This spring when the grass finally started to come back, we sectioned off most of the area letting the boys graze about 2 hours a day. Unfortunately the first time I foolishly left them out all night, Bogart developed gas colic the next morning.
Although the grass was not long and lush, Bogart had spent the entire night grazing, which taught
me a valuable lesson. When turning horses out onto fresh grass in the spring, slowly work up the time spent grazing to get them used to the high sugars in the new grass. Increase the time by about one hour every few days and supplement with hay throughout the process. Also limit time spent grazing on overcast days and in the late afternoon & early evening when the plant sugars are the highest.
Feeding horses in the spring
Springtime feeding can be tricky, since every horse is different. It is hard to tell how much forage they are receiving - too much food can cause colic, founder, and other problems. It is a good idea to get a couple measurements, especially around the girth, so you can accurately judge the weight. Entire blogs can be written on the proper weight of horses, but here are a few guidelines:
-You should not see ribs, but you should easily feel them
-The back should be level; the spine creating a ridge is too thin, a crease down the middle is too fat
-The cushion above the tail should be soft, but not spongy
If you notice your horse is getting too fat, however, you should not take away grain all together. The grain supplies nutrients that horses need, which they can't get solely from pasture and hay. If you need to cut back, gradually switch to a concentrated nutrition supplement to be sure he gets the nutrients without the calories.
Speaking of nutrients, be sure to supply a salt lick year round - salt is essential to a horse's health!
Spring cleaning for horses
Spring is a great time for cleaning in the barn. Before putting away winter blankets, air them out then scrub off any dirt patches with a dry stiff bristle brush - don't use soap and water. Have any torn areas repaired and heavily soiled blankets professionally cleaned. Put them away securely where rodents cannot get to them for the summer.
Carefully check tack before using - over the winter straps may have become weak - leathers, girths/cinches, billet straps, etc. especially should be checked for weakness or cracks.
In the tack room, make sure all feed is secure, the feed bins are in good shape, and other foodstuff is in rodent proof containers. Check the tack room and stalls daily for signs of wasp nests, carpenter bees, termites, and other pests. Don't use rat poison if you can at all help it - the poison used now cannot be reversed if it (or the mouse who ate the poison) is consumed by a pet.
Taking care of spring pastures
In the spring the first green you see may very well be weeds. Since owning horses, we have a
new definition for weed - whatever the horses won't eat. You have to act fast to control weeds before or as they emerge. Since we have a well, we don't like to use a lot of chemicals. We battle weeds by planting invasive weed-type grasses like bermuda grass, and mowing often to prevent the weeds from going to seed - a difficult task. Buttercups are a real problem, and overgrazing can allow them to take over a pasture completely. Sometimes weed killers may be necessary, but talk with your extension agent to find out what type are the best/safest types to use in your area. If you use a weed killer, verify it is meant for use on horse pastures, and allow a good rain before turning them out.
You can plant cold weather grasses in the early spring, but we have had better luck planting them in the fall.
Spring is a great time for harrowing the pastures. On a dry day, preferably before a heavy rain, drag the pastures with a harrow (or other heavy object like an old box spring) to break up the piles and disperse them for use as fertilizer.
SUMMER
After the winter we had, I refuse to say a single negative thing about the summer. I am thrilled to be surrounded by green, and even when the air conditioner went out, I didn't utter a word about the heat.
Water troughs for your horses
Of course horses are going to drink more in the summer heat, and coupled with the speed in which things rot, checking the trough daily is a must. We have added a dozen feeder goldfish to our trough to help to keep it clean - I remember my grandfather's goldfish in his trough when I was young. It seems to be working fairly well, but we still need to give it a good cleaning about once per month. Goldfish will eat rotting vegetation that horses leave behind, and will also eat mosquito larva. Keep in mind that goldfish are cold water lovers, so put a couple cinder blocks in the trough to provide shade. The cinder blocks also provide an escape route for cats, opossums, and other animals to help if they fall in. No one wants to find a bloated body in the trough - ugh.
Battling flies in the summer
Being one of the biggest challenges of the summer, flies drive horses and horse owners crazy. Don't ignore them - a stomping horse can crack a hoof, and small wounds from biting flies can become infected and attract other flies. There are a number of things you can do to help:
-Fly sheets and masks. This sounds like a great idea, but keep in mind that the same sheet keeping out the pests can trap a horsefly or wasp against your horse's skin. Use cautiously, and check on your horse often
- Fly eliminators. Fly eliminators are a predatory insect that are purchased in an early stage and sprinkled on piles. I have not used them, but I hear they work very well.
- Fly traps and fly bags. I have not had the best success with these. There seem to be a lot of flies buzzing around the trap, but only a dozen or so per day go in, and they are all house flies.
