Weather and Hardy natives!

[pistolpete]

I have my highland out with four other natives in a seven acre field south of England. Was really hoping we could hold off feeding any hay until they look like they’ve lost at least a kilo or two. We’ve had one sub zero night this winter so far and now other owners are wanting to feed. They are all so fat! I know they can’t live on nothing but there is grass. They need to lose some weight or next summer is going to be a disaster. Any thoughts? Am I being mean? Knew this sharing pasture was going to be tricky.

 

[JackFrost]

I still have loads of grass, the natives live out and could all do with losing a bit. I don't expect to be feeding hay till the new year.
It is natural for natives to lose weight over winter, and it is thought it gives some protection to reset the metabolism against the ill effects of weight gain in summer. You are not being mean, you are being responsible. Tricky though with sharing pasture, maybe try to educate the others about the benefits of getting weight off in winter.
I went to check mine this morning after a bitter cold night of gales. They were all happy as Larry.

 

[HashRouge]

I'm not feeding hay yet and I've got two on less acreage. The elderly Arab is getting a big feed, but my native is on nothing and definitely doesn't need any hay yet! I hate sharing fields on 24/7 turnout, it gets very complicated when all the horses have different requirements!

 

[MyBoyChe]

My highland is out on standing foggage and only gets hay on the odd occasion he comes in. I would leave him on 24/7 turnout all winter but our ground gets waterlogged so I cant really. I expect he will need hay around January as he eats his way through the foggage but for now he still needs to get some weight off. Ive also got a Sec b and an exmoor who are getting a little bit of hay in the field as they are both on much sparser paddocks. Its the big advantage of having individual turnout, I can manage each one separately

 

[pistolpete]

Thank you. Our field is well drained chalk. Minimal mud and still lots of pickings. I’m sure if we hang on another few weeks they will drop some weight. Just need everyone on the same page. ?

 

[Berpisc]

No my native just have grass, two have to be managed for metabolic concerns, when they were younger they just had grass and foggage depending on the numbers on the grass and everybodies' weight. I agree I would not be feeding hay now if I had grass. Mine have good natural coats and good sheltering hedges.

 

[spookypony]

A couple of years ago, I reversed the usual pattern of grass in summer, hay in winter: my ponies are now out on a track with haylage in the summer, and in the field with standing hay in the winter (mid/late October to late March). The past two winters, I've not fed hay in the winter (other than one episode of deep snow). My most worrisome horse went from frankly obese to "acceptable" over the first winter, gained very little in the next summer, and then went down to "a bit on the ribby side" over the second winter! In the second summer, I managed to keep her fit and lean. On turning out this year in mid-October, she inflated a few girth holes over the first few weeks, seems to have stabilised, and I'm hopeful we'll reach "a bit on the ribby side" again by March. She has Cushing's and EMS, and the EMS seems to be well controlled by this regime!

 

[pistolpete]

A couple of years ago, I reversed the usual pattern of grass in summer, hay in winter: my ponies are now out on a track with haylage in the summer, and in the field with standing hay in the winter (mid/late October to late March). The past two winters, I've not fed hay in the winter (other than one episode of deep snow). My most worrisome horse went from frankly obese to "acceptable" over the first winter, gained very little in the next summer, and then went down to "a bit on the ribby side" over the second winter! In the second summer, I managed to keep her fit and lean. On turning out this year in mid-October, she inflated a few girth holes over the first few weeks, seems to have stabilised, and I'm hopeful we'll reach "a bit on the ribby side" again by March. She has Cushing's and EMS, and the EMS seems to be well controlled by this regime!
Exactly this. So well said it’s about flicking the seasons! Hay in summer grass in winter. So well put! Thank you.

 

[Boulty]

The joys of sharing fields! If they're adamant they want to out hay out could a compromise be to put it in slow feeder nets (double netted if they're all greedy & needing to lose weight) to encourage them to pick at it as a fibre top up but to keep going back to the grass?

