Greetings Everyone,
Spring brings about many challenges, especially whether or not to allow your horse to graze on newly grown pasture. There are certain "rules" we follow regarding the night time temperatures, time of day, amount of sunlight, etc. but the bottom line is -- spring grass tends to be higher in sugar and later in the summer season.
Do we restrict it? Perhaps -- it truly depends on the horse. Horses will typically overeat pasture, not only because it tastes good, but because they have been confined to eating hay and now have this wonderful food that they crave. What's interesting is that horses who have hay most of the time will eat pasture at a much faster rate than horses who are allowed to grazed on pasture 24/7.
What are your experiences? How many of you have horses who have developed laminitis during the spring? What are your success stories? What are your frustrations? Let's see what we can figure out.
Spring brings about many challenges, especially whether or not to allow your horse to graze on newly grown pasture. There are certain "rules" we follow regarding the night time temperatures, time of day, amount of sunlight, etc. but the bottom line is -- spring grass tends to be higher in sugar and later in the summer season.
Do we restrict it? Perhaps -- it truly depends on the horse. Horses will typically overeat pasture, not only because it tastes good, but because they have been confined to eating hay and now have this wonderful food that they crave. What's interesting is that horses who have hay most of the time will eat pasture at a much faster rate than horses who are allowed to grazed on pasture 24/7.
What are your experiences? How many of you have horses who have developed laminitis during the spring? What are your success stories? What are your frustrations? Let's see what we can figure out.
