Horse Talk

[ShrekDawg]

The barn I used to ride at suggested putting some I think vegetable oil in with their feed. Supposedly it helped them put on/keep weight and look shiny. I don't know legitimate that is though but their horses/boarders always looked pretty good and some were rescues. I would think though that with just a good, healthy, quality diet they should look fine. However maybe you could try some Calf Manna supplement or something?

 

[GingersHuman]

Thanks for the advice! Is there anything out there for makin the horses look good that works better than soy bean meal and rice bran? Or anything that works the same but is cheaper?

If a horse is an easy keeper (does well on hay and pasture) adding 1/2 cup ground flax when no green grass is available, along with a little soaked alfalfa and beet pulp is good. It also makes a good base to mix supplements with.

For hard keepers (don't keep their weight, either just in the winter or year round) the flax, larger amounts of beet pulp and alfalfa, black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS) and rice bran are good choices.

As a kind of warning, some horses seem to be "allergic" to alfalfa. Some go bonkers when fed more than a pound or so and others hoof quality decreases. The hotter breeds may react more with too much energy/ spookiness while fat horses getting too much alfalfa have the hoof issues more often. Just have to increase slowly and watch for issues.

Just so you guys know, I'm a "Natural Hoofcare Practitioner", a natural barefoot trimmer or barefoot farrier if you will. I do hoof boot fitting, nutrition work and mineral balancing.

 

[PeepersMama]

If a horse is an easy keeper (does well on hay and pasture) adding 1/2 cup ground flax when no green grass is available, along with a little soaked alfalfa and beet pulp is good. It also makes a good base to mix supplements with.

For hard keepers (don't keep their weight, either just in the winter or year round) the flax, larger amounts of beet pulp and alfalfa, black oil sunflower seeds (BOSS) and rice bran are good choices.

As a kind of warning, some horses seem to be "allergic" to alfalfa. Some go bonkers when fed more than a pound or so and others hoof quality decreases. The hotter breeds may react more with too much energy/ spookiness while fat horses getting too much alfalfa have the hoof issues more often. Just have to increase slowly and watch for issues.

Just so you guys know, I'm a "Natural Hoofcare Practitioner", a natural barefoot trimmer or barefoot farrier if you will. I do hoof boot fitting, nutrition work and mineral balancing.

Yes, be careful feeding alfalfa. I used to have a percheron who would colic really bad if she ate alfalfa. She was always a colicky horse, and one night it just got the best of her

She was such a cool horse.

 

[PeepersMama]

Just found this. Oh, how true it is XD

 

[moomoodiddy]

Just found this. Oh, how true it is XD

soooo true

 

[Bunnylady]

But what's funny is how many people who think they are horse people react like the 'non-horse people,' and then wonder why they always seem to have problems with their horses.

 

[GingersHuman]

For sure Bunny! Haha!

 

[abigalerose]

I'm pretty sure "you little fart" is much nicer than what I call June when she does this!

Also, thanks for the good info @GingersHuman

I'm not trying to fatten them up, just give them all the proper nutrients they need to reach their genetic potential. I think they could all still grow a little taller. And I've got some nice hills I can exercise them on to build muscle.

All my horses are at my grandparents house right now because my well quit working, and boy were they thrilled to go from a 1/2 acre to 60. I'm fencing off more next month so they have close to 7 acres when they're back at my place. I'm trying to figure out the best way to split it up so they have grass at all times but also enough room to stretch the legs.

Also, I hauled all three of them in my trailer when I took them over there, I have a four horse trailer (so I had one empty space left, perfect for when I get my filly!) and it was for sure June's first time in a trailer like that and I'm thinking it was for the other two as well. And it was my first time putting more than one horse in a trailer, but they loaded great. And despite being a little freaked out by the time we got there, they unloaded great too. So proud of them.

And, what do you think is the max. amount of horses for 7 acres? I already have 4, I still really want to adopt a mustang, but I don't want it too cramped either. I love the babies I have now so I'm not selling any.
I'm also trying to think of a job that I can start training them all for.

My cousins is moving out so that means I have more space to fence for them now, plus she's taking her "arena" with her which means I have room for a roundpen. And I have a totally free summer ahead. So I've got time, shelter, etc, for taking on several projects, just not sure about the acreage.

 

[abigalerose]

Here's what I'm planning on having all fenced off

Here's the picture again, but the blue highlighted part is the 1/2 acre they're in now.
I'm thinking maybe I could just leave the 1/2 acre as a dry lot and dry lot them at night with hay and grain, and turn them out during the day.
But also, my uncle is in charge of sectioning this off (he's the one getting everything in order for the farm being left to my parents) and he says this is 7 acres, but when I compare the half acre to it, it looks more like 4 1/2 acres to me. So I'm not sure what's going on.

 

[res]

That doesn't look like 7 acres to me, either, if the blue area is 1/2 acre. There is a great online acreage estimator that I use often to plan out rotating pasture sizes, and it is quite accurate - as in it might be off by a few thousand square feet, at worst. https://www.freemaptools.com/area-calculator.htm

I would DEFINITELY keep a dry lot/sacrifice area however you set the fences up. Dry lots are priceless for containing the horses to let the pastures rest, or in inclement weather to keep them close to the barn, or being able to limit graze horses that cannot have free grazing, or.... I have ALWAYS had a dry lot and cannot imagine keeping any form of livestock without one. My shelter and water are in the dry lot, attached to the barn.

What is even more awesome is if you can plan out your fences so that every pasture section is accessible from the dry lot. That way, rotating pastures is as easy as opening one gate and closing another. My dry lots are set up this way - I have 6 gates along the dry lot fenceline, each one opens up to a different long, narrow pasture to rotate. This allows me to rest each section for 6 weeks at a time, which keeps me in grass 365 days a year here in Maryland. Granted, there is not much new grass right now, but I still have knee high dry grass that they are hoovering up. It looks like your pasture will be a bit wonky shaped vs. a rectangle/square that makes rotational grazing easier, but you could still access different lots by making a chute to them off of the dry lot. My friend's pasture is set up this way - 1/4 mile long 16' wide chute with gates along both sides to 10 different pastures.