Babying horses!!!!!

[JDseller]

I saw the post below about how much a horse eats. Dave II stated that if the guy was going to just put the rescued horses in with the cattle to just do them in now. My youngest brother"s wife is a city raised horse nut (animal idiot) She would make the same type of statement. She once told me that todays horses could not live on hay alone?????

Well I think horses where around for several million years before man started to care for them. I even remember seeing some mustangs that run wild in the western USA. I even read about how the state of Kentucky is having trouble because people are turning their horses loose in the state parks. The horses are thriving.

Here is the funny part about my sister-in-laws horses. Three years ago My brother and her go on missionary service for a year. Guess where the horses ended up at??? You got it my place. I HATE HORSES. So be darned if I was going to baby the darn things. They are just some cross breed pleasure horses, nothing special. I had the vet check them out while he was here for my cattle. He gave them a good worming and some shots they needed. ( Seems the SIL does not like "chemicals/medicines" for her pet horses) I then turned them loose in the pasture with my brood cows. This was in late Sept. They had fun running the whole length of the pasture field. She never lets them out of their stall unless she had a saddle or lead rope on them. ( I think that is cruel myself) They settle down after 15-20 minutes. The cattle checked them out and they the cattle. So everyone was happy. I let them run with the cattle the whole year. Some of the grand kids would come over a few times each month and lead them around and rode them some to keep them broke. I never gave them any extra feed other than the sweet lick the brood cows get. ( I made sure it was safe for horses) So when I knew the brother and SIL are coming back I catch the horses and put them back into the stalls at my brother"s place. THEY RAISED cane about that, the horses that is. LOL

She could not get over how much healthier they looked. They had gained weight and where well muscled. She asked me what I had done with them. I told her it was a big secret. LMAO

So in about three months she came over and asked me what she should do as the horses did not look as good now as they had when she came back. I told he to bring my brother and come back in the evening. I called him and told him IF he brought her over I was going to tell her some home truths about animals. I was going to ride her hard on her treatment of her horses. They came over.

Her problem with her horses:
1) Locked in a 12 x 12 foot stall 365 days a year. Only exercised when she has time. About twenty minutes each week. If that.

2) Her " organic" worm and health treatment was snake oil. Both horses where loaded with worms again. They where seen by the vet each time we ran the cattle through the chute. They where health when they left here.

3) She feds them a flake or two of pure alfalfa hay each day with sweet feed on top of that. That would be like a person eating candy bars all day and wondering why they where not feeling good. A leisure horse will do much better on a alfalfa/grass or clover/grass hay. Feed them 3/4 to a bale each day. The horses guts will work one hundred times better. You will have way fewer health problems. You guys baling what ever you find to feed your horses. You would tell me that I know nothing about feeding horses. Well I don"t feed junky weeds/grass to any of my livestock. Use good feed/hay but the appropriate type for your livestock.

4) Get the horses out in a pasture for a majority of their day. Put them in at night if you want but get them out. They will do much better in the open air and sun shine. Plus the exercise will do them wonders.


Well how did it go??? She was bawling her eyes out and my brother was mad. They stomped home. Two days later she came over to see if I would help her fix their pasture fence so she could let the horses out during the day. They have ten acres that is fenced. I told her I would give her all of the mixed grass hay in round bales that her horse would need. She could come over and help the wife do house work to trade it off. She has the vet check the horses out when he does my herd health. Her costs are way down and the horses are healthier.

Do I know horses??? NO. I could not put a saddle or harness on to save my life. I do know how to feed livestock: cattle, pigs, horses, chickens, etc. YES I was raised on this farm when horses where used in the everyday working of this ground. I hated them then and now but I do know how to treat animals. How many treat their so called pampered animals to me is criminal. A horse was made by God to run to lock one up all of the time is just wrong.

 

[Anonymous-0]

we only feed hay also with pregnant mares (last 3 months or so), nursing mares, and breeding stallion getting a handful of mineral pellets. I was thinking of hooves looking like skis etc. resulting from a lot of folks that think save the poor horse and put it on the pasture is the end of the committment.

 

[Anonymous-0]

You're right, she has no idea.

