Horse Questions

[JurassicBawk]

I had to keep from punching my cheap brother-in-law in the face once when he thought about getting a horse for his kids. They had 1/2 acre of barren land, had no intentions of feeding it, no intentions of putting shoes on it, no intentions of giving it shelter. He saw land and they wanted a horse, so he was going to throw one on there with no care. I'm all for people having animals, but only if they are properly taken care of.

Having a horse on 1.5 acres can be done, but it's going to be lots of work and expensive. You need the proper shelter first and foremost, so it has something to get in during storms/bad weather at bare minimum. That amount of land is not going to be enough for it to live off only grazing, so you will have to supplement with hay at least part of the year, probably feed also. Unless your horse has feet of steel, you will need farrier services about every 6-7 weeks. I'm not saying you have to put shoes on, because my horses never had shoes and wore EZ Boots/horse tennis shoes, but their feet constantly grow just like your fingernails do and have to be trimmed and maintained. I'm not current on farrier prices now, but I paid $75/trip for this, so $150 every 3 months, $600/year. A horse with bad feet cannot be ridden, and they are very delicate things for being so big and powerful. My horses always got supplements of some kind or another, which can get expensive. Keep asking questions and doing your research so that you are going into this adventure prepared, and good luck.

 

[Liberty615]

Shoes for a horse on pavement can be slippery without borium nails at least. Horseboots were recommended by my farrier so the horse stays barefoot until he needs shoes.
I don't feed grain unless they work extra hard and then only a little bit. I received a horse that a woman had all kinds of behavior problems with. I stopped the grain and now he's a really good boy.

 

[Liberty615]

BTW, eight acres for five horses isn't enough without rotation and supplementing hay when it gets grazed down.

 

[Liberty615]

Read everything you can get your hands on. Equus.com is a good site and Horse and Rider, also both are informative magazines. Good luck with your "crash course" in HorsEnomics!

 

[Bunnylady]

Hmm looks like a lot of people disagree on the feed

Hey, you know what they say - "if you ask four horsemen, you'll get five opinions."

Even if it wasn't for the sugar content of sweet feed (I have a horse that, at the time I got her, was very overweight and limped every time she got turned out because she couldn't deal with the sugar content of grass), I can never see the logic of the whole grains in the "textured" (sweet) feeds. Horses aren't chickens; they don't have gizzards to grind them up, nor do they have the
complex digestive workings of a ruminant. The majority of those grains pass through the horse undigested; you have only to see them sprouting in the manure piles to know this. If they are only there to act as "roughage," won't the hay do that job?

Edit: Someone mentioned shoes somtimes off in a short period of time. This is rarely a worry if you have a good farrier

He was an excellent farrier, the problem was that the horse (a Quarab) had conformation that caused a tendency to forge, and he was catching the heels of the shoes on his fore feet with the toes on his hind, and pulling them off. Leading this horse, you could hear it as he walked - a soft extra "thump" as his hind foot hit the fore on that side. They tried the usual tricks to stop it, but leaving the shoes off was the only sure cure.

 

[mill-j]

Hey, you know what they say - "if you ask four horsemen, you'll get five opinions."

Are you sure it's not 6?

He was an excellent farrier, the problem was that the horse (a Quarab) had conformation that caused a tendency to forge, and he was catching the heels of the shoes on his fore feet with the toes on his hind, and pulling them off. Leading this horse, you could hear it as he walked - a soft extra "thump" as his hind foot hit the fore on that side. They tried the usual tricks to stop it, but leaving the shoes off was the only sure cure.

Oh that explains I definitely know about forging.

And to clarify, when I say shoes I mean shoes with drilltec on the bottoms. These have some awesome grip on blacktop, gravel, ice, and rugged terrain. But a horse you ride twice or thrice a year... you don't need them, just take it slow.

 

[ChickyMama229]

Wow thanks so much to everyone for all this information and helpful tips!!! Unfortunately at the moment an acre and a half of land is all I have for the horse to graze on. I will hang hay nets in his/her stall and around the pasture for him to eat if the grass isn't enough. I found maintenance feed at TSC. I'm thinking this could be the right feed since the horse is being lightly worked. I read that you should feed around 1/2 lb. of feed per 100 lbs. of body weight? Also, there is land for sale nearby my house and once we move in I will definitely take a look at the land and I would put my horse on it too. My land currently has two run in shelters which I would convert one into a stall for night time. I would really prefer my horse to be barefoot especially if it is used to being barefoot. And of course, I would always take great care of their hooves. I will call in a farrier every 6-8 weeks to come and trim. I also intend on taking a little farrier course so I can learn to do it myself to save money. I have been doing research on horse care and maintenance for YEARS, hoping I can finally put it to use! Ok got it, no galloping on paved roads!! I'll save that for my yard. The sides of the road are grass so I could always gallop on that if I wanted to. BTW, I live in Louisiana, someone mentioned it makes a big difference with the grass foraging. I'm open to any more suggestions and tips and I'll keep y'all posted. Thanks so much!