Strange Happenings
There is a strange thing going on in the “pasture” these days. The standard brown dry dusty dirt lot has more than the random pile of aromatic horse poop – there is grass growing! Yup! Bonified shoots of green stuff, sprouting in happy little clumps all over the 2+ acres that make up the horses’ turn out. Mostly on what I think of “Moli’s side” of the area, but there are traces throughout. I’m not talking about blowing in the wind, knee high, ready to bale grass – but there is a definite green hue to the ground.
We have been blessed with an abundance of rain, and I have been trying out a new method of feeding the grass hay portion of the horses’ diet. Instead of putting the hay in the feeders I am leaving small piles all over the turn out. I wonder, can grass grow from the small pieces that are left? Crazy…I spent the first three years we lived here trying to grow a small patch of grass..bought new seed every year, put in a watering system, no luck.
On the subject of my placing the hay in small piles, this seems to be working out really well. The horses eat as if they are grazing, they move pretty much the whole time, going from pile to pile sometimes hitting each pile three or four times before the hay is completely gone. It works even better than the slow feeders, each meal can take up to three hours, and all three horses are looking well. I still use the slow feeders if it is windy or raining hard, otherwise I would just be throwing it away. Up until today, I was spreading Moli’s on her side
and the “twins” on the other, still keeping them separated. I now have them all getting the same amount of grass, and have adjusted other parts of their diet to address individual needs. This way, I can separate them long enough for them to finish that part of their food that is different, then take the total amount of grass hay for all three and spread it around, each horse still gets it’s share of the feed, but they all eat together, and now with all the grass actually GROWING all three get to munch at that when they are through with the main course. I don’t imagine they are getting even one pound of grass out of that little bit growing, but they are giving it one heck of a good try.
Today the herd dynamic changed a bit. I opened up the gate between the two sides of the turn out and Dee had to give up her #2 (of 2) spot for #3 (of 3) – doesn’t seem like much of a change for you and me, but for Dee it was a bit dramatic. I finished dispersing my little piles of hay this evening and began picking up the little piles of poop left throughout the day. Dee was running large circles around the other two, who, not even bothering to stop eating, would flick an ear or swish a tail in her direction warning her not to get too close. She would kick out in their general direction and take off again – when she came my way I swung the poop fork around, up and over my head, using my best “come too close and you’ll get pooped!” look. No matter how much I practice I just can’t flick my ear anywhere near as effectively as Bucky does it! My effort would send her off in yet another direction. Finally deciding that she couldn’t get anyone to partake in her adolescent fit, she found her own little pile of hay – as far away from everyone else as she could and we all let out a collective sigh of relief that the drama was over at least for the moment!
I plan on watching Moli closely to make sure she is going to do okay food wise with all three of them out together. I know it is better for her to be part of the herd, and the more she moves the better she will do. I hope this is going to help her beat this laminitis – or at least be able to have more and more days were she is not sore.
We have been blessed with an abundance of rain, and I have been trying out a new method of feeding the grass hay portion of the horses’ diet. Instead of putting the hay in the feeders I am leaving small piles all over the turn out. I wonder, can grass grow from the small pieces that are left? Crazy…I spent the first three years we lived here trying to grow a small patch of grass..bought new seed every year, put in a watering system, no luck.On the subject of my placing the hay in small piles, this seems to be working out really well. The horses eat as if they are grazing, they move pretty much the whole time, going from pile to pile sometimes hitting each pile three or four times before the hay is completely gone. It works even better than the slow feeders, each meal can take up to three hours, and all three horses are looking well. I still use the slow feeders if it is windy or raining hard, otherwise I would just be throwing it away. Up until today, I was spreading Moli’s on her side
and the “twins” on the other, still keeping them separated. I now have them all getting the same amount of grass, and have adjusted other parts of their diet to address individual needs. This way, I can separate them long enough for them to finish that part of their food that is different, then take the total amount of grass hay for all three and spread it around, each horse still gets it’s share of the feed, but they all eat together, and now with all the grass actually GROWING all three get to munch at that when they are through with the main course. I don’t imagine they are getting even one pound of grass out of that little bit growing, but they are giving it one heck of a good try. 
Today the herd dynamic changed a bit. I opened up the gate between the two sides of the turn out and Dee had to give up her #2 (of 2) spot for #3 (of 3) – doesn’t seem like much of a change for you and me, but for Dee it was a bit dramatic. I finished dispersing my little piles of hay this evening and began picking up the little piles of poop left throughout the day. Dee was running large circles around the other two, who, not even bothering to stop eating, would flick an ear or swish a tail in her direction warning her not to get too close. She would kick out in their general direction and take off again – when she came my way I swung the poop fork around, up and over my head, using my best “come too close and you’ll get pooped!” look. No matter how much I practice I just can’t flick my ear anywhere near as effectively as Bucky does it! My effort would send her off in yet another direction. Finally deciding that she couldn’t get anyone to partake in her adolescent fit, she found her own little pile of hay – as far away from everyone else as she could and we all let out a collective sigh of relief that the drama was over at least for the moment!
I plan on watching Moli closely to make sure she is going to do okay food wise with all three of them out together. I know it is better for her to be part of the herd, and the more she moves the better she will do. I hope this is going to help her beat this laminitis – or at least be able to have more and more days were she is not sore.
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