Why do people think that....

[wade3504]

I hear this from many miniature horse people. Horses were meant to eat all day. If they aren't eating then their digestive system is not working properly and that's also when they decide to eat what's available-example stall walls, shavings, etc. I have had big horses and minis. They have always been turned out for at least 12 hours a day and had hay in theirs stalls as well as feed twice a day. Now before the hay would run out depending on how fast they ate it but now they nibble at it throughout the day. It's getting to the point where I don't need grain as my vet says that if they don't do more than 4 hours hard work a week then they don't need the grain. My minis are now down to half a cup of grain in the AM and the same in the PM. They go out all night and have hay in their stalls in the daytime. It's me who has to deal with feeling bad once I cut them off the feed completely and add a free choice mineral. They could do just fine without.

So, why the dry lots?

I see more sicknesses and minis and think it has to be that they are not allowed to be normal horses.

It makes no sense.

Amanda

 

[chandab]

Horses were also meant to travel great distances every day to get their feed and water; we also don't typically provide that for them. Many pastures are much too rich for horses to graze 24/7; our pastures are ideal for fattening our cattle, so they aren't very ideal for the average horse to graze free choice (they'd all be extreme butterballs and possibly foundered). [introduced grasses are often much more rich than native prairie.]

 

[Leeana]

Why the drylot? Because i do not like fat show horses ...

For the most part, the horses i am showing are on drylot spring/summer. Pasture will reallly quickly put a belly on a horse, even if you condition then daily. My show horses are stalled at night and out on drylot generally from 11am-6pm during season. Everyone else is outside 24/7 on a light nearly dead pasture

. Normally i spread a block out very thin around the drylot when i put them out and they nibble at that throughout the day as they wish so its almost like them grazing exept not really putting that belly on them.

If i have a horse that i have stalled for a long period of time, i normally drop a few handfuls of hay into their stall and let them pick at it to keep them busy. If i have a horse that is looking a bit thin i start bringing them in around mid day for a feeding by themselves in a stall but normally they stay well filled out.

I think horses get by just fine with 2-3 feedings a day, works for me even if they do nibble throughout the day on hay.

This kind of reminds me of the 'horses do not need grain, wild horses do fine without it' ...well what are them horses doing? Taking 2 steps and puting their head down to get more grass, then taking another two steps. It kind of goes along with that. I have some i grain and some i dont grain, different reasons of course.

Thats just how i do it .......

 

[Warpony]

unfortunately I have yet to find a hay I can free feed without my horses getting grossly obese. Obesity is more of a danger to them than being limited on their feed. I'd love to have them able to graze 24/7 but it just isn't possible. It's not that I think they should NOT eat all day (I think they should, and I hate that they can not), it's that I would kill them if I let them eat all day. I do my best to break up their feed into a lot of tiny feedings in the winter, in the summer I mow their pasture short so they can graze but still not get too fat... but they still need limits otherwise I'd have two foundered butterballs on my hands.

 

[Jill]

Wade --

My horses are on dry lots. They've never been sick (except for one, when she was in a trainer's hands). I've grown many up this way. They all look great, are happy, and very healthy. Clearly, it's working well for my herd! Dry lots are the way I would keep ours 95% of the time even if we had 100's of acres.

Jill

 

[Danielle_E.]

I agree with the initial poster, ESPECIALLY in northern climates. I would rather them eating throughout the day some hay to keep warm, they always lose the weight again in the spring and summer but in the winter they need the added feeds (around the clock) (grass hay) to keep warm. My horses are on pasture in the spring and summer and NONE were FAT but I don't feed anything else, no hay no grain usually as it's not needed. Those who want to spend the additional $$ to have to feed hay and grain year round, so be it.

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

IMO and this is just my opinion you cant compare horses in the wild to horses we have in our yards - a wild horse walks miles a day to find food some days getting tons of feed other days not so much so it all balances out.

My horses cant walk miles a day in a 2 acre pasture or a smaller turn out so they would stand around and eat all day long.