 

[pistolpete]

Sadly not a chance. The good thing about this field is that the owner will do the hay feeding when it starts. This means she will Chuck it in on the floor twice a day. Very convenient for owners but means no control. I keep swinging between let him live his best life to not wanting to risk Lami. So hard.

 

[I'm Dun]

Sadly not a chance. The good thing about this field is that the owner will do the hay feeding when it starts. This means she will Chuck it in on the floor twice a day. Very convenient for owners but means no control. I keep swinging between let him live his best life to not wanting to risk Lami. So hard.

Hes retired with no prospect of being a ridden horse, Id let him live his best life and call time if he ever shows signs of lammi. My semi retired one is fatter than I would like, but hes not going to make old bones anyway, so I find a happy medium with him. Hes never heavily dieted or allowed to be hungry and he runs a bit fatter than I would like.

I'm lucky with my own place so have them on a track spring, summer, autumn and they have the run of 3 acres in the winter so minimal grass anyway.

If I ever gave the yard up he'd go onto retirement livery, large acreage of poor grazing if I could find it, and he'd be allowed to live his best life. Id rather he had one happy month, than 10yrs of diets and hangryness.

 

[pistolpete]

It’s so hard. Just don’t want him to suffer. It’s a real balancing act.

 

[I'm Dun]

I watch very closely with the intention of stepping in before any suffering, but yeah its not easy

 

[HashRouge]

Hes retired with no prospect of being a ridden horse, Id let him live his best life and call time if he ever shows signs of lammi. My semi retired one is fatter than I would like, but hes not going to make old bones anyway, so I find a happy medium with him. Hes never heavily dieted or allowed to be hungry and he runs a bit fatter than I would like.

I hate this argument and I see it on HHO all the time. I'm sorry, but taking some mild precautions against lami is not preventing the horse from "living his best life". The OP wants to hold off putting hay out for a group of fat natives in a huge field where there is plenty of grass. That is highly sensible in my view - we are not talking about putting the horse on a postage stamp size area of grazing.

 

[I'm Dun]

I hate this argument and I see it on HHO all the time. I'm sorry, but taking some mild precautions against lami is not preventing the horse from "living his best life". The OP wants to hold off putting hay out for a group of fat natives in a huge field where there is plenty of grass. That is highly sensible in my view - we are not talking about putting the horse on a postage stamp size area of grazing.

Really? So you consider a constant hard diet to be an ok lifestyle? I dont. Work kept the weight off easily, but he doesnt have that option now. Mine are hungry now its cold, the ground has been frozen the last few days and I dont want them scrabbling round for frozen grass shoots, and so they get hay. The other option would be cold miserable horses. Hes 0.5 over an ideal condition score. I'm happy to live with that. I also take fairly extreme lammi precautions with the track I have set up, and the huge additional expense of haying all year round.

OP doesnt have the option of not haying in the field. Its majority rule in a shared field situation. There are no mild precautions she can take in this situation.

So its move the pony, to no doubt a postage stamp sized paddock and overnight stabling, or go with the hay in the field and monitor. It would always be the latter for me. Its quality of life over quantity.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Could you persuade everyone to put out straw, so that they have something to digest to keep warm without putting on any more weight?

 

[HashRouge]

Really? So you consider a constant hard diet to be an ok lifestyle? I dont. Work kept the weight off easily, but he doesnt have that option now. Mine are hungry now its cold, the ground has been frozen the last few days and I dont want them scrabbling round for frozen grass shoots, and so they get hay. The other option would be cold miserable horses. Hes 0.5 over an ideal condition score. I'm happy to live with that. I also take fairly extreme lammi precautions with the track I have set up, and the huge additional expense of haying all year round.

OP doesnt have the option of not haying in the field. Its majority rule in a shared field situation. There are no mild precautions she can take in this situation.

So its move the pony, to no doubt a postage stamp sized paddock and overnight stabling, or go with the hay in the field and monitor. It would always be the latter for me. Its quality of life over quantity.