- Bug zapper. If you use a bug zapper, set it up well away from the barn, as it will attract bugs in the evening. A good place for it would be in the chicken yard, so the fallen bugs can be useful as added protein.
- Fly sprays. As much as I hate using chemicals, I do use fly sprays and wipes on my horses. However, I mix in oils so that I don't need to use as much chemical in my mixture. Essential oils such as tea tree oil, lavender oil, eucalyptus oil, lemongrass oil, citronella oil, and Skin-So-Soft all help keep flies away, and I have used them all. Just add a bit of Dawn dish soap to help break up the oils, and shake well before using.
Keeping your horse cool in the summer
Of course you take care not to overheat your horse by heavy riding, and hose him off to help keep him cool, but there is more that can be done. Be sure your horse has access to shade throughout the day - given the opportunity, horses will hang out in the stall during the hottest time. There is no need to lock them in, as horses know what to do. Hang fans in the stall if possible, and they will not only keep your horse cool, but help keep the flies away.
Every single morning, whether it is overcast or not, it is important to use waterproof sunscreen on your horse's nose, and not only the top but all over the muzzle, even underneath. If you think about it, when a horse has his head down grazing, the sun can reach the underside of the muzzle. Not only will it prevent burning and blistering, but it helps to keep him cool.
Provide fresh, cool water and change it out during the day if the temperatures really start to get high. I have even heard of people who freeze 2 gallons of water that they use as giant ice cubes in the trough!
Don't forget to keep an eye on that salt block - it provides extra minerals to a sweating horse.
FALL
Fall is my favorite time of the year, with cool evenings and the beauty of seasons changing. It is an outdoor time, perfect for enjoying football and other fun activities. Fall can also be a stressful time of careful preparation, since we can't be sure what winter challenges we will face.
Storing hay in the fall
If you haven't already stored away your hay, now is the time. Hay is wonderful for keeping horses warm in the upcoming months. It has about 800-1000 calories per pound that is digested in the hind gut, where heat is generated. Last winter my cache was woefully inadequate. I found out later that I wasn't the only one - just about everyone I spoke with ran out of hay half way through the season. This year I already have purchased 70 square bales from a local farmer, and may need to provide a good quality round bale if we have the frigid temperatures like we did last year. Hay loses some of it's nutrients immediately, but can be stored for over a year without a significant drop after.
A few thoughts on hay: You can't tell the quality of hay by the color. For example, alfalfa will always look more green than orchard grass. The second cutting is a good choice as it usually has less weeds than the first. Hay cut when damp will grow mold & mildew, so it is best to know the farm and the farmer if possible, and know when it is cut. Bales can vary greatly in weight and nutrition. A larger farm will have tests done to prove the quality of their hay. Some round bales are as good in quality as square, so if you have the storage space and equipment for moving it, don't be afraid to consider round bales as a money saving option.
Hay should be stored out of the weather, but stored with plenty of ventilation to prevent mold. Put down a couple pallets, then stack some bales, then another pallet, then stack more. Don't pack them in too tightly.
Caring for the pasture in the fall
The fall is the best time for sowing cool season grasses such as fescue and rye (annual or perennial). Rye tends to last a bit longer into the winter, however, fescue is a good choice since it can be eaten even after it has died off. We put down both.
It is a good idea to section off your pasture into at least two larger areas, and have one smaller
area that you can sacrifice on muddy winter days, allowing the horses into the productive paddocks during dryer times. Dividing the pasture is one of our main goals this year!
There is a low spot in front of our barn, so we have dug a ditch to help with drainage. In addition, we plan to put down a polypropylene woven scrim with about 8" of sand in front the barn this year to keep the area higher and more accessible to the tractor. The scrim helps keep the sand from being ground down into the soil beneath, keeping it dry and usable for a longer period of time. Never build up an area using muck from the stalls or other organic matter - it will make a low spot even muddier, as organic matter holds moisture.
Trees are a good idea for low spots, too. They will not only provide shade for your horses, but they can take in a lot of moisture. I don't like willows because their extensive root system can be damaging, however river birches and evergreens are good trees for taking up extra moisture.
Check blankets and tack in the fall
Take the blankets out in the fall before they are needed. That way, if there are any missing straps, holes, etc, it won't affect the use. Watch the temperatures closely, especially if your horse has not grown in his winter coat. You may want to add a light blanket if there is a sudden and unusual drop in temperature.
All tack should be cleaned, conditioned, and (if it will not be used) stored properly for the winter. Be careful when conditioning leather - too little, and the leather can become stiff/hard, but too much conditioner can ruin the leather outright.
