Grass And The Forgotten Calories

For horse’s who are good doers and maintain their weight on little hard feed, grass can be the culprit for excess calories. In these cases, restricting their grass intake may be needed. In 24 hours of turnout, studies have shown that horses can consume 3% - 5% of their bodyweight in grass. This is clearly a lot more than the 1.5% we are aiming for when feeding the good-doer. In addition, if horses are turned out for less time they actually learn this and will gorge themselves for the period of time they are out, with some ponies having been found to eat 1% of their bodyweight in just 3 hours! At times certain times of the year, spring, early summer and autumn, grass is high in natural sugars. Large intakes of these sugars can increase the risk of a variety of problems including weight gain, especially in good-doers and native breeds.

Strip grazing involves fencing off a section of their paddock and moving the fence at regular intervals to allow restricted access to fresh grass. Strip grazing can either use one or two fences that are moved. The use of a second (back fence) allows a section of the paddock that has already been grazed to recover, this involves moving the first fence to allow access to fresh grass and then moving the back fence to fence of a proportion of the already grazed paddock. A study carried out in 2020 found that strip grazing ponies limited their bodyweight gains when compared to ponies who were not strip grazed. It was also found that there was no difference in the efficiency of strip grazing with or without a back fence so this can be used as more of a pasture management technique rather than a way of further restricting calories.

Grazing muzzles can be used to restrict grass intake without preventing the horse from eating. They can be used in conjunction with measures such as strip grazing if needed or can be used without having to reduce the area grazed. They can be particularly useful in situations where multiple horses are turned out together but only one needs a restricted grass intake. It is important to remember grazing muzzles should not be left on for 24 hours a day, however when the grazing muzzle is removed the horse’s access to grass, or forage should be restricted to stop them gorging once the muzzle is off.

Track systems help to encourage movement as well as restricting grass intake if needed. Track systems involve having a track running around the perimeter and/or across a field with water, hay, shelter, obstacles distributed at different points along the track to encourage movement. It is important to have wider areas to allow for socialising, rolling and lying down. The surface used for the track can vary from grass, hardcore/woodchip or a mixture of both depending on what suits your circumstances best.

Turnout paddocks allow for complete control over how much grass/forage your horse has access to. Turnout pens can use different surface types such as an all-weather surface or woodchip. This means the horse can still have turnout time out of the stable but only has access to the grass/forage you provide for them so is very useful in situations where the horse needs their calorie intake to be highly controlled.