World Horse Welfare Cautions Against Horses Overgrazing

Lots of rain means lots of grass. Keep your horse healthy and from overgrazing with these tips.
Share
Favorite
Close

No account yet? Register

ADVERTISEMENT

After all the recent heavy rainfall the U.K. has seen over the past month, World Horse Welfare, a U.K.-based equine welfare charity, is urging horse owners to consider the impact this will have on their horse’s grazing.

The wet and warmer weather means grass will grow more quickly and can be thick and lush. Therefore, it is important to keep a close eye on your horse’s calorie intake. Grass can be surprisingly high in calories and will affect your horse’s weight, which can cause long-term health problems.

Deputy Head of U.K. Support at World Horse Welfare Sam Chubbock, said, "After an unusually dry winter we have seen a lot more rainfall recently and with the weather warming up, the combination of the two will certainly mean plenty of new grass appearing. This sudden growth can often take horse owners by surprise so it’s important to have a plan in place. Individual owners need to find a system which suits them and their horse, and we have a wide variety of tips available to help with this.

"Rich grass can be a huge problem for horse owners and it’s one of the main triggers for laminitis," Chubbock continued. "Although the condition affects all types of horses and ponies throughout the year, our charity’s field officers certainly attend more calls regarding laminitis at this time of year. It’s an incredibly painful condition and it’s notoriously difficult to manage, but if you monitor your horse regularly, you may be able to avoid weight-induced laminitis completely. Therefore it’s vital to ensure your horse is consuming the correct amount of calories for its breed, age, type, and workload

Create a free account with TheHorse.com to view this content.

TheHorse.com is home to thousands of free articles about horse health care. In order to access some of our exclusive free content, you must be signed into TheHorse.com.

Start your free account today!

Already have an account?
and continue reading.

Share

Written by:

Related Articles

Stay on top of the most recent Horse Health news with

FREE weekly newsletters from TheHorse.com

Sponsored Content

Weekly Poll

sponsored by:

Where do you primarily feed your horse?
294 votes · 294 answers

Readers’ Most Popular

Sign In

Don’t have an account? Register for a FREE account here.

Need to update your account?

You need to be logged in to fill out this form

Create a free account with TheHorse.com!