Pasture to hay

["Blythe Anne M" <ablythe@columbia-center.org>]

Sorry if this has been covered previously, but I cant seem to find any info on it.....My horses are on western Oregon grass which is pretty green.  It seems to have a higher water content than the high desert grass we see at the central Oregon rides...I used to worry that my horses NEVER seem to drink out of the water trough, but then realized that they get their water from the grass.  Here is my question....Everything I read says to not change feeds for two weeks before a ride.  How do I go from pasture to hay for the ride with minimum stress?  We have not had any problems so far, but I keep wondering what is the right thing to do. We are doing 9 hour 50s and really don't plan on going any faster, but we go every other weekend. I really dont want to take my horses off pasture for the whole ride season!