Most of the ride seasons are now underway throughout the United States and in some cases are reaching the half way mark of our riding seasons. Here in Washington State we had our summer dry months at the beginning of our ride season in Feb, March and April, and now for the months of May and June it has been raining, something that the Pacific Northwest is famous for. Rain and then more Rain.

My wife and I put on a Mothers Day weekend ride in the Capital Forest outside of Olympia, WA (the State Capital) May 8th & 9th which was the second double weekend ride for the 2004 season. On Saturday May 8th under very rainy conditions in the afternoon, 21 riders rode a ten point ride, while a few others rode a short course covering about 8 square miles of up and down hills, through creeks and over lots of bridges in lots of mud after the rain.

A potluck was held at 6:00 p.m. around the campfire and by that time the sun was out and it turned out to be a good day. Prizes were awarded for the mother who was the oldest, a mother with the most children who is still riding CMO, the youngest mother riding for this weekend and the person who came the furthest for the ride weekend.

Sunday morning the sun was out until start time, then as the last rider left the starting line, rain drops started falling, at least this morning rain gear was taken for the trip through the woods, which was a 5 plate, ride worth 2 points each. Beth Barnett of Seattle, WA covered the course in a time of 1:52:18, the fastest time in all the rides that I have put on over the years, with this weekend count I have reached 100 rides as manager and now have been in this wonderful sport for 20 years having started in 1984 as a member.

The none grazing horse and how feed affects the performance and well being of your buddy.

The word Horse brings up images of graceful, powerful animals roaming across miles of rolling hills, stopping from time to time to graze on lush green grass. In the real world, such scenes are rare, in today's world many horses live without grazing at all.

Urban sprawl has contributed to a lack of suitable pasture, in desert areas; grass is not easily grown and maintained because of lack of rain. Over 14Ó of rain is needed to keep a pasture in the very dry areas, so turnouts provide exercise opportunities only. These are among the many conditions that keep horses from grazing normally.

Too Much Grass:

There are some horses that shouldn't be allowed to graze, or whose grazing time needs to be controlled. Research has indicated that lush, green grass can contain up to 20% soluble carbohydrates. A horse grazing free-choice on this spring grass may be consuming as much sugar as contained in a large grain meal, which is a considerable risk factor in some horse's and can lead to a very overweight horse or one who founders.

The grazing patterns of pregnant mares turned out on fescue pastures should be restricted as well, fescue contaminated with the endophyte Acremonium coenophialum produces reduced or absent milk production and placentitis in mares, retained fetal tissues, and other complications.

Another health problem that might be affected by pasture access is allergies. Some allergy sufferers might not fare too well on pasture Ð in some cases, summer heaves can be caused by pasture allergies. Keep in mind that heaves cases also suffer if left standing around in a dusty barn all day. Controlling dust is one way to lessen the severity of this condition, but horse owners also should address this issue during feeding. Wetting or soaking the hay prior to feeding, as well as feeding soaked beet pulp or hay cubes.

Aside from the basic nutrients, grass hay is full of antioxidants, bioflavonoids and isoflavonoids, so a good grass hay and your choice of commercial feed is your best buy. If you live in the rainy northwest like I do, there is a good chance that pastures and local grass hay may be low in nutrients, which means we must use some supplementation. A trace mineral block is the best way to add minerals into your feeding plan. Again check your feed bag for what is in it, what is the protein amount? What is the fiber amount? How much fat is there? What is the grain consisting of? Oats? Wheat? Sun-cured alfalfa?

I use several different feeds depending what that particular horse is doing for me, a horse that pulls a buggy and is an older horse is fed a feed with crude protein of 14.0% and crude fat of 4.5% and crude fiber of 16.0%, during the winter I boost the fiber up using wet beet pulp that is 18% which is fed to all the horse's and Jim the mule who receives a feed of 10% crude protein once a day along with feed choice grass hay

The younger horses used in our sport are fed free choice local grass hay and currently a blended product called TACO which has 12% crude protein, crude fiber of 18% and crude fat of 2.5% and is high in vitamins, all feeds are certified to be free of noxious weed seed and free of Ruminant meat and Bone Meal. Vitamin A runs from 3,000 IU/LB to 20,000 IU/LB, Vitamin D from 300 IU/LB to 1000 IU/LB and Vitamin E from 35 IU/LB to 1500 IU/LB. Selenium is at 0.3 ppm.

All livestock are fed a measured amount of feed and I use a 16 oz plastic scoop filled to the top.

The key to no pasture or limited pasture is free choice grass hay instead of the limited amounts of rich legume hay, if large round bales are available this is the way to go with a non-pasture or poor pasture and a lot of livestock to feed. Even with a set feeding schedule, hay should always be available.

In removing horses and mules from pasture, we have altered their natural way of life. As a result, some behavioral and health-related issues can develop. Sheer boredom can produce habits such as chewing, kicking and cribbing. These stable vices generally result in a damaged barn, but they have the potential to cause serious health conditions.

Continued...

My research for this material has come from Dr. Paul Siciliano PhD, a nutritionist and associate professor at the Dept of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University, from a book called Simple Horse Nutrition, and from the University of California at Davis, CA.