now and then and a daily feed of Happy Hoof.
I have 4 ponies on the track and if anyone looks like they need a little more they go in the centre for an hour or so
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was it you who posted about having a small amount of grazing, around 1 acre or so?

how do you find the track works for yours?

i need to restrict fizz even more but i like her being able to use the stables, but if i shut her in a restricted area she cant
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shes out on this type, lots of weeds as we havent had time to spray, she gets hay as well.
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Honeypots. Those tracks are an excellent idea aren't they? They make so much sense.
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(Did you read the Paradise pastures, or paddocks, book? I don't recall the title exactly, sorry)

Stinkbomb, I did take a picture of mine, I just have to find my camera to retrieve it! Later
 
Do you all have your own land? Mine is rented and it stipulates in my contract that I am not allowed to overgraze any part of the land. I have to put grazing masks on mine for this reason although I think the track is a fab idea!
 
Daisybee, I do own my own land so I don't have to adhere to contracts or anything like that. I can see a landowners point in a way, but I've never come across a stipulation such as not overgrazing, anyone I have ever rented from just took the money and didn't care what I did.

This is what I would use as a starvation paddock, if I had to. Fortunately the only pony that needs his intake controlled is the mini, he blows up after 10 minutes on the lawn! He and his goat do very well on this with a section of hay per day, which quite frequently they don't touch. It is actually a bit under half an acre of the front lawn that we didn't use, saves me mowing it.

Yes that is stockwire, but it is the only thing that keeps goats and sheep in (when we have them) and the coyotes and stray dog packs out.
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[ QUOTE ]
was it you who posted about having a small amount of grazing, around 1 acre or so?

how do you find the track works for yours?

i need to restrict fizz even more but i like her being able to use the stables, but if i shut her in a restricted area she cant
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Yes...its about an acre and the track includes the stable/shelter/yard
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The track has been fantastic...I really wish I'd discovered it before. In winter they just have the track and soaked hay which saves the rest of my paddock which is usually liquid mud in winter. In summer they are mainly on the track but if I need more I can use the rest as and when.
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[ QUOTE ]
Honeypots. Those tracks are an excellent idea aren't they? They make so much sense.
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(Did you read the Paradise pastures, or paddocks, book? I don't recall the title exactly, sorry)

Stinkbomb, I did take a picture of mine, I just have to find my camera to retrieve it! Later

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Yes I got the idea from paddock paradise off another forum although mine is very basic but it works a treat
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Here is my track; I've been using it for a couple of years now; Don't know how I managed without it! My neighbour lent me the book about Pasture Paradise.


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The track goes around a large pond! Lots of shelter

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Its strip grazed by around a foot early morning and late evening into this, lots of long grass! I NEVER feed hay unless they come in and are waiting for the farrier or I'm going out in the lorry.

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My neighbour who hasn't much grazing is helping to eat mine down, she has four horses on this track!

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I haven't got pics of the grazing, but Murphy is out on approximately a couple of acres with about 15-20 other ponies. Most of the others are riding school ponies so they do come in for a few afternoons a week. It works so well for Murphy - he is part of a herd, he moves around all day but the field is very well grazed. He has put on a smidge of weight (about 15kg) between March and mid June, but it's now starting to drop off again as the grass isn't growing as fast, and will soon be back to his winter weight, and he's happy
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Mine is like stinkbombs. He has a muzzle on over night in a field with a bit more grass and the muzzle free in the day in my stripped paddock. Very difficult having a fatti or lami horse. Although there is not much grass in my day time field his head is always down so there must be something there!
 
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