Why do people think that....

[Jill]

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?

Maybe there would be? Maybe there'd be more obesity and founder? I've kept minis since 1999 on dry lots. No colic and no ulcers here. It's working well for me and my hoofed wonders.

 

[kaykay]

Its such a fine balance with minis and ponies as they gain weight so easy. I do absolutely agree that colic and ulcers can be more of a problem with horses that dont graze. There is no doubt that show horses get ulcers much more then horses that dont show. We are trying right now to get our farm to where they graze a few hours everyday then come back to the drylot. This is how we did it in Illinois but there are problems there too. The old saying that horses wont eat weeds if they are well fed is an old wives tale for sure. In illinois I had a pasture full of grass and they decided to eat poisionous weeds (which I didnt know at the time) and they got sick.

At our old farm they were out grazing half a day and then back in. If I left them out to graze more then 5 hours they got HUGE.

I have also seen people refuse to take foundered horses off grass. This is a crime imo as they are slowly killing that horse and the pain a foundered horse feels is horrible. But they feel it is more "natural" so they keep them on grass that is deadly to them.

Like I said its a fine line for sure and all we can do is try our best to give them the best of both worlds. But again I do agree that horses that graze in general do not have as many problems with ulcers and colic.

 

[Songcatcher]

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

My horses are on pasture 24/7 and to date I have had only one very mild colic and one mild founder (on a mare who had been previously foundered).

My horses are very plump (which I like) but none are what I consider obese. Feel free to look at my webpage. ALL horses are in pasture condition.

 

[Warpony]

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

I don't think anyone has said that... what most of us are saying is that it is a balancing act between giving them enough food to keep their digestive tract working properly but not so much that they are obese and founder.

 

[Shari]

Depends if your horses are easy keepers or not.

Mine are...very easy keepers.

Mine have plenty of space to roam but I can't let them eat 24/7. Why you ask? Because my horse's would end up even more over weight than they are and that is not good on so many levels health wise.

So far they have been happy and healthy...even not getting to eat 24/7.

We do not have wild horses...most of us do not have 100's of acres for them to run on. People forget the wild horse's at least in the past had a very hard life. Many died from many reasons, their life not an easy one. Humans also did not mess with the breeding and hardiness results. The weak died.

Our horse's have been domestic for a long time, because of that we need to care and balance our feeding. I think people saying we need to treat them as wild horses,, are folks that think domestic horse's should not get the care they need. See too much of that.. breeders just throwing their horse's out in places to small to feed them year round..not hoof care, vaccines or worming because they think they should be treated like wild horses because the mistaken belief that being a wild horse is better.

We have domestic horses... they need different care. Hoof trims, vaccine and worming, plus watching that they get enough or do not eat too much and get founder among other things. I give my horses and other animals the care they need.

 

[MyBarakah]

Well.... Keep in mind that these miniatures are "man-made"....... if these guys were out in the wild today they would NOT survive because of thier mouths (teeth).

I have my in large dry lots and each get individually fed... They get enough in the a.m. & p.m. and I give a little more hay in the winter but have also NEVER had one colic or have ulcers. Too keep these guys intertained from being so bored I often at noon will open all the mares pens up 2 per pen so they can go into the other pens and walk around and during the summers I have 2 little pasture areas that mom & baby can go out a few hours a day. But everyone one has LARGE pens with a stall or shelter.

My youngsters have a SUPER LONG run that is probally about little over 100 ft long and 25 ft wide and they LOVE to run/race back and forth threw out the day and play. I like to make sure everyone has LOTS of space to rome about. And sometimes at noon I will give them a handful of hay too......

 

[joylee123]

[SIZE=12pt]For me I'd rather regulate my horses with dry lot. I have several horses who are perfectly fine being on pasture all day. They'll eat and stop to stand in the shade and when hungry go back and eat, but I also have a couple who will eat themselves to death and I'm not kidding

So I guess it all depends on the horse and also what you are using them for

[/SIZE]

Joy

 

[wade3504]

I'm not saying I want them to be wild. If I did, then I wouldn't own them as mine are far from wild, but I try to make things more natural if possible.

Amanda

 

[Jill]

I think we've all answered truthfully, and with much experience. We all do what we can to take the best possible care of our horses

It's not something any of us care only a little bit about. Everyone who shared their opinions here feels as good about their horse management choices as you do about yours. It feels like sometimes people only want to hear "yes, that's it... your way is the right way."

