DefinitelyDressage.com

My horse is an easy keeper. He currently lives 24/7 out in a pasture with very poor grass, and gets lots of nice alfalfa hay. WHat are the health implications if I move him to a place with greener pastures (Bahia grass)? (I am thinking of moving him to my own property.) I do not have a sacrifice pasture. It is winter here in north central FLorida and the grass has really slowed down. (All my home horses are on hay now; in the summer they are on the pasture with no hay needed.)
He is a competition horse,.... if I move him to a balancer and hay, will that provide enough energy?

TIA

Not an expert, but I do pay attention to the sugars and overall balance in my mare's diet so here are some thoughts that come to mind:

If your pastures in winter are dried up grass, they might still have a fair bit of sugar in them that could affect your easy keeper. You might need to strategize turnout if that is the case. Sugars are lowest from middle of the night to late AM. You might want to invest in a muzzle if he is out all day.

For an easy-keeper, a vit-min mix or ration balancer + hay is a very reasonable strategy. Will you also feed alfalfa or ?

Hope you enjoy having him home!

Get a grazing muzzle, and read the website safergrass.org

I'd fence off a sacrifice pasture before moving him, and be very careful about the amount of grass he gets because the last thing I'd want to do is take a chance on foundering him. It's just not worth the convenience of being able to turn them out.

Once you get him moved then you can experiment with different grass/hay/supplement combinations until you figure out what he needs.

Fatcat wrote:Get a grazing muzzle, and read the website safergrass.org

Things i dislike about that page.
To read articles you have to download in pdf.
The stupid cow horse photoshop.
The donate button.
Questionable objectivity.

Things i like, they do have some good articles in with the rest.

Chisamba wrote:

Fatcat wrote:Get a grazing muzzle, and read the website safergrass.org

Things i dislike about that page.
To read articles you have to download in pdf.
The stupid cow horse photoshop.
The donate button.
Questionable objectivity.

Things i like, they do have some good articles in with the rest.

Interesting, didn't used to have to download to read when I was directed to this page 10 years ago by my vet. Nor was there a donate button. I found her site extremely helpful in managing an old pony with chronic laminitis. I can overlook the silly graphic if there's good info.

thanks all. thinking of fencing off a bit of field, but frankly I do not have an area that is not grassy pasture. Grass here in N Central Fl doesn't die all the way back but does turn brown after the frosts (first real one this weekend) and of course does not hardly grow at all.

FOr those of you who feed balancers and hay, do they provide enough energy for a working dressage horse? - I am schooling third, he is much farther along.

TIA

lorilu wrote:thanks all. thinking of fencing off a bit of field, but frankly I do not have an area that is not grassy pasture.

Just fence off a small section and then turn the rest of the horses out there and let them eat it down (or turn it to dirt) before you put your easy keeper on it.

FOr those of you who feed balancers and hay, do they provide enough energy for a working dressage horse? - I am schooling third, he is much farther along.

I think that entirely depends on the hay, and the horse. If he loses weight on free choice hay then just add enough concentrate until he can maintain it.