[KASHA'S MOM]

Perhaps Miss B could comment on this thread!

I read an article recently that stated that an over grazed pasture is actually worse than letting a horse out on thick lush pasture. The reason that was stated was that there are far more sugars present in a blade of grass that is just sprouting than a mature blade of grass. Has anyone heard this?

[Sue B]

Yes. The way that the plant works is that it stores sugars in the bottom third of the plant to help with growth and standard life processes. When the plant is growing, there are more sugars present up higher in the plant. When the plant matures, the sugars go back down into the bottom...mostly in the roots to be stored for the winter and new growth in the spring.

When grasses are tall, they are generally reaching full growth and are nearing or at full maturity...thus less sugars available to the horse....who usually eats the tops as opposed to the tougher bottoms. When overgrazed or cut frequently, the plants keep re-sprounting and thus are have more sugars. The plants are also rarely reaching maturity, they are only a few inches high, and thus the horse has no choice but to eat the bottom third of the plant where the sugars are stored.

You can read more about his at www.safergrass.org.

[MissBandit]

Absolutely correct. The grass bulb contains the most concentrated sugars, unlike the tall leafy, more mature grass. This is why our horses always go for the short stuff before grabbing a mouthfull of the more bitter tasting long stemmed grass.

[Friesiangirl]

Originally Posted by MissBandit

Absolutely correct. The grass bulb contains the most concentrated sugars, unlike the tall leafy, more mature grass. This is why our horses always go for the short stuff before grabbing a mouthfull of the more bitter tasting long stemmed grass.

well, i guess my mare is a freak then. she loves long dark grass, and lemon too!!

LOL

is it more concentrated beacause of the size? So when it grows it doesn't need to up it's sugar content?

[Sue B]

Not exactly....if I understand your question. It is more concnetrated because when a plant is stressed....drought, excess wet, over-grazing, constant cutting...it does everything it can to stay alive and reproduce....the law of survival. It needs sugars to do this and for all life processes. The plant doesn't necessarily store more sugar...or have more sugar....it simply doesn't store it in the roots like normal....out of the reach of the hors. When grazing a lush spring pasture, the fructans are so high, that a horse ingests as much fructan in one day as they use in the lab to induce laminitis for study cases.

As for horses that eat taller grasses....that might depend on the grass itself. In some grasses....especially those that were developed (genetically altered) to grow in harsh conditions.....drought, wet, heavy traffic, over-grazing....there actually is more sugar than in other plants. That is why they survive and flurish when other grasses don't.

[WildHorseSpirit]

EEEEKKK LOL

Okay here's ya a question Miss B

You mentioned mowed alot will cause the sugar increase, what if you only mowed once a year mid year? Ya know when the briars finally stick to your bum?

Our vet says if you have a horse that has foundered NO GRASS period, unless you use a muzzle.

Okay now what about winter grass, you know where you have had a winter with up and down temps and it is brown in some places and green in others, what would it be like then good or bad.

I found out about drought the hard way. How long before it is considered recovered enough to let horses back on.

Now as to overgrazed, I have had to put my girls in the front lot and it is considered overgrazed in my book but only one horse has laminitis and that is from a bruised foot gone worse.
Only 1 was from grass in May after the rains came and she recovered fully without rotation then she and our youngest were trimmed so short by our ex farrier that they went laminitic and the filly basically road foundered.

See when we first moved up here there were my three horses *we have 4 now* and a friend's 12 on about a total of 6-7 of the 20 acres I sit on and 50 acres they had for horses, for some odd reason those ninnies would stay close to us on the 20 and it got ate down bad. It is now our horses only since we bought the place and actually we seperated the horses about a year or two ago darn if I can remember when...me go duh here LOL

Now it has had a year of rest would it be okay? Our horses never had a problem on it before the drought when it was down to nothing.

Weird huh?

[3WishesDun]

WildHorseSpirit-
Go to the link that SueB provided. www.safergrass.org Katy Watts has probably THE best site on the internet for grazing information & laminitis. Scroll down the left side to "grazing for at risk horses" for answers to many of your questions. Also check out the rest of the site for additional info. The problem with overgrazed pastures (or pastures in drought condition) is that the grass is in the "survival mode" and doing everything it can to live...which means producing sugar.

[JBandRio]

Grass doesn't have to be considered evil if the horse foundered/developed laminitis for non-metabolic reasons. That's why it's so important to try to find the cause of the problem. Metabolic cases, probably little to no grass, and soaked hay. But if the horse foundered due to illness, retained placenta, and many other reasons not related to metabolic issues, there's no reason the horse can't have grass again, all else being equal.