Re: Pasture to hay

["Susan Evans Garlinghouse" <suendavid@worldnet.att.net>]

Hi Anne,

It's not as risky going from pasture to hay as it is vice versa.  You might
try offering hay as well as pasture (though they may not eat it if the
pasture is really good).  Or bring them into a barn at night (if you have
one) to feed them hay, then back out onto pasture the rest of them time.
Don't worry about them drinking water, they will.  Just make sure it's
available and clean.

I wouldn't lose too much sleep over this, it's the other way 'round that's
more likely to cause problems.

Susan G
-----Original Message-----
From: Blythe Anne M <ablythe@columbia-center.org>
To: ridecamp@endurance.net <ridecamp@endurance.net>
Date: Friday, June 18, 1999 7:39 AM
Subject: RC: Pasture to hay


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!




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