Grazing and Hot Laps

Last night was round two of lawn pasture grazing. Bob of course was a stinker. He wanted to be in the barn eating his grain instead of eating grass. Rain and Chaos were easy to catch. Dude thought he didn’t want to be caught until I’d taken half his herd out and then he realized that maybe he did want to be caught. Again King would not let me catch him. He’s getting very bad. I guess if I didn’t show him his halter he’d understand. Of course, I’m sure he thinks I’ll just ride him if I catch him. Usually if I show anyone a halter they run the other way. My hope is that once they get used to me haltering them for grass that they will be easier to catch later on.

So out Rain, Dude, and Chaos went to eat grass on the lawn. I wasn’t as worried about them trying to run through the fence this time around. They probably have another day or so in that spot and then I’ll need to move them to a different spot with more grass. My hope was that I wouldn’t have to mow the lawn if I put them out on the grass. Bob has done a wonderful job eating around the grain bin. He’s got the grass down to the nubbins.

I decided that I would pull Sam out and keep a close eye on him. He seems to enjoy the grass just as much as the rest. He puttered around and actually did some grass investigating in other parts of where I had him. He went into the trees to check the grass out. The grass in the trees isn’t really coming back but I wasn’t too surprised since I’d had Maverick and Brego on it for six months with no relief. I think they actually had it down to just dirt.

I decided that I needed to work with Brego, at least mess with him. I haltered him and pulled him out so that he could enjoy some grass. I don’t trust him with the big herd yet and I can’t put him in with Sam and walk away since he doesn’t respect fences. I figure it’s a good thing if I’m at the end of the lead rope. He’ll learn a bit more manners and will learn to trust me that much more.

Brego devoured the grass. I decided I would sit on the tractor wheel while he munched away. I did get up once, which spooked him a bit. I guess I need to work with him a bit more on being approached in different directions. But I’m betting if I pull him out every day and let him graze in different spots, he’ll get used to even more handling. He did very well. I got a chance to actually look at him last night. He’s really growing. I’m not sure if it’s that he’s fully recovered from starvation or if he’s actually going throw a growth spurt. In any case, he looks really good. The only conformation flaw he now has is his front legs, the left one more than the right. I won’t ever be able to fix that but at least I know that when he walks, his left leg paddles pretty good.

I decided after just a little bit of grazing (didn’t want to over do it since he hadn’t been on grass in awhile), that I would put Brego back in his pen. At that time Sam was wandering around in the trees. Brego must have decided that he was feeling good. He let out a buck and took off across the pen. I was a bit worried that he wouldn’t stop and would plow through the fence and me. But he circled around and kept running at full bore. He’d turn around and come racing back to me and then race back to the fence so he could keep an eye out on Sam. He must have done a good number of laps in about 10 minutes of running. After those 10 minutes, Brego came racing over to me and stopped. He was done! It was hilarious. You could tell he felt good but was tired from all the running. He’s such a good boy.

Brego’s winter coat is finally coming out and a new color is starting to show threw. His winter coat is a darker bay, but the summer coat is a bit lighter and richer. I’m hoping it’s all the feed. I’m also hoping that I’ll be able to keep his hair going all in one direction instead of the million and one direction he had when I first got him.

When I pulled Brego out, Sam decided to join is. He turned his back on us after just a few mouthfuls of grass. I thought it was pretty cute though. Every couple of bites of grass, he’d turn his head to see if we were still there. He checked on our location a couple of times. It was pretty cute. I knew when I got him that he was herd bound. He didn’t seem to herd bound when I put Brego back in the pen. Sam kept his head down munching away on the grass while Brego did hot laps around the pen.

I didn’t get a chance to get the ponies out to munch on grass last night. I think I’m going to pull a few more panels down and put them up by the dog pen. I think if the ponies are on grass for about 10-20 minutes every day, I can get them adjusted to pasture life a little easier. Having never had ponies, I don’t really know how to acclimate them to pasture life after having them eat hay all winter. I’m a bit worried about founder and laminitis. I guess I better start doing some research. But I think I have a plan where it won’t require me to either hang on to them to hand graze them or one that requires me to tie them to a fence. I’m not keen on loose lead ropes where someone can get hurt.

I’m hoping tonight that the main herd will have the lawn pasture grazed down to where I want it and then tomorrow I can move the lawn pasture to a different location where the grass is pretty high and lush. I want the horses out on pasture soon. I just broke open the last bale of hay. Hopefully that bale will last longer than the other one. I’m figuring that I’ll have to put the horses on pasture by Monday, otherwise Mike and I will have to run to Madison to pick up the last of my emergency bale rations.