Those with horses living out...

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winchester

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Are you giving them hay / feed yet? Hows your grass looking?

When do you plan to give them hay? Do you have a certain time of year? Or when they start dropping weight a little? or when they are standing by the gate etc?
 
Our three have an evening feed all year round. The ponies are still on their summer ration of a handful of chaff - and probably will be for most of the winter as they're both looking rather too well atm! My TB has started having a teeny bit more as the weather has been pretty miserable but he won't be on proper winter rations until at least the end on oct I would think. I don't tend to feed hay until we start getting frost overnight, although I may put a slice or two out if we have really nasty weather. I would start giving them it sooner if I felt they were starting to drop weight, but that's not usually a problem. The only time they spend at the gate is when they're waiting for their dinners! We have tons of grass though - will be moving the boys onto a better field next week and they'll probably move again before the winter sets in properly. :)
 
As of this morning, our grass looks like this:

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There isn't a huge amount of it, horses are being fed hay as well, they always have hay out, it is up to them whether they choose to eat it or not.
 
I have three they have two feeds a day thought out the year (just balancer low cal). They will probable get hay in January? We have plenty of grass and they are all fat. They are ridden 4/5 times a week and wear muzzles?:eek:
 
Ours live out 24/7 year round. They are all good doers so are on restricted grazing (Paddock Paradise tracks). We open up some grass each day for them and have lots of grass left both in their current field and the one they go into for winter. So tend not to feed hay until there is no goodness in the grass and they become noticeably hungrier.

They do have a munch on hay when they come in to be worked, for the farrier, when the weather is bad and times like that.
 
we have lots of grass but then its only two horses on at least 6 acers. they do have handful of chaff am and pm but thats just so can get flys stuff on and give drugs etc. Mine has been in a muzzle all summer and stillis on and off. dont think we will need to hay until december hopfuly
 
Enfys I am so jealous we are knee deep in mud already :(

I will feed hay once all the grass is gone but mine are looking well so hope to hold off until late October. They get a handful of chaff once a day with vits.

No rugs either as I want them to loose a bit first.
 
My mum's skinny TB-type pony has a little grass (it started growing as soon as we went from two horses to one - we have just under three acres) but needs hay pretty much all year, bar spring. She never needs a lot of feed though, just a bit of sugarbeet and chaff in late winter to keep her going. As for rugs, she'll be rugged in the rain when we manage to find something that fits!

It's autumn where we are :)
 
First year mine have needed to be fed/hayed all through summer, my pasture was horrendous and the ground just baked. Grass is coming back now and they are having a slice of hay each and a feed in the evenings. They don't need the feed now, but get it they pull a sad face and I feel bad :)
 
I still have a huge amount of grass left, though new horses are coming next week so I'll have to see how long the grass lasts.
Last year she was in a different field and lived out, I was feeding hay from October right through till March/May time as the field was awful. Plus she had an small evening feed as well. But the field was swamp-like from late October. I won't have to start so early this year as like I said we have fab grass, so probably late November when the ground is a little frozen.
 
My TB is still getting 2 big meals a day as I am still getting weight on her, cobby is getting a couple of tiny feeds a day as he will be cubbing every week now. Neither are getting hay/haylage but they are on good grazing still.
 
ISHmad said:
Ours live out 24/7 year round. They are all good doers so are on restricted grazing (Paddock Paradise tracks). We open up some grass each day for them and have lots of grass left both in their current field and the one they go into for winter. So tend not to feed hay until there is no goodness in the grass and they become noticeably hungrier.

They do have a munch on hay when they come in to be worked, for the farrier, when the weather is bad and times like that.
Click to expand...

Exactly the same :); never had to feed hay in the field as my two ponies have 4 acres to themselves over winter, they both get a feed of Fast Fibre with magnesium every morning
 
our grazing baked to nothing this summer - poor ruby is already looking poor - is now coming in every day for her own body weight in hay:( - cannot feed in the field as she is in a small herd & i cannot afford to feed other peoples' pones - am off to a feed demo this week to re-think her hard feed too
 
we have pretty much had to hay/haylage all year, grass just did not come through this year, 1st time in 11 years, we really try hard to make sure grazing gets rested, weed killed, harrowed, topped etc. but we are on clay and have really suffered with the weathers effects on the grass, fingers crossed it gets better next year.
 
We have fed the stallions hay all summer because they are on a small paddock so have to keep them topped up, the mare with foal at foot has been on haylage and feed all summer because they are in the school with very little grass. The rest have not been supplemented at all and we have loads of grass this year, all are maintaining condition, just a tad overweight ready for going into winter. The poorer doers look better this year than they ever have and will be rugged shortly to top them losing any condition, the others that need it will be rugged as late as possible. We have several fields set aside for winter grazing that are all well grown so are hoping the need for haylage will be much later than the last two winters.
 
we have loads of grass and as we have winter grazing that has been rested for 8 months have plenty for the winter for good doer ponies. YO will feed hay if it is snowing but other than that we might not need to.

My pony does get a small feed every day to have his supplements.
 
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