Dry summers make life easier for horse owners; wetter summers need more vigilance and attention to management.
Some people manage their horses successfully with the pasture they have available because their horses don’t seem to become ‘affected’ or if they do, any issues tend to be on the mild-moderate end of the spectrum.
In other words the metabolism of these horses is functioning normally and coping relatively well with any fluctuations in the grass.
These horses are balancing their own minerals and maintaining internal equilibrium. This is, Homeostasis working as it should.
Bear in mind that problems can brew sub-clinically for periods of time and eventually reach ‘tipping point’ after which health, movement and/or behaviour issues become evident.
Most of the owners who contact CHH are those whose horses have arrived at this point and are now struggling with ‘grass’ issues on the more serious end of the spectrum. Their horse’s metabolism is no longer coping with the imbalances of the pasture. They are needing help because they are now having difficulty maintaining equilibrium on their own.
Hence it pays to understand how changes in the weather can affect the nutrient composition of the grass and the metabolism of your horse.
For instance on the east coasts of NZ we have had a prolonged DRY SPELL to the point of extreme fire danger - unbelievably there are nitwits out there who toss cigarette butts or decide it is a good time for fire-works! Thankfully, this was broken by 25mls of drought-breaking rain over the last 24 hours.
Very welcome on the one hand but with that amount of rain and warm ground temperatures things will rapidly green up!
Be proactive as this represents a sudden change to your horses’ forage; from no green to very green.
Technically this means his forage has gone from ‘high fibre : low Crude Protein/nitrogen’ to the opposite ‘LOW fibre : High Crude Protein/nitrogen’.
Low potassium to high potassium.
It takes a couple of days for his kidneys to adjust to this change. As this grass emerges from the ground it is not yet high in sugars but as it gains leaf area sugar production will increase.
Preferably avoid horses consuming this grass but if that is not possible do what it takes to increase your horse’s hay intake. This is the BEST way to take care of the flora in the hind-gut and avoid upsets to the digestive, nervous and muscular systems.
For horse owners who rent grazing or have a challenge managing access to grass - adding salt is important along with using GrazeEzy & SOS which are formulated to counterbalance the effects of this ‘traitor’ grass. Use more when it rains, less over dry spells.
Other parts of the country have had very regular rain with warm temperatures so in these regions pasture tends to be lush – the same principle applies because this grass is also very low in Dry Matter.
Avoid processed/extruded feeds for ‘grass-affected’ horses because they are highly digestible and quickly metabolised. They work for ‘normal’ horses who are doing intense exercise but the last thing you want to do for a horse that has health and behaviour problems, is add quick release energy!
Plain feeds like NON-lucerne chaff/beet/crushed linseed/sunflower work very well for the vast majority of ‘grass-affected’ horses.
Be aware - it is too easy to jump to false conclusions when the introduction of a new feed happens to coincide with either a change in the grass or the fact the horse’s metabolism just reached ‘tipping point’!
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