1/29/08 Getting a horse to move

The majority of today's horse owners don't have the luxury of letting their animals graze freely. We are in a bit of a cold spell so Jeff's out feeding cattle today and I'm covering for him. This is Susan Allen and I'll be back after the break with some ideas to improve the health of horses kept in runs or small pastures. Many owners pamper their horses, and some down right neglect them leaving them standing for hours in stalls. There's a saying "let a horse be a horse, and it basically refers to the fact that horses in the wild graze and roam freely, researchers have found wild horses cover an average of twenty miles a day. In comparison the typical American horse, on a daily basis doesn't move much at all , add to that the fact most people tend to feed nutritionally dense forages and you can create a host of health problems. Unless it's a brood mare, young horse, or one in training, most horses (especially those ridden only on the weekend) simply need more roughage. Horses are made to continually pick and chew, if they can't, they can become weavers, cribbers or even eat manure. In a book called Paddock Paradise by Jaime Jackson he encouraged nibbling and movement by fencing thirty foot wide tracks around his pasture perimeter. He scattered hay throughout the tracks and found his horses became accustom to continually moving even without feed. Movement is also imperative for healthy hooves. It all boils down to rethinking the way we board horses, they weren't made for box stalls! I'm Susan Allen filling in for Jeff who will be back in the saddle tomorrow. Happy Trails!