Oh my! The rain came down yesterday and re-flooded the almost dried up pastures. This was only a few hours worth of rain, too! Boo. Are we destined to live in a mud filled world? My jeans are never clean, my boots are always muddy, and my horse is very dirty!
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| They had to cross an ocean to get to the dry land. . .and grass |
I got my order from Schneider's today! I put up the hay bag and it was a hit for Shyloh! Although, I am not sure it slowed down her hay intake much. The way she was chomping at that hay, I actually won't be surprised if I get to the barn tomorrow and the hay bag is destroyed. I don't need to use the tail bags yet.
I also attempted to use my new long lines. They are much longer than the ones I was borrowing so I have to deal with the extra hassle of the length.
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| Not down with work today. . . |
We definitely need another lesson, so I set one up with Beth. I need to get ready to ride and I need to get Shyloh ready to ride because I am asking for a saddle for Christmas! I want to be trail riding come summer time. But today, Shyloh was all over the place. We tried lunging and we were less than successful.
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| No? |
Then we tried the long lines. Again, I would not call it a successful attempt.
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| Not this either? |
I am hoping another lesson will help us get back on track so we can be one step closer to our goals.
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| Barney the barn cat. He watched our whole cat-astrophe today. |
I read this post from Kate over at A Year With Horses about the dangers of fall grass. Since Shyloh is an easy keeper, I have decided to keep her inside for tomorrow. And maybe for a couple days a week for a while, I'm not sure yet. All I know is I do not want her to founder! For some reason, it is a big fear of mine, even though she does not have a history that I know of or IR or Cushings and she does not get grain. As I have mentioned before, I prefer that she be outside almost always, but the only place where there is no grass is the big guy's (Percheron and Clydesdale) paddock. But having to spend the day inside trumps dealing with founder! Have any other Haflinger owners had an issues with their horses grass intake and/or founder?
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| Need your input, please!! |
Camryn here:
ReplyDeleteI think we have the same pasture!!! This summer has really hindered my grazing big time.
I wanted to mention your hay bag isn't a slow feeder, which explains why you can eat it sooooo quickly.
A slow feed bag has like one inch holes. Here's a link so you can learn more bout them http://paddockparadisewetpaint.com/page/Slow+Feeders Hope that works, our you can just google Equine Slow Feeders and it'll come up. We use the simple black mesh one, get a couple so's you'll have one filled ahead of time Mom says.
You can also use old hockey nets! I know some people that stuff a bale into one, knot it closed and then throw it in the pasture! Totally cute as they try to eat out of it.
ReplyDeleteAs for foundering, my experience (know a lot of horses that have foundered), is that it's not a "hey I put my horse on pasture this fall and he foundered". Typically the horse is over weight and is consuming excess calories and sugar. Or else the horse hasn't been on grass all winter and then is put onto a lush spring pasture that's newly grown. Or the horse has been in a mud paddock for months and then tossed out on to a green pasture in the fall. It's more about sudden sugar spikes or extreme feeding, from my experience.
If Shyloh's been out on the pasture all summer, she is VERY unlikely to suddenly founder come fall. She's active, exercised, doesn't appear overweight and has a good diet. I wouldn't fret.
Yeah, Susan and Camryn are right. That's not a slow feed hay bag at all. Mitch uses a Busy Horse Grande slow feeder. Jet doesn't have a slow feed hay bag at all right now, but that's mainly because I want to get her the Freedom Feeder (which didn't work at all for Mitch, he totally killed them, but the Busy Grande has been holding up for almost 2 whole years!) but she's a slow eater anyway.
ReplyDeleteAs far as foundering goes, I really can't give much advice there. I live in California, the land of sunshine and pastures with grass are a novelty to me. My two are dry-lotted, Mitch gets to graze now and then, but only for a few minutes.
Camryn, Isn't this rain awful? I looked at the link you gave! Thanks! I might have to get one. . .or two
ReplyDeleteI know the bag is not a slow feeder, but I was kinda hoping to slow her down a little bit. Another reason for the bag is I wanted to put just grass hay in there so it gives her something to do because she is inside more because it gets dark so early now :(
Sand, Thanks for the info! I see photos of founder and it just scares me.
Lei, lucky for you! Apparently, I live in the land of rain and mud. . .soon to be snow and freezing cold.
I'm laughing at everyone's suggestion for slow feeders. I have NibbleNets: http://www.thinaircanvas.com/nibblenet/nibblenetframe.htm
ReplyDeleteI have one set of reins that are quite long. When I ground drive the horses I stick the tail end in my front pocket, just enough to keep it off the ground. That way, if they were to bolt, the reins would pull out of my pocket.
Hi, yea your hay net he'll plow through quickly. There are ones at Busy Horse that are way less expensive than Nibble nets (although both GREAT products) and if u get the one w/ the smallest opening/holes, Shyloh can nibble all day happily :)
ReplyDeleteVisit http://safergrass.org/ for some tips, etc and it's all about watching your horse. Fall/Spring are the MOST sugar filled grasses. Even if it looks dead. Are there any dry lots where you board at where u can hang a couple of hay nets?? xo PS Email me at kristenshellenbarger@gmail.com
sorry..SHE would plow through that..not he. :)
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