We have large horses in lush pastures next door and across from us and they do not eat all day long. They dont get hay well they will coming here into winter but otherwise they get no hay and they are often standing around the fence line next to mine not eating but just standing there. I dont think they need to be eating all day long to be healthy

Many professional large horses are not turned out to pasture or free fed hay either so it is not just minis. We are asking them to do things they would not do in the wild, foal on our schedule not theirs, wean on our schedule not theirs , work on our schedule, work in round pens, work over fences, work in arenas , cow horses, jumpers, dressage horses driving horses these are all horses that are not doing what they would do "in the wild" so to me and again this is just me it makes no sense to feed them as such.

 

[wade3504]

unfortunately I have yet to find a hay I can free feed without my horses getting grossly obese. Obesity is more of a danger to them than being limited on their feed. I'd love to have them able to graze 24/7 but it just isn't possible. It's not that I think they should NOT eat all day (I think they should, and I hate that they can not), it's that I would kill them if I let them eat all day. I do my best to break up their feed into a lot of tiny feedings in the winter, in the summer I mow their pasture short so they can graze but still not get too fat... but they still need limits otherwise I'd have two foundered butterballs on my hands.

Warpony, there's a fairly new haynet out called Busy Horse, I think my vet told me. The hay nets have smaller openings in them so it takes them longer to get it out.

In my orignial post I really didn't mean actually eating 24 hours a day as I know they don't do that but they do have the opportunity. Mine are on ten acres of grass and hay during the day and none are fat and I show them. Our show season is going on right now. Our next show is in January.

I just feel, in my opininion, that we should make things as natural for them as possible. If I could, they'd be out 24 hours a day, but the owner of the stable has a stallion that goes out during the day so they can't be turned out then.

 

[Buckskin gal]

The experiences I have had with minis are some of them are just very hard to keep trim and so people put them on dry lots. I have minis that can be out on pasture all day and don't get fat. I don't like to see our minis cooped up all the time because I believe it is better for them to be out and about. I have noticed they don't eat all the time. They run and play, they take their naps and seem very content when out on pasture. I do think some lines are more prone to founder and those are the ones who really need warching when on grass. We have never had a founder so I think we must be doing something right. But as always, what works for one doesn't work for another. Mary

 

[ChrystalPaths]

Well I guess I'm lucky. My paddocks equal about 20+ acres of horrible pasture that I love and mow weekly when in season. I just came in from the barn here in freezing NY and each horse was fed at 5pm feed and hay but they get another flake now to help them get thru the nite. Are they fat? Youbetcha! Are they warm and healthy? Yup. I understand about dry lots, showing horses, keeping fit etc but in winter where I am? you gotta plump em if they're to manage the cold. Hay makes heat, I have great grass hay in front of them all day and nite this time of year...but that's me.

 

[Marty]

With me it's all about the weather and the grass intake.

My winter schedule is much different from the spring and summer when I am dry lotting with hay to avoid grass founder and obesity. But come winter, it's a different ball game. I feed them up really good and provide plenty of hay during the night in these really cold temps. If they get hay bellies during winter from hay to keep warm, that's fine with me; they will loose it come spring in the dry lot. Someone should put my fat arse on dry lot too.

 

[The Simple Life Farm]

Mine are on dry lots year round. I have two mares that I have to watch very closely, they gain weight by breathing!!!! During the winter, I give them more hay, but not free choice. One mare has to be watched due to a large crest. All horses are different, you just have to feed according to their requirements.

 

[Warpony]

Warpony, there's a fairly new haynet out called Busy Horse, I think my vet told me. The hay nets have smaller openings in them so it takes them longer to get it out.

I've not heard of the Busy Horse nets, but I just had a friend from England send me two hay nets with very tiny openings for this very reason, lol! The holes are very small, too small for them to get a foot through and they really make them work to get the hay out. I'm mixing their hay with a soft straw which they do not eat but they do have to pull out to get to the hay. It keeps them busy for hours. It still doesn't keep them eating all day and it doesn't keep them moving around (when I hay I spread it around so they have to "graze"), plus they then have to eat in an unnatural position which I dislike... so it isn't a perfect solution but it makes me feel better on days when they would otherwise not have any thing to nibble on.

