Bringing Ona home soon :)

[Deleted]

I can't believe the time has finally come for me to take care of Ona by myself!  I've been boarding her since I bought her at 6 months old and now she's four.  She's still up in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan living with her trainer right now and we'll be bringing her to our new home in Kansas soon.  The pasture she's going to be in is several acres and right now it is so full of lush grass that I'm afraid she would founder if we weren't careful.  We're thinking we'll just fence off a small paddock for her to start with.  I'm wondering if I absolutely must get her a friend or if she'll be OK just visiting with the cows over the fence.  After my horse accident on a friend's horse in December (5 pelvic and sacral fractures) I'm quite nervous about riding again. I'll have to find a good trainer/instructor to help me get my confidence up and learn to be safe.  Also need to find a good farrier and vet.  This area is full of good horse people and there's even an equine hospital about five minutes from here.

If anybody has any words of wisdom about the transport, the change in climate, changing her routine and how to help her adjust, finding a good farrier and trainer, fencing suggestions etc. please feel free to pitch in!  Any and all advice is appreciated!

I can't wait for my Ona hugs.  It's been too long.

[aoconnor]

I'm so excited for you and Ona! You will do just fine, I know it:-)

I would look online at the vet clinic near you, find out who they are and what services they offer. Ask them for a reference to a good farrier and trainers who ride your discipline. Make sure you have your current vets information so the new clinic can have her records sent to them. Also, do to your local feed stores and ask about trainers and farriers. Ask at several places until you get the same name a couple of times, then you will get a good idea who is popular and good in your area:-) It took me 4 years here before I found my farrier, and he is the best I've ever seen. I used someone else until I was able to get a really good quality farrier. It took me several tries at different vets as well before I found someone I trust and can really depend on to be the best. It takes time is all I'm saying:-)

I would mow a small paddock area for Ona, and then let her out for short periods of time starting with half an hour, then increase slightly longer each day, for about 2 weeks. Then it should be safe to graze her daily, but I would bring her in and stall her in the times in between. I know it's a hassle, but founder is dreadful, the hassle is much worth avoiding that. You can also start her on a good hoof supplement called Remission, it is for horses with a tendency to founder, but it is a great overall hoof supplement that should help her while getting started on the new grass. There is also a new supplement out that is called "HEIRO", it is designed specifically for horses that have laminitis or have foundered. I give it to my 2 that have foundered, it helps metabolize the sugars and horse to not have a founder issue. I give both supplements. You could give Ona the HEIRO just until she is able to graze out daily, it will help her a lot during that transition time.

Hauling, she should be rested every few hours for about 20-30 minutes. Not off the trailer, just stopped and able to relax for a little bit. Make sure she has hay in a bag to munch on while traveling. If you will be stopping overnight with her, there are horse hotels around, you can stall her overnight and load her for the second half of the trip. I did that when I moved from Georgia to Texas, it worked great.

Good luck! You WILL be fine?

[Deleted]

Thank you so much, Amy. I really appreciate the encouragement. When you say that after the two weeks it should be safe to graze her daily, but bring her in and stall her in between, so you mean let her out in the paddock for a few hours to graze, or do you mean keep her in the mowed paddock and let her out into the big pasture for a few hours? The grass is knee high now but the neighbor is going to turn his cows out in it for at least a couple weeks before Ona gets here so hopefully they'll munch it down some. How many hours do you think it would be safe to graze her? The barn here is one of those long 3-sided roofed things with an open front I was hoping to allow her free access in and out. If she's going to be locked in it, we should probably put walls up around her stall. I would think she'd really need a friend if she was going to be locked in the barn a lot. Also, I'll bring several bags of the feed mix she's on now and slowly switch her over to what we have here. I'll get the hoof supplements you recommended.

I wonder if we should put some roundup in the paddock so we wouldn't have to keep her stalled?

My niece has some horses and she's leaving for college soon. Maybe I could bring one of her older horses over here to keep Ona company.

[here to stay]

IMO most horses need some time to adjust to a new place before you can can assume they are really relaxed. It varies among individuals as much as it does with people.

I have had horses who practically clung to me for awhile while others seemed to regress on their training for a bit. Others appeared to take it stride until a small thing caused them to over react.

I always did an introductory walk around the perimeter of a new paddock while leading the horse. Just so I was sure that they knew where the fence was. I once saw a horse be turned out in a new paddock and he simply ran through a fence because he was looking over his shoulder instead of ahead. If a fence is wire, I will flag it to catch the horse's eye until they have explored.

I have a run in shed for my two horses too. I put up a center divider to make two 12x12 foot stalls with a gate on the center post that can swing in both directions. That allows me to close one side off if needed.

I think an older compainion horse is a great idea if they get along. It will help the grass getting eaten down too.

[Deleted]

Thank you, here to stay. I'll do the introductory walk. I was thinking of getting some of that wide white electric fence material for the top line. I hear it doesn't hold up as well as wire but it's more visible. Flags would probably be all we'd need, though. I'll divide up the stalls as you recommend, as well.

