possibly moving to Northern Georgia, any suggestions?

Mdolittle · 03-25-2008, 12:02 AM

I am a bit worried about my horses going from South dakota winter and brown and eating hay to Georgia and nice weather and green pasture suddenly. We are possibly buying 14 acres and I was wondering if I should just put temporary pens up and hay feed them and just give them a certain amount of pasture time a day and for how long should I do this before turning them out full time?

PurplePeach · 03-25-2008, 12:02 AM

If pasture @your new barn is green I would definitely keep horses off that grass. The three main causes of colic (spasmodic, impaction, gassy) are generally related to feed and management. A rich diet fed infrequently or a sudden change to rich grass are the most common causes of gassy or spasmodic colic.

The horse’s digestive system is geared to taking in small amounts of grass over most of the day, rather than eating once or twice a day at feeding time.

So keep them on hay and release them to graze starting with 15 minutes a day and slowly increase their time on pasture over next month. Your horses should be fine.

pasomare · 03-25-2008, 12:02 AM

Yeh, I would probably do that, and they should be alright after a coulple of weeks about (2).

Guess who? · 03-25-2008, 12:03 AM

they will (could) founder if you put them dirrectly on the green grass, after being used to hay. for the first week, or atleast 3 days so they can get accostumed to the new place during this time feed them hay or whatever you normally would. After that start out for 2 days with them on grass for 45 minutes, and add 30-45 minutes every two days for 6 days, thay will than be out about 2.5 hours, than add 30 minutes every day for 5 days, they will than be out 5 hours, than add a hour a day until they are at there daily time out, my 12.1H pony is out 5 hours, and our 18.1H horse is out about 10 hours, with hay in the passture since the grass is kinda brown, (I live in texas, and we didnt plant the rye early enough, so it's just now popping up) it will take a lot of time and work on your part, for your horses to ajust, but you would rather it take time than a trip to the vet! GOOD LUCK!!!

I hope i helped, you could hurry it a bit but not too much, talk to a vet for more specific to your horses rather than the general horse!

03-25-2008, 12:02 AM	#1 (permalink)
Mdolittle Newbie Join Date: Mar 25th, 2008 Posts: 1	possibly moving to Northern Georgia, any suggestions? I am a bit worried about my horses going from South dakota winter and brown and eating hay to Georgia and nice weather and green pasture suddenly. We are possibly buying 14 acres and I was wondering if I should just put temporary pens up and hay feed them and just give them a certain amount of pasture time a day and for how long should I do this before turning them out full time?

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03-25-2008, 12:02 AM	#2 (permalink)
PurplePeach Newbie Join Date: Mar 25th, 2008 Posts: 1	If pasture @your new barn is green I would definitely keep horses off that grass. The three main causes of colic (spasmodic, impaction, gassy) are generally related to feed and management. A rich diet fed infrequently or a sudden change to rich grass are the most common causes of gassy or spasmodic colic. The horse’s digestive system is geared to taking in small amounts of grass over most of the day, rather than eating once or twice a day at feeding time. So keep them on hay and release them to graze starting with 15 minutes a day and slowly increase their time on pasture over next month. Your horses should be fine.

03-25-2008, 12:02 AM	#3 (permalink)
pasomare Newbie Join Date: Mar 25th, 2008 Posts: 1	Yeh, I would probably do that, and they should be alright after a coulple of weeks about (2).

03-25-2008, 12:03 AM	#4 (permalink)
Guess who? Newbie Join Date: Mar 25th, 2008 Posts: 1	they will (could) founder if you put them dirrectly on the green grass, after being used to hay. for the first week, or atleast 3 days so they can get accostumed to the new place during this time feed them hay or whatever you normally would. After that start out for 2 days with them on grass for 45 minutes, and add 30-45 minutes every two days for 6 days, thay will than be out about 2.5 hours, than add 30 minutes every day for 5 days, they will than be out 5 hours, than add a hour a day until they are at there daily time out, my 12.1H pony is out 5 hours, and our 18.1H horse is out about 10 hours, with hay in the passture since the grass is kinda brown, (I live in texas, and we didnt plant the rye early enough, so it's just now popping up) it will take a lot of time and work on your part, for your horses to ajust, but you would rather it take time than a trip to the vet! GOOD LUCK!!! I hope i helped, you could hurry it a bit but not too much, talk to a vet for more specific to your horses rather than the general horse!