My gelding can nibble a lot more than my mare can... but my mare remains obese on very little feed and while working quite hard. I think she and I have similar metabolisms. OH!

 

[Margaret]

A very novel thought to leave them to the environment and let them be, however I have seen the other side to that picture with the miniature.. It can take a while, but when it does, its a sobering wake up call.

I once had a mare that seemed to love to graze at pasture ..

She would pack the pounds on, and then some- as if she was expecting a famine to hit..

Her fat pads kept growing as her crest got thicker. I eventually had to pull her off the pasture and put her on dry grass burmuda hay -as per the vets advise, to avert inevitable founder.

Minis were bred deliberatly by us , and I do believe they can be more suseptable to unsupervised problems..

So we need to watch them,- and intervene when things get out of hand, like weight.

I personally have seen two founder cases involving miniature mares and pasture. Thats enough to convince me to watch my horses weight, and when they get cresty and are packing thick fat pads on them, its time to change the program.

 

[Doobie]

I do not have dry lots and live in Northern Ontario.

I have very large runs for the different groups of horses and have to admit that I do not like how 'fat' my girls are this year from all the eating they have been doing.

I dont like the idea of a dry lots and I hate having them in small areas

so I have 'free leased' some sheep from a guy down the road who has lots of sheep.

Not only do they keep all the grass the horses dont eat down but Im hoping they will make the girls have to work a little harder and so hopefully they will not be so fat next year !

 

[Cathy_H]

Our 6 horses spend most of their day in 5 nice size dry lots. They get pasture 3-4 hours a day depending upon the time of year..... I also give hay a minimum of 4 times a day & up to 6-8 times a day in really cold weather. Our mini's are plump to say the least. I think pasture 24/7 would put them in the obese catagory.. The show horses do not get that much pasture during show season but they do get several small feedings of hay through out the day.

 

[maestoso]

I agree 100% with those who have mentioned the differenced between wild horses and our pets. You can't compare. Most of us cannot provide a wild environment and therefor our care methods must be adjusted accordingly. The metabolism of a wild horse is much greater then that of a pets because, as many have mentioned, wild horses are on the move all the time and their bodies need to be eating all the time so that they can get the energy they need. Horses in the wild are not on rich pasture grass either. Most of the time, their grazing land is sparse and weedy. It might also be mentioned that domestic horses generally have almost double the lifespan of the horses in the wild, because of the care owners provide.

When I was eventing my Irish Sport Horse I got in an argument with a lady once about "natural hoof care." Her point was that the best and healthiest way to care for a horses hoof is the natural way, shoeless. My point was that there is nothing natural about the rigorous sports we ask our horses to perform for us, the extra protection is necessary. Domestic horses are not wild, and though we can do our best to stimulate them the best way we can in accordance with their natural instincts, we must care for them in a manner appropriate to the way we are keeping them, which is not wild at all.

 

[Jill]

Warpony, there's a fairly new haynet out called Busy Horse, I think my vet told me. The hay nets have smaller openings in them so it takes them longer to get it out.

If this hay net hangs above the horse as do most hay nets, I'd question how healthy it really is to use. There has been a lot of discussion about it not being good for a horse to eat in the position a hay net requires. It's best, by far, for horses to eat with their heads down.

 

[KenBen]

Being from Northern Ontario, I let my minis roam on 30 acres all day and stall them at night. When the foals are a month old I also turn them and their dams out with the rest of the herd. This is in the spring,summer and fall. Once the grass is gone I spread hay out every morning for them in a enclosed paddock or dry lot.To this date I have not had a problem with them becoming too fat. I just love how they look in the summer sleek and trim. You really get to see how a herd operates on that many acerage as they do not go and feed in the same area every day. What I have is rock, lowlands and hills for them to traverse on.

KenBen

 

[wade3504]

So no one thinks that if they were able to eat more often and keep their digestive tract working, that there would be less colic and ulcers in the minis?

Amanda