 

[anita]

I believe in " horses are grasser" and need to eat all day. Our horse are out on pasture 24/7, feeder are full with hay always. My horses can eat what they want and are NOT fat, no bellies. I could bring them straight in the show ring.

I bought several horses who were on a cup pellets and a handful hay twice a day. They can be a pain in the herd at feeding time. We made them panels to eat their meal quietly and can't disturb the others.

All these years we had no colics, birth problems, nothing. A vet would go on welfare.

I cannot understand to feed a horse twice a day with a cup pellets and a handful hay.

Just my opinion

A

 

[Katiean]

I didn't read all the posts but as to the wild horses. They eat a very poor quality diet (sage brush, cheat grass , etc...). When they brought in 300 wild horses to Palomino Valley that were used to eating all the time, and gave them bailed hay that was better quality than what they were used to getting but poor enough to give free feed, the horses got sick with salmanilla(sp). Over 1/2 of the horses died. Their official response was "they would have died anyway if we left them out there" . My point is they only changed the type of feed not the continuis feed and they died. Horses do not need to eat 24/7. If they did when you interupted them to work them would be disrupting their feeding and could then cause problems. My horses are on a dry lot that has some sage in it. We have chopped out most of it and if they were truly hungery they would eat that. My horses are fed 2x's a day hay, beet pulp and a complete feed. My colt let them all out to where they had access to ALL my feed (hay and grain) they only nibbled a bit if hay. Not even enough to warrant limiting their feed that morning I found them. I think if they were used to eating constantly that could have been a disaster.

 

[Lisa-Ruff N Tuff Minis]

I'm not saying I want them to be wild. If I did, then I wouldn't own them as mine are far from wild, but I try to make things more natural if possible.

Amanda

I do see and hear your point honestly but I think we have to remember there is just simply nothing natural about these little horses

But some people do plenty of things different. Some foal them out in the pasture on there own as it is natural and it works for them, some offer no shelter, some rarely see the horses until it is time to round of the foals, some live in barns, some show and the truth of the matter is now matter how you want to slice it in all of these different ways of living and being there are healthy horses and horses with lots of health issues

What one person looks at as a happily overweight horse another may see morbid obese- what one thinks is fine for their own horses may not in any way be suitable for someone else

The style of successful show horses in this country or in this part of the country may be very different then other places what works and wins in one may always get the gate in another

The top horses of all sizes in our country currently do not eat nor are they treated that way and they are on the top of there game which means happy and healthy both mentally and physically but like us humans there are many different ways to get to that end result.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

I don't know, is the short answer- no-one here uses dry lots so I guess all English grass is not rich??

I don't think so

My horses are out 24/7 on grass- good, grass.

They are not grain fed at all- only the weaned foals and the stallions and Rabbit get feed- Rabbit has to have it as he has no teeth!!!

He is still out on grass and would be really unhappy if he wasn't.

I understand the need to dry lot in some areas.

Having grass and dry lotting makes no sense to me at all, and I have never had fat show horses either- that takes a bit of work, it is true, but it does not take dry lots!!

And Yes, I do think all the colic and ulcers etc is directly related to the stress put on the digestive system by the unnatural diet.

Horses, any horse, any sort of horse- still a horse wild feral or man made, STILL just a horse- needs fibre 22 o/o 24 hours a day, take it away and you get trouble, simple as that.

Providing fibre that does not make you horse fat is fairly simple- I use chaff (straw and grass chop) to limit my show horses digestible feed intake whilst they are in their stalls but there is no time when they stand with nothing to eat.

I have NO idea where the myth that Minis need to be fed differently started but it is firmly entrenched now.

