Starvation Paddocks

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BonneMaman

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What are your thoughts on starvation paddocks? I like them but I have also heard people talk about the grass being stressed and possibly producing more sugar?
 
Think it depends on the classification of starvation paddock. My lad is on the same area all year with a bit of strip grazing in the winter months. This means that he goes into spring on well eaten down grazing and then nibbles at blades as they come through in the spring and summer months. So yes, I guess the grass is 'stressed' but in my opinion he is eating a lot less grass overall than if I put him onto longer grass, where he would eat and eat and not lift his head.
With his paddock he is trickle grazing throughout the day, so his digestive system is working as it should and he never has huge volumes of grass in his system that could potentially overload his stomach. Yes I accept it may be higher in sugar content but overall it works better for my lad like this. He is also in at night all year to further help his system cope and 'dilute' the grass intake with year old soaked hay.
Every horse is different and it is finding a balance where they maintain their correct weight in relation to the food they are given and exercise undertaken.
I would still opt for a 'short grass' paddock over longer mature grass, purely to keep the trickle feeding going rather than stuffing his face.
 
I am a great fan of them. I much prefer them to using muzzles. We have a cob on our yard that lives on fresh air. Despite my best efforts he gains too much weight during the winter when he is fed tiny amounts of haylage six times throughout the day and just a balancer and small amount of chaff. In the summer he is confined to a half acre paddock and actually loses weight and looks brilliant going into winter.
 
absolutely essential for many horses. better to be in a starvation paddock thn overweight, especially if the horse won't accept grazing muzzle. :)
 
There are thoughts on both sides, if you look at nature such as in the NF or on the common close to us you dont see uncomfortable lami looking ponies yet the areas are well grazed down?
 
Mine is in a fatty field at the moment, but I do feel cruel! She stands there looking so dejected sometimes, but I know it's best for her.
I worry she's not getting enough grass. She is on a patch about 30mx30m, which is well munched down and about every week I move the fence down a bit so she gets a little fresh grass, but our grass is very poor anyway and not long.
Am thinking of getting her some balancer/Bailey's Lo Cal just to keep her nutrients up.
 
I use one for my 10hh falabella x. He has a paddock big enough to have a kick of his heels and short canter in and not big enough to get fat on. He gets a morning feed with vit supplements and a slice of hay twice a day. It keeps him lami free hopefully!

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My boy is muzzled or stabled atm - he gets some "poor" hay during the day, and before he goes out at night, to his fatty paddock, he has spillers lite balancer - can't recommend it highly enough. £17 a sack. He looks beautiful :)
 
My field is like a starvation paddock now due to the lack of rain, just brown and dusty. I regularly weight tape my boys to keep an eye on their weight. Harvey has lost over 10kg since the beginning of April and is looking fantastic. Nemo has put on over 20kg! He gets the tiniest handful of Happyhoof just so I can give him garlic powder, it is literally one mouthful. I never knew what people meant when they said their horses lived on fresh air, but now I have seen proof!
 
i do not believe in this some horses live on fresh air i think it is cruel and unhealthy, if you were to feed your horse little and often it would lose weight, my fat cob having been on box rest for 8 months is proof of that. i also believe that as a self preservation factor when you starve a horse it stops losing weight to preserve itself. food for thought.
 
There is an interesting article in the recent BHS magazine about sugar levels in long vs short grass in relation to laminitus. It basically said that shorter, stress grass would actually be better for laminitics because although it is higher, they would eat less of it than the longer, lower level grass so the overall amount of sugar intake was less.

My 15.3hh mare is on very good short grass (ISH good doer) she would explode on long grass. I know she gets enough because she isn't actually very interested in her token gesture 1/2 scoop of chaff she gets a day now it's the summer, whereas in the winter she was a lot more into her feed.
 
They are fine for keeping an animal outside and moving about, rather than confined to a stable, but don't think they are anything but earth-based corrals. The horse/pony still needs enough fibre to keep the gut active, mobile and from ulcers or boredom from causing problems.
 
I'd much rather my horse was on short grass, with plenty of room to move and I controlled the fibre intake. This is what the shire x I share has - he is on a paddock with grazed down but is supplemented with hifi lite/hi fibre cubes and/or hay. We do also move his electric fencing weekly but alternate which poles we move xx
 
Have any of you tried paddock paradise yet? Seems the best idea going but you do need a few acres... and a fair few fence poles!! I think it's good because it allows them to "roam" and keeps them exercising if you put hay and water at opposite ends so they walk further. Then, the middle bit can be cut for hay and then used in winter. Look up Jamie Jackson Paddock Paradise.

Just throwing ideas in :)
 
tallyho! said:
Have any of you tried paddock paradise yet? Seems the best idea going but you do need a few acres... and a fair few fence poles!! I think it's good because it allows them to "roam" and keeps them exercising if you put hay and water at opposite ends so they walk further. Then, the middle bit can be cut for hay and then used in winter. Look up Jamie Jackson Paddock Paradise.

