Lessons in Safer Grazing

Tips for Safely Managing Your Horse’s Health on Pasture, part 2

by Alayne Blickle, Horses for Clean Water

Below are some simple guidelines for managing the overweight horse on pasture to help reduce the sugar and carbohydrate load in your horse’s diet. Remember, seek help from a veterinarian and/or and other professional experienced in this area, especially if you have an at-risk individual (i.e., a horse with Cushings, laminitis or founder, Equine Metabolic Syndrome, insulin resistance, Polysaccharide Storage Myopathy, etc.) Keep in mind that any changes you institute need to be given time in order to evaluate their effectiveness, and must be done gradually to allow your horse’s natural gut flora to adjust.

Managing the Easy Keeper on Pasture

• Learn what a healthy weight for your horse is. Talk with your vet or consult a weight chart such as this one: http://drgwald.com/Documents/Body%20Conditon%20Score%20Chart.pdf. Determine where your horse’s weight is and should be, as well as how to manage its diet.

• The best time to graze while gaining maximum benefit of forage without adding extra fat on your horse is between 3:00 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. At this time pasture plants have used up most of the sugars that built up during the day. Since not many of us care to set our alarm clocks to 2:45 a.m., try turning your horses out as late as possible in the evening and bringing them in the next morning before heading off to work. Remember to apply a good insect repellent if mosquitoes are a concern in your area. An alternative to night grazing is turning horses out on pasture in the early morning and bringing them in by 10:00 a.m., when plant production of sugar becomes high once again.

• Don’t be fooled by late summer brown grass--brown grasses can be very high in sugars! Pastures are healthiest for horses (lowest in sugars) during the active growing season when plants are green and not stressed. Therefore, graze at-risk horses during the active growing seasons (spring and early summer) and limit grazing of dried out and brown pastures.

• Don’t allow horses to graze pastures that have gone to seed. The grass plant seed-head is a high-sugar part of the plant. (See part one of this series for details.)

• Be very careful with grazing during cool weather (under 40 degrees) and especially if it has frosted. Pasture plants store carbohydrates at very high levels during these times. This is a key issue and will play the most havoc with an at-risk horse’s metabolic condition.

• During long periods of sunny weather, eliminate or substantially reduce grazing time for at-risk individuals. Consider grazing late at night instead (see above).

• Shady pastures and cloudy days will cause lower carbohydrate and sugar levels in grasses. Rotating horses to shaded pastures may be an option for high-risk individuals.

• Implement a rotational grazing program to help avoid overgrazing. The greatest amount of sugar in a grass plant is in the bottom 3 inches. For help designing a rotational grazing system for your property, contact Horses for Clean Water or your local conservation district.

• Easy keepers on pasture may need a grazing muzzle, a device that fastens on a horse’s head and only allows the horse to eat through a two-inch hole in the muzzle. An Internet search will give you several options, plus tips on how to safely use them.

• When feeding hay, always weigh it and don't cheat; a 1-pound difference in a feeding is huge.

• Eliminate grain, sweet treats (carrots, apples, sugar cubes) and carbohydrates from your easy keeper’s diet and review your feeding program with your vet. Grain, complete feeds and concentrates add huge amounts of sugars and non-structural carbohydrates to a horse’s diet. Horses only require these when lacking in energy or weight.

• Exercising a horse as little as 30 minutes a day, three times a week, can make a big health change by improving its metabolism. Horses (like their humans!) need regular exercise as part of their standard care regime. Confining horses in a stall and reducing physical demands sets the stage for serious metabolic problems.

• Treat each horse as an individual. Just like people, the dietary needs for one horse may not be the same for another.

This is a very complex and evolving area; each horse is an individual and each situation may require a slightly different way of handling things. Talk with your veterinarian about specific feeding and grazing recommendations for your horse, and check out the other resources listed below.

Good horsekeeping to you!

Resources:

One of the best resources on this topic is Katy Watts of www.safergrass.org. Katy has DVDs and other educational materials available for purchase at a reasonable price.

An excellent pasture management article, which includes an interview with Katy Watts, at TheHorse.com: www.thehorse.com/ViewArticle.aspx?ID=2356&src=VW

Northwest feed companies that have low NSC (non-structural carbohydrate) feeds and list the NSC content so you know exactly what your horse is getting in grain or pelleted rations:

• LMF Feeds - www.lmffeeds.com

• Nutrena - www.nutrenaworld.com

International Veterinary Information Service: www.ivis.org

Equi-Analytical Laboratories for testing forage: www.equi-analytical.com

Sites with information on grazing muzzles:

www.shopping.com/xPC-Bc_Equine_Grazing_Muzzle_for_Horses_And_Ponies_Black_Muzzle_for_Horses , www.horse-sense.org/archives/20050911124342.php