dianneS
Loving the herd life
- Joined
- Aug 17, 2009
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I have had four feet of snow on the ground for some time now. Its not going anywhere any time soon. My horses are accustomed to having grass and/or hay in front of them 24/7. I have more pasture than I have horses and I give them plenty of hay.
Since the snow fall, they are on hay exclusively, and they've never experienced this before. My horses are being fed "meals" now rather than being able to graze non-stop. I'm giving each horse plenty of hay for their size and activity level, plus grain twice a day. Of course they have mineral blocks and regular salt at their disposal too.
They finish their morning hay in the pasture pretty early in the day, so I bring them in around 4 or 5 in the evening and give them hay and grain to last them through the night.
When they finish their daytime hay, they get bored. They don't even have any dead grass to chew on. The snow is too heavy and packed down for them to even dig through it to get to the dead grass. My mare has started chewing fence posts and boards. She's not eating the wood, just grinding at it with her teeth. I think its boredom since she has nothing else to do but stand around in the snow. She's used to having her head down, grazing non-stop during the day.
I've increased her hay already and she still finishes it all before its time to come in for the evening.
Should I be concerned that she's chewing wood like this. She's not doing it that often, but could it be a deficiency or would a horse do something like this out of boredom? She is a cribber too and will crib unless she's wearing a collar.
I have neighbors who's pastures are over-grazed every fall, well before the snow comes. I see those horses finish off their hay piles and just stand around the pasture the rest of the day and they seem fine. My horses have never experienced a feeding regimen like this. Are they just spoiled by our large pastures, or should I be dumping hay in front of them round the clock to keep them happy?
Since the snow fall, they are on hay exclusively, and they've never experienced this before. My horses are being fed "meals" now rather than being able to graze non-stop. I'm giving each horse plenty of hay for their size and activity level, plus grain twice a day. Of course they have mineral blocks and regular salt at their disposal too.
They finish their morning hay in the pasture pretty early in the day, so I bring them in around 4 or 5 in the evening and give them hay and grain to last them through the night.
When they finish their daytime hay, they get bored. They don't even have any dead grass to chew on. The snow is too heavy and packed down for them to even dig through it to get to the dead grass. My mare has started chewing fence posts and boards. She's not eating the wood, just grinding at it with her teeth. I think its boredom since she has nothing else to do but stand around in the snow. She's used to having her head down, grazing non-stop during the day.
I've increased her hay already and she still finishes it all before its time to come in for the evening.
Should I be concerned that she's chewing wood like this. She's not doing it that often, but could it be a deficiency or would a horse do something like this out of boredom? She is a cribber too and will crib unless she's wearing a collar.
I have neighbors who's pastures are over-grazed every fall, well before the snow comes. I see those horses finish off their hay piles and just stand around the pasture the rest of the day and they seem fine. My horses have never experienced a feeding regimen like this. Are they just spoiled by our large pastures, or should I be dumping hay in front of them round the clock to keep them happy?