Just throwing ideas in :)
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I've done this in a small one acre paddock before and it still works a treat! Plenty of hay dotted about to encourage movement and much less boring than a small square paddock for them.

I agree with the other posts about fibre, a starvation paddock should be about reducing grass intake, but the pony/horse still needs plenty of fibre going through. :)
 
I tried a muzzle - no way was it going to stay on him - he is such a cheeky pony! I couldn't get it any tighter I promise, he even had a sore patch on the top of his nose because it was probably too tight but still managed to get it off in record time!

The field he is in he shares with a minature shetland. The grass is down to the ground but still there to nibble on and the paddock is probably about a quarter of an acre.

I'm giving him a cup of BlueChip Lami once a day just so he has all his vits and mins and he also has two play balls and a himilayan salt lick in the field! He is only 3!

I took him to a posh purebred welshie show a couple of weeks ago and was put right down the line because he was way too fat! Drastic action had to be taken!

This was him at the show.

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Before being scrubbed up for the show!

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We have tried an experiment of sorts. We have 27 acres of very rough, hilly, "old" grass which although it greens up does not have the same effect on ponies as lush sileage type grass. I have a "field ornament" who owes me nothing and I reckoned he deserved a summer of eating decent grazing before he met his maker. He was a previous laminitic (caused through injury not obesity) but he was looking extremely poor so last summer he went out with the youngstock to enjoy his last summer before we made the final decision. He is still here enjoying his second summer. He has not got obese, he has stayed sound and so far we can only deduce that its the type of grass that has kept him ok.
 
I've split my field into four paddocks and I rotate them. The paddocks are all slightly different sizes and have different levels of shelter.

I have a 12.2 sec B and a 15.2 section d x cob. Our grass is poor but the horses produce enough waste for me to see that they are eating enough. Their weight is just right bordering on a bit podgy so atm they are in the leaner paddocks. I'm very vigilant so keep a close eye. They are out 24/7 atm.

I prefer this method rather than a muzzle. I just couldn't put on one them, it would break my heart. Plus I think the cob would give himself a stroke trying to get it off!

Each to their own but this works for us.
 
mmmm my daughters ponies years ago livid on an acre all year well manaaged and maintained - supplemented by hay if needed and being natives did damn well -looking lean and fit - i hate word starvation paddock - it sounds awful - to me it was the dietry paddock lol my mare is in with the big lad every night other than 1 treat night a week ( ust to give me a break really ) as even big lad is threathening lami at mo and sorry i cant use a mussle - just cant :)
 
BonneMaman said:
What are your thoughts on starvation paddocks? I like them but I have also heard people talk about the grass being stressed and possibly producing more sugar?
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Havnt read all the replies but i hate the terminology starvation! A horse should never be starved, even a fat one and especially not a laminitic.

A paddock with minimal grass and food provided in the form of hay yes, but not a paddock with no food at all
 
I'm sure Frozzy is right about the type of grass. I grew up in Northumberland, quite close to Frozzy's area, and in summer our hunters were turned out on the fells. The grass was plentiful but really poor, and a lot of rushes etc. But they always came back down looking superb, and never any laminitis.

I think starvation paddocks are probably necessary, but sadly do the pasture no favours at all long-term. I used to advertise my livery as 'unsuitable for laminitics' simply because I was not prepared to have starvation paddocks. Then a very nice livery's horse got laminitis, and I weakened. Next mine got winter laminitis from frozen grass and over-rich haylage, and now every time I look out of the window there's that blasted (in every sense) starvation paddock.... a dust bowl where none of the grass is going to grow enough to seed, and where I shall have a mudbath next winter. Meanwhile the rest of the pasture is growing too long for lack of grazing as one of our livery horses had to be put down last month and mine is on yard rest.

Next bit of the downward cycle is that local friendly farmer will put his calves in - free of course as he considers he's doing me a favour (which he is). They will graze everything to the ground as he is always prompt to deliver them but tortoise-like in removing them. The grass will not recover from their depradations bfore autumn and winter are upon us. then there'll be so little grass I'll have to feed haylage, and back we are at square one. (Our pasture is very hilly and unsuitable for hay). I spend wakeful hours lying in bed trying to work out how to keep the horses lami-free, the pasture in good heart and the farmer's calves on his farm - but haven't worked it out yet!!
 
I agreee wholeheartedly about grass type - it has been my argument for a very long time.

If I ever get my own land, I will dig it up, reseed it with the roughest toughest grass and pepper it with rocks and stones to encourage growth of wild grasses.
 
Well old mare won't wear a mask. Well that's not quite true, you can put it on her but she'd sooner starve than attempt to eat in it. Just stands stock still and stays there eminating disapproval, disgust and misery.

So small paddock it has to be. Luckily, however, the paddock wasn't grazed at all last year and so it grew, seaded and then went 'dead hay' like. After putting in my other one for a few weeks to eat anything short and green I followed with old mare. She's had plenty of bulk without the goodness and looks perfect. I've had to supplement with a small feed of happy hoof and a slice of lo cal haylage, but otherwise so far so good
 
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