Re: RC: Foundering on pasture and ear crud

[Farafix@aol.com]

In a message dated 5/18/99 9:44:07 AM Eastern Daylight Time, 
MBlanchrd@AOL.COM writes:

<< yr old gelding will founder on PASTURE? Would this be because her pasture 
has 
 been assayed at 21% protein? Or is this grass founder?? >>

I have NOT had the grass tested, (I was told by a nearby lab that my area's 
pasture can test as high as 21%) and excuse my ignorance about founder vs 
grass founder, but all I know is that as Farafix got older (18+) he would 
founder on the spring/summer grass.  Fortunately we've always caught it, or 
put him on a confined area of grass as the spring grass comes in where he 
seems to do fine (guess he can't get as big a mouthful as he has to chew down 
his area, and then I move his electric fence a little bit to give him a small 
new area to work down).  By end of Sept when the grass starts dying, I can 
turn him out on the full pasture (I have 3 horses on a 4 1/2 acre pasture).
My mare & stallion get 1/3 coffee can of grain to get the electrolytes in 
them, and get nothing but pasture in the summer and do 50 mile endurance 
rides (at quite a decent pace) about 500 miles of CTR & endurance rides per 
season.  They are not at all thin!  My neighbor has thoroughbreds and she has 
to grain them (one of them gets all he can eat!), so part of the ability to 
keep them on pasture is that they are easy keeping Arabs.
I would just be careful as it all depends on your pasture & how easy your 
horse is to "keep".  I've had very good luck with the portable electric 
fencing to rotate Fix around his area of the pasture so he doesn't get too 
much, but can get in & out of his stall at will & has a nice area to move 
around in.  My only problem is that the stallion tears down the electric 
fence if I don't keep a charge in it or jumps the electrice fence (Fix won't 
go near the white tape) to get in with his buddy.

Nancy (& Tempo "why can't Fix come out & play in the summer?!?!?")
Md


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