Grazing for ponies

[dannyboy]

Caspers previous owners only had him out at grass for about 3 hours per day and a handful of hay at different times throughout the day. He said that too much grass would kill him. Now obviously I'm used to Murphy and he has no issues in relation to this so was wondering if you had any advice on how to keep a pony.

I would like to give him more turnout - grazing muzzle? or if we are exercising him mostly everyday is that sufficent to keep the weight at an even keel? I'm going to take his weight later using a tape and perhaps monitor it for a spell to see how he's getting on.

[haffyfan]

That sounds a very sensible approach DB. Whats your grazing like?

Murph had lami 6 years ago now but lives out 24/7 - the summer grazing I use all year so it's well grazed down (I know some say this can be worse than long stuff but it works in my situation) and I supplement with hay if need be ...eg like now when we haven't had rain for about 5 weeks and it's really bare and yellow.

Muzzles can be useful but neither of mine were happy. The greenguard ones allow them to graze but my two despite all attempts at securing it and buying the proper headcoller both got their muzzles out the side of it. I used a bucket on murph post lami for a short while but he tended to run about as couldn't eat at all and also of course he had been in a small pen for months so was dying to run off some excess .

If you have lots of grass I would personally be thinking about sectioing him off a small patch that maybe Murphy has already grazed down and then see how you go on with your weigh taping etc.

[ceej]

Yes it may be that he has had lami - what is your grass like? Do you have a well eaten corner he can have?

[dannyboy]

Ceej, the grass he is on has been eaten down by Murphy and theres not much on it. The previous owners said he didn't have laminitis before and it didn't show up on the vetting but you never know he could have had it some time ago.

[spotti]

As an obsessive owner of a lami-prone pony, it's always better to be over cautious and treat him as if he has had lami instead of letting him on rich grass and then having to deal with the real thing. If he's overweight then even if he's never had lami before then he will be at risk. If you could section a bit of the field off or turn him out on a dry patch (weren't you planning on wood chipping a small area a while ago?) that would be ideal, or you could invest in a muzzle. I can recommend the Best Friend ones . Even though Faith's rubs a little bit and she's got that much fleece on it to try and stop the rubs that she looks like a right pansy ( ), it's still one of the best things we've had - it just means I can turn her out for longer and worry less about her getting poorly feet. We've made Faith's muzzle hole a bit bigger so she can eat a bit easier and now she's more than happy to wear it - she actually puts her nose in it all by herself - and seems fine in the field, running around, grooming, eating, drinking, sunbathing! It's also helped her lose weight (which before the muzzle was practically impossible to shift!).

So yeah, personally I'd treat him as if he is a laminitic and go with preventative measures instead of waiting and potentially ending up with the real thing. Section off a bit of well-eaten field or turn out on a grassless patch or invest in a grazing muzzle. We find exercise is a great thing for aiding weightloss, but as it's not always possible to maintain a high level of exercise, it's good to be helping lose it in other ways too

[dannyboy]

Thanks Spotti, I had forgotten that you had went through all of the lami stuff before with Faithy. The area I have him in at the moment is well eaten down so this will probably do for the meantime but I think investing in a muzzle (the type you suggest) would be beneficial, especially if I want the two to socialise a bit more together.

[fimacg]

I think with the limited area you have DBthe grass will be well down, so should be OK for more turnout without the muzzle, but if it starts to come up quickly then it could be used.