potto
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I have a large spotty and the privilage once of the most beautiful big Ass!
Posts: 1,384
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Post by potto on Jun 18, 2008 21:07:20 GMT 1
I am at livery too.....! obviously there is the possibility that i can get moved to different fields etc and the ponies might change etc.... but things like salt licks..... water troughs, where you place hay, trees for scratching/ or branches.... how you narrow your track and resting places can encourage movement plus... a bonus building poo piles!!!! you really need to read the book and have a little play... and experiment... i am going to report over the next few days on how my two are reacting to the new roundabout!
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Post by Catrin on Jun 18, 2008 21:19:40 GMT 1
Go for a walk through your fields with an equine podiatrist - I did today. I now know what grass grows in high fertility areas - the rye grass, white clover and buttercups and can see the low and medium areas, with older type meadow grass as well. Now is a good time as the grass has seed heads. I'll post pictures in a day or two.
My two TBs have been on the old cow pasture for three days and after today's rain, one has already got lameness (LGL) in all four feet. Needless to say he's back on the haylage and bare paddock now.
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Post by mandal on Jun 18, 2008 21:31:56 GMT 1
That's interesting about the buttercups Catrin........after the problems we had last year on my sisters lake shore field she bought a state of the art soil test kit and also tested my paddocks. The one full of buttercups is the one with high nitrogen! It seems the previous folk just used a nitrogen fertilizer. All three paddocks have different profiles!!! Katherine Watts also mentions deficiencies/balances in the soil as being important to sugar levels in the grass, as deficiencies/imbalances can reduce grasses ability to use sugars. I think I've got that correct. Most of the grasses I've got seem to be bents and fescues.
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Post by taklishim on Jun 18, 2008 21:33:42 GMT 1
www.naturalhorsegroup.org.uk/articles_foggage.htmI google'd foggage and the site above seems quite helpful. Can anyone who has tried foggage come up with a bit more information please? Such as do you do it on poor quaility grasses or does it work as well on good grass. Do you just let the horses loose on it and what stops it just becoming a squelchy, dungy mess. Do you turn them loose or stip graze it. I liked the part in the article about the spring grass coming through more slowly and gradually. Are there any problems and drawbacks to it? If it works it seems an ideal way to keep LGL type horses as it would be easy enough to supplement to improve their diet. Also I am looking to put a rolling area on my track. If anyone has done this can they tell me what material they used, Sand? or anything else and what size they made the rolling area. Presumably it was "off track" as you wouldn't want the horses cantering through it. Oh, and did it work? Really good thread.
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Post by jill on Jun 18, 2008 21:33:46 GMT 1
Interestingly I have loads of buttercups where the grass is sparse and poor. So what's that about then?
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Post by mandal on Jun 18, 2008 21:45:35 GMT 1
I wish I knew Jill!! The grass in my buttercup paddock is also sparse!! This paddock was deficient in some things....not sure which atm as I haven't got the results with me but perhaps the buttercups are crowding the grass and perhaps the soil favors buttercups?? Thanks for that link Taklishim. Oooo I've noticed mine have dug two places in this paddock and one on the track and have been licking the soil........If I'm nice to sis she might test these areas and see what they are after.
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jinglejoys
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Post by jinglejoys on Jun 18, 2008 22:15:43 GMT 1
"Also I am looking to put a rolling area on my track. If anyone has done this can they tell me what material they used, Sand? or anything else and what size they made the rolling area. Presumably it was "off track" as you wouldn't want the horses cantering through it. Oh, and did it work?" Malaga will roll on anything...just point him at it and off he goes (It's a Mule thing! ;D) I had a strip alongside my track which a friend used to pile up brushwood from his job.My goats used to eat some and I'd saw up a lot for firewood then the rest would be burnt. Malaga was positive that I'd provided it as an ash pit specially for him!One day I had a hell of a job trying to stop him rolling..I should've let him it was still hot from the burning the night before!
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Post by fluffypony on Jun 18, 2008 22:33:35 GMT 1
Oooh I am quite exciterid about foggage ;D It would solve the worry of the tracks getting too boggy in winter, by giving them a bit more space, because I know that I will not be able to afford or make enough well drained other surface this year for sure. Just need to try and intercept farmer now and stop him cutting it When do you think you would turn them out onto it....month wise? oct/nov ish?
