Knottymare
Well-Known Member
If you've followed any of my posts, you know I was out of commission for quite a while. My poor horses just got hay and a mineral block... I could not get out to the barn and so their only source of exercise was wandering around their 2 acre mostly drylot.
My girls have haybellies!!!!!!!!!!! I brought Rio, my new mare home, Saturday and was embarrassed for Dolly and Mimsy because they are so round. Not fat, just bloaty looking.
They have been on a regular worming schedule so I don't believe it's parasites. We do fecals and they were good-that was just in June...
So, here's the situation. I have a barn full of local grass hay. I would consider this stuff a fairly safe hay and have always pretty much free fed it to my horses over the years, big and small. 1 time a day they'll get some higher nuttrition orchard grass hay and I'm starting them back on 1/3 of a pound of LMF Super Supplement (a hay balancer) for the minerals and vitamins.
They will be getting out almost daily for road work now that I'm back in commission! My question is, and I'm sure there are many answers, how would you go about conditioning them. They are not show horses but I want them to have healthy bodies!
Dolly is 13, a rescue mare, and tends to maintain her weight on a pretty even keel.
Mimsy is 6, never been bred, gains weight if she looks at food. Goes right to her neck, too. So I'm very careful about her eating.
Rio is new to me, been bred twice, I'm told she gains easy and to watch her. She came to me looking really good on orchard grass hay and LMF development.
I know that I cannot give the LMF development to Mimsy or she'd turn into a balloon. Mimsy could probably handle it and with the extra work load, probably needs it.
I'm perfectly willing to mix a different feed for each one. I like allowing them the free access to this local hay because it gives them mental exercise. I spread it all over the place so they wander around like they are grazing.
Suggestions?
Picture isn't great but Mimsy is the one with the big round belly facing away from me and Dolly is the one standing perpendicular to her. The picture was taken in the yard, also. Their pasture is just nibbles of grass that is pretty much all dried up and gone...
My girls have haybellies!!!!!!!!!!! I brought Rio, my new mare home, Saturday and was embarrassed for Dolly and Mimsy because they are so round. Not fat, just bloaty looking.
They have been on a regular worming schedule so I don't believe it's parasites. We do fecals and they were good-that was just in June...
So, here's the situation. I have a barn full of local grass hay. I would consider this stuff a fairly safe hay and have always pretty much free fed it to my horses over the years, big and small. 1 time a day they'll get some higher nuttrition orchard grass hay and I'm starting them back on 1/3 of a pound of LMF Super Supplement (a hay balancer) for the minerals and vitamins.
They will be getting out almost daily for road work now that I'm back in commission! My question is, and I'm sure there are many answers, how would you go about conditioning them. They are not show horses but I want them to have healthy bodies!
Dolly is 13, a rescue mare, and tends to maintain her weight on a pretty even keel.
Mimsy is 6, never been bred, gains weight if she looks at food. Goes right to her neck, too. So I'm very careful about her eating.
Rio is new to me, been bred twice, I'm told she gains easy and to watch her. She came to me looking really good on orchard grass hay and LMF development.
I know that I cannot give the LMF development to Mimsy or she'd turn into a balloon. Mimsy could probably handle it and with the extra work load, probably needs it.
I'm perfectly willing to mix a different feed for each one. I like allowing them the free access to this local hay because it gives them mental exercise. I spread it all over the place so they wander around like they are grazing.
Suggestions?
Picture isn't great but Mimsy is the one with the big round belly facing away from me and Dolly is the one standing perpendicular to her. The picture was taken in the yard, also. Their pasture is just nibbles of grass that is pretty much all dried up and gone...