 

[HP 28-50]

Got roped into horses for the wife and daughter. Told them straight out that we are not buying mixed feed and high buck hay. Think of it, a century ago our nation was still dependant on equine. The majority of those worked hard for their owners and didn't receive Purina mixed horse ration or high test alfalfa hay. They were treated well, worked, and fed accordingly. The horse community is full of HS and these lemmings that follow gurus like Perelli are inept.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Totally agree with you.

I get really ticked off when I see some of the petfood comercials on TV. Dog & cats are meat eaters not vegatarians.

 

[JML755]

JDseller,
good post. Sometimes what people do for their horses is not what's best for the horse in spite of the owner's good intentions. For whatever reason, feed is especially critical for horses. They colic real easy and that is probably the #1 health issue for them. But, I agree with you. There's an old saying "Keep your horses out of the barn and you'll keep the vet out as well", or something like that. Our horse gets good hay and grain each day in his stall and gets turned out half a day. (With 55 horses on the 10 acre property, there's not enough paddocks to let them all out at the same time.) As you say, exercise is very critical for them. Ours usually gets ridden every day. He's allergic to lots of stuff and will swell up with cellulitis on his legs (from scrapes, cuts, bug bites) several times a year to the point he can hardly walk. Guess what the best treatment is for that (besides medicine)? Exercise!

He is happiest when we take him out to some open fields each day and hand graze him on whatever is growing out there. He'll stay out there as long as you'll let him and he'll decide what to eat and what to avoid.

You're right. Horses are NOT meant to be cooped up inside. In fact, there are about half a dozen ponies that live outside all year round with just a run-in shed for shelter. They do fine, even in Michigan winters.

Anyway, sounds like your SIL is getting a good education from you. In spite of your feelings towards horses, it's good that you care for the animal's well-being.

 

[Billy NY]

I could not agree more, having suitable pasture goes without saying.

I cannot begin to tell you what an incredible pain in the @ss, stall kept thoroughbreds can be, matter of a fact I'm getting too old for it, after the last injury by one. You absolutely have to do something with them for daily exercise, besides all the other care. For proper care of say 10 horses is a full time job for 1 person, all chores and care included. no time for anything else.

Problem we have is weather/seasons, different times of year, they can't be out, and boy does that make them (would make me) to be full of it, it's downright dangerous to both handler and the horse, and honestly unfair to the horse in my opinion, I look at them the same way you do.

Fortunately we have some really good natured ones, that were raised well, even the stallion, whom I would trust more than any other horse in the barn, is my favorite, he's smart and listens, picks up on things quickly and predictable. We have another that you can free lunge on voice commands and boy is he happy to do it, + show off a little. Even then, you keep em in the stall too long, they're gonna stand up, buck and act up, cause that's what they do.

They do well with timothy/orchrard grass pastures, as well as decent 1st cut of same and 2nd cut of same. You don't need to grain them if they have good amounts of either. The worms are a pain, leave your feed buckets where flies can get to them and lay eggs is all it takes, still need to de-worm fall and spring. Keep those teeth floated or they could lose weight when they get points on them, had one who was getting all kinds of good feed, could not keep weight on, til we found that tooth needed work.

They are a ton of work and money to keep, though I work around them, owning is another story.

 

[Nancy Howell]

I"ve had horses for over 20 yrs. While I"m no expert, I think you are right on.

At our place in Dallas, we only had a couple of acres and 4 horses, I could not let them "roam" on the pasture full time or it would be dust. 99% of their food ration was horse quality coastal hay. They were not stalled, but spent most of their time in a 40 x 60 corral.

They got fat on just the hay and lack of exercise. I would let them out for a couple of hours each day, but again, because I didn"t have enough acreage, couldn"t let them out all the time.

Now that they are at the farm and have 8 - 10 acres to graze, they are very happy horses. They have lost weight and look good. Feet and coats are in good shape. In the winter they get horse quality rounds to eat as they choose.

Too many horses are kept in stalls all their life and never get the opportunity to "be a horse". Many of these horses develop very bad habits because of boredom. They can also be hard to handle when you take them out because they want to run, play, & stretch their legs.