 

[Shortpig]

Okay so just my opinion. I believe that a horse that is born in a pasture, raised in a pasture and just hay added during the winter months to replace the pasture that is dormant, will not overeat. However, a horse

that was born in a barn, fed daily by humans, had it's diet controlled by humans is more likely to gorge

themselves when they have free feed. They don't know that when that food is gone there will be more

to replace it. My horses live on a dry lot. They are healthy and because I have been their means of food

when I put them out on pasture they tend to over eat and get fat and my fear is founder. They don't know

any better. Take a human child who has lived a life of hunger, very limited food to eat, put them at a

table that is full of food like most of us have at Thanksgiving. They will eat and eat and eat. They will

in fact gorge themselves. They do this because they don't know if they will get a meal tomorrow and wow

that food is oh so good! Are we truly so different than the animals we keep. When you buy a new horse not

only do we need to know their breeding and pedigree. We need to know what that horses life has been

previously. No one should ever take a dry lotted horse home and throw it out in a lush pasture. They will

in fact eat themselves sick. They need the diet controls they have previously had. Just as a horse that has

been starved will eat anything they can find to survive. They will chew wood and they will eat their own

stool just to survive. I have seen horror on a farm near me where the horses had no food, they consumed

each other stool on a continuous basis. We did report it and he was forced to find homes. Some died from

just the addition of quality feed their systems couldn't handle. What was left of his herd was moved to

a pasture with lush grass so several foundered. However, animal control saw no problem with that afterall

they were eating. They had plenty of feed and that made it a satisfactory situation. As I said before, just my opinions.

 

[rabbitsfizz]

That is not due to the food it is due to bad management as all of us that have dealt with starving horses know all too well!!

A starving horse can be brought up to eat normally, just as a stall kept show horse can as well.

I have done both= starving and show horse right through to happy, fluffy pasture kept pet.

No problems if you use common sense and know what you are doing.

 

[Shortpig]

That is not due to the food it is due to bad management as all of us that have dealt with starving horses know all too well!!

A starving horse can be brought up to eat normally, just as a stall kept show horse can as well.

I have done both= starving and show horse right through to happy, fluffy pasture kept pet.

No problems if you use common sense and know what you are doing.

If meant for me I agree, management is the most important thing when changing a horses feeding program.

I only worry about the horses that don't have a good management program. Around the pacific northwest

when spring arrives and the grass becomes nutritional again it's important to begin their pasture a little at

a time. Even those around here who own large horses have had their horses founder because they haven't monitored their time out on that pasture. I truly get sick of hearing from people that Wild Horses have been surviving for years on forage and cold cold winters. Just throw them out there they will do fine. Well mine

haven't had to survive and when they are shivering from the cold I will not just stand there and watch as I know the people on this forum agree. We love and care for our animals as a part of our families. What a great and caring group of people we are.

 

[Magic]

It really depends on the horses, IMO. I have one mare who is a PIG-- when she is out on pasture, I'll see the rest of the herd resting in the shade or something and "Miss Piggy" is still out there eating, and eating, and eating.

Granted, I bought her when she was several years old so I don't know her past, but she starts to get obese and really would founder if left to eat as she will, and that's even with nursing a foal. I have other horses that can spend all summer on rich pasture and though they get chubby, they aren't eating themselves to death. There is a huge difference in pastures too, depending on what is growing in those pastures, how well-fertilized they are, how much water they get, etc. Horses might be fine on one pasture but get hugely fat on another.

 

[Buckskin gal]

I totally agree with Janes point of view on this subject. Using common sense and knowing what you are doing is what makes for success of anything. We don't want colic and we don't want founder so we watch and observe to make sure what we are doing is working.

Mary

That is not due to the food it is due to bad management as all of us that have dealt with starving horses know all too well!!

A starving horse can be brought up to eat normally, just as a stall kept show horse can as well.

I have done both= starving and show horse right through to happy, fluffy pasture kept pet.

No problems if you use common sense and know what you are doing.

 

[wade3504]

I'm not saying either to take a horse that is not normally on pasture all day and throw them out onto it and leave them there. I am also not saying to dump tons of hay into their stalls and not expect them to eat it all. You slowly introduce them to it and they learn that they don't need to inhale it all at once. My horses did not start out this way but have been introduced to it slowly.

I'm also not on here trying to get people to change their minds on what they do with their own horses but was asking a question and also helping those who are learning as there are many on here who are. They also can see that there is more than one way to do things.

Amanda

 

[Margaret]

Yep just like Magic put it I had a mare that HAD to be monitored on pasture...

Not all of these minis are alike with the same metabolism.. She was "too easy" of a keeper.

Now she is no longer with me and in the hands of another keeper who monitors her..

The rest of my minis are doing just fine on my limited pasture 24-7.. and have been for years..

Some need to be watched, and monitored for overweight and some dont.

Its as simple as that.

You will never know until you have one that develops problems from overeating, and obesity.