But we're not talking about a "hard diet". We're talking about the OP trying to persuade the other owners not to feed hay yet. As far as I was aware from what she'd posted, it's not fully settled yet so still a chance to persuade them. Please tell me where I have suggested she keeps him on a postage stamp
I just see this a lot on HHO, lots of people saying "oh I'll just let him live his best life and then it'll have to be PTS if he shows signs of lami", as though the only other option is starving your horse on a tiny bare patch of grazing. Which you clearly know is not the case since it sounds like your set up is very different to the OP and you are able to take lots of precautions against lami.

It was this suggestion that annoyed me, btw, not the way you currently keep your horse:

If I ever gave the yard up he'd go onto retirement livery, large acreage of poor grazing if I could find it, and he'd be allowed to live his best life. Id rather he had one happy month, than 10yrs of diets and hangryness.

 

[pistolpete]

Thanks everyone. All comments read and agree with most. He is a bit hungry. That’s the hard bit. There is grass but if they are never allowed to be a bit hungry how do they lose their summer fat? If it was my set up he’d have had hay all summer (soaked) and would be enjoying much more grass now. It’s our desire to keep them the same weight all year round that makes it so hard. They should lose some over winter. I just don’t want him miserable either. At this point in time they are all pretty happy and still no hay. ? we can hold out until they drop a few pounds. They have loads of space and are all fatties!

 

[canteron]

I would ask YO to weigh tape all the horses (could you do that in her behalf) then maybe you would have a really sound argument for minimising the amount of hay put out? Or how often it was put out.

 

[Nudibranch]

I don't hay at all in winter unless we have proper snow. If I put it out they would stand stuffing it until spring arrives.

However - I have two on 9 acres and the grass is a bit longer and thicker (although yellower) than yours OP. So I feel they're still filling up on lots of fibrous material.

On your grazing I would be happy with a bit of hay out to fill bellies, as long as it wasn't a round bale left for them to stuff! They should still drop some weight if it's done slowly and steadily (which is best anyway). Hangry horses are a pain to ride sometimes.

 

[honetpot]

Mine all too fat, the grass continued growing here until last month, and they will stay out as long as it stays dry, I have hardly any mud in the field, with no rugs, and the odd slice of very poor but not dusty hay. I am worried about spring, I have one that would put a bullock to shame, that's with a modified track system and turning out a couple of cows to top it before they get a bit more. The mover and shaker is out on loan, and he walks the fat off them.
The oldest pony that's twenty-two will have to come in, he is the sort that will eat straw, and every single scrap of rubbish left, so that is going to be a challenge. My usual solution is to feed more straw than hay, but he could eat a whole round bale if left.

 

[M1lbie]

Mine are still being strip grazed up the hill which is their winter grazing. I won’t be feeding hay until Christmas most probably. Two get a flap of soaked hay when they come in for a couple of hours in the morning and the oldie (29) gets a big feed as can no longer manage hay. They all still look a little bit too well! We are on clay but they live out all year. I have 6 acres approx 4 as winter grazing and 2 for the summer

 

[pistolpete]

Luckily the others were happy to restrict last year but it would be nicer to no have to.

 

[meleeka]

It’s so hard. Just don’t want him to suffer. It’s a real balancing act.

In an ideal world you’d be able to restrict him come the Spring, but I guess that defeats the object of
letting him live his best life. was he in this field in the summer?

Mine always get fat in the winter and lose it in the summer. I find it easier to restrict them when the sun is shining and it’s warm. I’m aware the correct thing would be to let them lose it over winter, but I’m one of those that will put an extra haynet out if the weather is bad. They have a track through the summer months and although still have hay, it’s much reduced. Most of them started off winter how the average horse ends it, so they won’t be too fat come Spring.

 

[pistolpete]

The big lump!

 

[Regandal]

Is that a recent photo PP? If so, there’s plenty of grass. What about a wee bib clip, make him use a bit of energy for heat.

 

[pistolpete]

Yes it was yesterday. They have masses of grass at the moment. Rest of people happy they don’t need hay yet. Keeping the idea of a clip in my back pocket thank you. He’s very wooly!