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Post by barbararob on Jun 19, 2008 8:32:13 GMT 1
I was told that acidity creates buttercup heaven - farmers round us who spread lime (even though we are on limetsone) do not have a single buttercup. Buttercups do seem to grow where horse poo lay previously. Back to the track system, anyone laying hardcore , the council round us won't let you lay something that could be classed as a road - no matter how much evidence you give them that it's for your horses feet not to drive cars on.
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Post by easyaspie on Jun 19, 2008 10:24:09 GMT 1
Taklishim: Foggage. You should only let your horses graze on the foggage really once it has started dying off. I've never had any problems with it causing LGL, but don't ususally put the horses on it until October. I do have a field planted with Simple Systems grasses which I let get long and let them graze in summer. Personally, I feel that very long grass even if it looks lush is much less dangerous than short stressed grass that has a lot of emerging clover in it. Long grass is more fibreous and has a very high water content. It's the seed heads also which are quite high in fructans and sugar so once the seed heads have dispersed and gone the grasses are much much more fiberous, which is one of the reasons why late cut hay has less sugar and sweetness in it.
Foggage is great though and it means, although I need to buy hay in summer as I restrict the grazing on the green stuff, I don't need any from September to February!! So cost saving in the end.
Just one other thing I'd like to comment on about Paddock Paradise. I've only seen Nic Barkers & Sarah Braithwaites, apart from the information in JJ book, and both of them have systems whereby if you have a horse with compromised feet (navicular, laminitis, etc) or just bringing a horse out of shoes, then the pathways are very supportive and are not all made of of unforgiving sharp stones. Both Nic & Sarah have big swaiths of supportive, lovely pea gravel and break out area's of soily, sandy tracks. Personally, I think it's a big ask to get a horse with sore feet straight on to hard, sharp, large stones and hardcore without them having another choice!
So if you are all building your PP systems, make sure that there is always an alternative route that you can open up for your newly de-shod or compromised horses to begin their conditioning on. PP isn't just about providing a system with no grass on it, it's also about providing a system which will aid in healing the feet and producing a performance barefoot hoof.
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Post by marianne on Jun 19, 2008 11:16:28 GMT 1
EWM, what's your nearest airport ;D I would LOVE to attend if you have Mr Jackson over. I'm currently 3/4 of the way through planting 400 posts for my own paddock paradise. Boy, if I never see another post in my life, it won't be too soon ........
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Post by lolamae on Jun 19, 2008 11:33:54 GMT 1
We have naturally sandy soil, all of my lot particularly love going to one patch and digging it up for a roll. It is like a beach in some places.
Marianne, my sympathies. I hope you are using machinery and not doing it all by hand! We did 300 posts last year, and I am looking at a further 700 in a pile by the barn. Given in and have called the Contractors in to do it, THEY can get bitten to pieces in the forest boundary, I refuse to.
Next time I am NOT buying a property on a corner!
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Post by Cetan + Molly on Jun 19, 2008 11:47:15 GMT 1
This sounds like a brilliant idea. I rent land from my livery yard and I've just been down to speak to the YO's who have agreed to let me trial it. They seemed quite enthusiastic about it which is encouraging.
Obviously I'm going to be limited in what I can do but I think it's worth trying. I currently have a fattie, standing on a small, bare patch of restricted grazing and I really think this system would suit him.
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Post by barbararob on Jun 19, 2008 16:52:41 GMT 1
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Post by jill on Jun 19, 2008 17:18:19 GMT 1
EWM, what's your nearest airport ;D I would LOVE to attend if you have Mr Jackson over. Elaine is on a trip to take a pony to Scotland, but if anything comes of the plan to get Jaime Jackson over here, you will ALL hear about it, I'm pretty certain she will be advertising it far and wide. ;D Marianne, she is west of Worcester, I'm not sure where the nearest airport is, and neither am I sure where she would hold such an event. Nick might be an alternative of course, and I think Jaime suggested she contacted him - don't know whether she has as yet. Watch this space as they say.
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