WINTER
When I lived in Florida, we did not give much thought to winter issues, and our horses grazed year round. Here in Virginia Beach, traditionally the temperatures rarely get below freezing, and almost never get into the teens. Because of this, I had become a bit lax about preparing for winter. However, this past winter was different, reaching a low of -1 degree, and staying below freezing for days on end. I was met by challenges that I didn't expect, especially with the horses! It is winter that inspired me to write this blog about caring for horses through the seasons.
Blanketing horses in the winter
 |
| Sinatra checking for grass under the snow. |
It took only one frigid evening standing in the dark trying to put blankets on cold, irritable horses to get the idea that I was going to have to plan better when it came to clothing our horses. I am often asked why we put blankets on horses, since in the wild they don't need them. One main reason is financial - it is a lot less expensive to put a blanket on a horse then it is to try to keep weight on or, worse yet, to put weight on an underweight horse in the cold. So we blanket in the morning when there is light and have worked out a routine of constantly checking the weather to adjust the blankets accordingly:
Less than 40 degrees - light blanket/sheet
Less than 32 degrees - medium blanket
Less than 20 degrees - heavy blanket
Subtract 10 degrees for wind and rain
Our horses are allowed to come in and leave their stalls at will, so they have good shelter, and we leave their coats long, which helps as well. However, they are "seniors" so require a bit more warmth than young horses might. You shouldn't leave a heavier blanket on than necessary, because if a horse becomes hot and sweats, when night falls, the chill will do more harm than good!
Feeding horses in the winter
Here in Virginia, extra hay is a must in the winter. Being unaccustomed to the crazy weather, my two horses were eating about 300-350 lb of hay per week this past winter, and they still needed extra calories. During one particularly cold spell we put out a 600 lb round bale. They loved the round bale, hugging it, nuzzling it, sleeping on it, whispering sweet nothings to it, and they were terribly heartbroken when all the hay was gone
one week later. Purchasing and moving around large round bales in the mucky wet cold winter is terrible - we had to wait for a hard freeze to be able to get the bales into the barn without getting the tractor stuck.
Although horses may need extra calories in the wintertime, you shouldn't just increase the quantity of grain for calories, as it will also give them too many vitamins. Also keep in mind that although it is calorie dense, grain does nothing to help keep them warm. Extra fat and roughage is a better choice.
For additional calories, I added 1/3 cup of corn oil per feeding to our horses' grain. I started out adding a high calorie supplement, but found it was just a different form of vegetable oil, so I switched, and saved a great deal by adding plain old corn oil.
As cold turned to a freeze that lasted weeks, I added a large bucket of hot soaked beet pulp twice a day, which my horses loved. The beet pulp works well to keep them warm because it is digested in the back gut which stimulates heat, similar to hay. Many people think beet pulp is high in sugar, but that is not true; Nearly all the sugar has been removed, and the pulp is the hard fiber that is left over. Rice bran is great, too, if you can get it.
Supplying water to horses in the winter
I did not truly expect the water trough to ice over, or if I did, I thought it would have a thin layer of ice that I could easily break with a mallet.
After the first cold night, I went out with my mallet and tapped away the thin layer. After the first truly cold night, I banged at that ice for a good while before barely breaking through and then realized the water level was not much lower then when I had filled it two days ago. Horses will not drink enough if the water is too cold. I hauled hot water from the house to put in their stalls and purchased an electric warmer
that very day for both the horses' trough and the chickens' waterer.
Mucking stalls in the winter
Mucking stalls in the winter bites ass (sorry, but it really does). Because of the rain and snow, the horses spend much more of their time in their stalls and so the stalls become wet and gross quickly. I couldn't stand seeing them standing in muck, but it was too wet and muddy to push the wheelbarrow though the pasture. The garden tractor wouldn't make it at all. I ended up piling the muck outside the stall doors and moving it when the ground froze enough to make it over to the muck pile.
One thing we did do right was preparing the stalls. There is about 18" of sand covered in 6" of shavings, plus we banked the sides well with shavings. We put down lime and stall mats in the center where we would have the most muck, but left plenty of gaps for fluids to drain through. The only thing I have changed is adding a couple bags of pelleted shavings in the center to help with absorption.
Taking care of the winter pasture
There isn't too much to take care of as far as the pasture goes in the wintertime, since everything is brown. It is a good time to put down clover seed, though, if you want to "frost seed." Clover is great for adding nutrients to the soil, and horses love it. Just put down the seed in rows before the last couple frosts - for us, that was in February. The freezing and thawing of the ground incorporates the seed into the soil.
As I said before, it is a good idea to have a "sacrificial area" to keep the horses in when it becomes excessively wet so they don't tear up the whole pasture.
And remember, spring is coming - It won't be brown and dead forever!
I am ending this blog knowing that there is so much more that could be written (worms, vaccinations, hooves, etc), but I hope this blog has given a good overview of what to prepare for through the seasons. If you have any more helpful ideas, please leave a comment!