[aoconnor]

I would let her stay out for half an hour the first few days, an hour the next few days, and then slowly increase her time out to 6 hours, then a full day. I would definitely not put her on the all grass pasture you mentioned, it might be too much for her. When I get a new horse here and it is springtime, I do as I said above, but I keep them in a paddock until mid-summer when our grasses die off a little bit and aren't as new and sugary, then I let them graze out all day.

With Ona, you will need to keep her in an enclosed area while she is off the pasture. I would just maybe fence the run in shed you have, rather than putting in stalls. Just don't enclose a lot of the grass paddock area in with the run in shed! You can feed her a good quality bermuda or if you can get it in Kansas, Brohme is a great hay. She should get a couple of flakes morning and evening, that would give her out the amount she would be grazing off if she were pastured full time. Watch her weight, if she starts dropping weight, increase her hay intake, and if she is gaining a lot of weight, decrease as needed. Has she been getting feed as well as hay at her current place? If so, make sure they send along a bag f whatever she has been eating so you can continue that feed. Suddenly stopping a feed can cause a horse to founder as much as eating too much fresh pasture grass. If you decide not to feed her a commercial feed, that's one, but wean her off of it slowly over a two week period. I feed my horses morning and night as well as graze them all day and turn them out again after dinner to graze all night. I only feed a second meal during the day in the spring and summer to those horses of mine that are old or harder keepers. The fatties in the group only get fed once a day and they graze out just fine otherwise.

Anyway, like I said, you will do fine. A lot of it is just learning what weight gain and loss looks like, understanding grazing and knowing what grass she is eating, and keeping her vetted and a good farrier on hand for trims. You will be okay:-)

[barefootfarmer]

I don't know a single thing about horses. But your Ona is absolutely the most beautiful horse I've ever seen. You are in for such a wonderful time!

[Deleted]

barefootfarmer, thank you so much! She has blue eyes She's a real neat horse, loves to give hugs.


Amy I appreciate your advice so much. She does get feed, as well as hay. It's specially mixed at a feed mill. It's oats and I don't remember what else is in it. I'll have to get the recipe and find a place here where I can get similar feed here. I did not know that suddenly stopping the feed would cause founder, but I hadn't planned on stopping it. Do your horses just eat hay and grass? The climate in Kansas is a lot different than up North and that might be possible to do here.

[barefootfarmer]

@fffarmergirl, My cows give me hugs. It puts me in awe how such large animals can be so gentle around their people. I'm also in awe over how much power is behind these large animals...and how truly lucky I am to have my cows in my life.

[Deleted]

May 3, 2016 0:22:22 GMT barefootfarmer said:

@fffarmergirl , My cows give me hugs. It puts me in awe how such large animals can be so gentle around their people. I'm also in awe over how much power is behind these large animals...and how truly lucky I am to have my cows in my life.

Awwww!  I could never eat a cow that hugged me  I have never had cows but always thought it would be nice to have milk cows.  We had milk goats and I can't believe how much I loved them.  I miss them and hopefully we'll be able to have them again.  

[barefootfarmer]

Lol...well. In the past 7 years of having milk cows I've only eaten 2. One was a rotten girl who hated me with an intense passion. She would try to kick me if I walked past her in the pasture. After months of taking her abuse, I ate her. Re-homing wasn't an option because I couldn't pass her issue along to anyone else in good conscience. The second one was actually my favorite cow of all time. But she wouldn't breed back no matter how we tried. I let her stay in milk for over 20 months before drying her off. Then I put in her the pasture and she was my pet for over a year. But, we had a barn fire and lost all our hay. We had to downsize to save what hay we could scrounge for our livestock that was producing. I couldn't sell her because she was dry and barren. It was a hard choice, but the right one. I was able to sell her as hamburger and used those funds to buy in more hay.

Well geesh- now I've just turned such a fun thread into a downer. I hope you get goats again- they are the most joyful animals on my farm. They make me smile just thinking of them:)

[Deleted]

ROFLOL "After months of taking her abuse, I ate her." That is cracking me up.

[aoconnor]

@fffarmergirl, I do feed a commercial feed, I don't know if you have it up where you are, it's called Blue Bonnet Total Advantage. A little pricey, but worth every dime. It is an oat based feed which is a cooler energy that corn, and it is very low in starch and sugar. For Ona, as little as she would eat, your cost would not be too high. She would probably do well on 3-6 lbs daily, fed in two meals. It is a good feed to look at should you not find a batch plant for your current feed.

I do have several horses that could be just grazed and they do fine, but I am just developing good pastures this spring, they won't be on the acreage I plowed/fertilized/seeded until the fall, and even then I might cut those pastures for winter hay rather than grazing them this fall. Next spring I will be grazing several on the new pastures, the others will be on my bottom pastures that are good prairie grass mixes for now, at least until I turn those pastures over and see them next spring.

[Deleted]

Thanks, Amy!

All that pasture maintenance sure sounds like a lot of workk!