11/11/2024
Unfortunately we have had a few horses come to us recovering from grass related colic from changing over to winter fields.
Just to be clear
There is nothing you can feed, no supplement, to stop grass related colic if a horse rapidly eats large quantities of highly fermentable lush grass. Horses can eat very quickly if they like what they are eating!
Ponies even faster!
The situation is more risky if the grass is wet, because horses don’t chew wet forage as well as they do dry, so the swallowed particle sizes can be larger and can also risk impaction.
Management is key..
all field changes should take place gradually over a period of 2 weeks (winter and summer time)
If you know your horse will eat a lot of long grass rapidly then use a muzzle, strip grazing can still be risky.
Feed your horse before you let them out, a full stomach takes 2 hours to empty and horses naturally will not gorge if their stomachs are already full.
Studied Wild horses are considered to rarely suffer from colic, they don’t change grazing areas rapidly, usually moving to newer pasture over a few months ! The equine gut is very fragile so please take care 🥰