I have had friends try to give me alfalfa to feed. I refused. Its very easy to hurt a horse on alfalfa not to mention the blister beetle problem. A horse can eat all the coastal (grass) hay they want and unless its been extremely heavily fertilized and is running 14% or better, they will never make themselves sick on it. Too may horse owners don"t realize a horse"s digestive system is designed for quantity not quality.

I would advise your sil to have a long talk with a good horse vet.

 

[Brokenwrench]

Nice post. I agree

We currently have 5 horses. The most we had is 9. They go from pasture to hay, thats it. Mine are on pasture with cattle as well.

I do feed them decent grass hay, when not on pasture. I keep back some bloomed alfalfa rounds for them in the dead of winter. Don"t know if it matters or not, just what I do.

They are all nice and healthy. Getting them out on pasture is better for their hooves and teeth as well.

We have a good vet that comes out twice a year, and she loves our horses. According to her, we always have good herd health.

I have never had trouble on pasture with horses and cows together. The trouble can come in the winter, if they are yarded up together in closer quarters. The horses are always harder on the cows. They stay seperated then.

I think Dave2 is in germany, where land is at a premium. I"m guessing if he were to run cows and horses together, they"d have to be right on top of eachother. It would be a different game.

In the midwest/west where you can turn them out on acres of pasture, you wont have a problem.

 

[JML755]

(quoted from post at 09:23:10 08/17/11)
.........
Too many horses are kept in stalls all their life and never get the opportunity to "be a horse". Many of these horses develop very bad habits because of boredom. ............

You're absolutely right. We've got a few "cribbers" in the barn who'll destroy a stall by chewing on the 2x10 walls. And that's with daily turnout. I suspect that they developed those habits from earlier homes. If you've got a well exercised horse hopefully they'll be too tired to "crib" when they're back in their stalls.

 

[Anonymous-0]

Things are a little tight in this area...We have about 9 acres fenced off in pieces from 1/4 to 1 1/2 acres that we rotate everyone on. The pasture is for movement and a little green stuff to nibble and that get free choice hay. Mares with babies get corn, oats, and a handful of mineral feed (qty based on amount of green grass and apples on the ground. Apples fall off the trees and they clean them up and I cut roadsides and give them the grass and the county guy always stops and tells me where he mowed something. They stay out 24/7 from around mid april to Nov/Dec depending on how the weather is. If the ground is wet/soft and it's cold, they come in to hard ground and back on pastures as soon as they freeze. Most of them foal outside by themselves.

 

[Mike (WA)]

Pretty much everybody in this thread is right on target as to feeding horses. Pasture in summer, and hay in winter. We feed only grass hay, and not that great of grass hay, at that- and I can't remember the last time we had a sick horse.

Really good alfalfa with sweet feed to boot is a recipe for disaster. They have to have that roughage going through them to stay healthy.

 

[randallnMo]

Amen JD, Amen.

Just curious though, why did she ask YOU to help her fix the fence rather than your brother?

 

[Bret4207]

I've seen a lot of people that think a horse has to have a stall and this high dollar hay and grains and additives, etc. BULL! Good pasture, clean water and plenty of exercise is what they need. Put them out in the rough pasture your cows will lose weight on and the horse will thrive.

People are generally pretty dense about horses, both pro and con.

 

[JDseller]

My brother is working his way into an early grave. HE has new vehicle-idest new car and pickup every year. Diesel truck too. He is working a 12 hour night shift job. He is on some weird schedule that he works 3 on 1 off and then 4 on and 2 off or some such thing. He is supposed to get one stretch of 7 days straight off each month. He usually volunteers for some one during that time. HE is making 100k plus each year but is either working or sleeping. Good thing he is only 31 years old. ( Yes there is thirty years between us. One mother too. She had me at 16 and him at 46.)

I actually get along pretty good with his wife. She is a real smart woman. She was just raised in Chicago by two real hippy acting abundant doffuses. They never where her parents. They tried to be her "friend". They never taught her anything. They have been married five years and she has grown up a lot.

So any way I usually help them out by doing the handy man stuff around the place. My brother makes up for it. His company has a real good machine shop. They do work for me all of the time at cost so it all works out.