Boarding Issue

[talent06]

Ok, so at my current boarding situation I am paying quite a large amount of money to board my horse (compared to barns in california or something it's probably extremely cheap, but for around here its a decent amount). Anyways, each horse gets their own small paddock. There is access to 2 small outdoor arenas, one with lighting. They also have a roundpen, but the footing is so crappy I won't work my horse in it. He has slipped way too many times.
Anyways, so Talent is 3 years old, the youngest horse there, and yet he gets the smallest pen. I'm not really sure why, there are 25 year old horses that stand basically in one place all day that have a larger pen than he does. So last week I went to go see him and I found him stuck in an even smaller pen. It's 4 metal panels made into a square, im guessing each panel is 10'? Yeah, and theres no shavings or anything in it so its getting really muddy. The reason he's in the pen? Some idiot always leaves the hose on in his water trough and it over flows into his pen. Normally it just creates a fairly decent size mud puddle. This time, it flooded the ENTIRE pen. It pisses me off so bad that he is stuck in this pen. Ive been turning him out in the arena daily, but I don't think its enough. I don't understand why he cant share a pen with one of the b.o. older geldings that have a huge pen 4x the size of his original one. I am not paying for him to be kept in a tiny muddy pen. His original pen is not going to dry out anytime soon considering the weather lately. I don't know what to do.
Ive been calling people trying to find somewhere else to board. But its tough. I need an arena to ride in, which around here already narrows down the choices, he cant be on pasture full time, narrows it down even farther, I want him to be either in a stall ir dry lotted with daily turnout for several hours. He's three years old, i really don't think its good for him to be stuck doing circles in this tiny pen all day.
If any of you know of anyone in central washington (moses lake) area that has what I'm looking for for a reasonal price please let me know. I feel so bad for Talent right now.

[WashingtonBay]

You're right... it's not enough turnout for a young horse, or any horse.

Why can't he be on pasture full time if it had a shelter? Is there some reason or consideration for why you say that?

[talent06]

He just cant handle being on full time grass. When he was younger and growing much more he was fine, but it has slowed down alot and i was so worried about him foundering last summer. At the pasture I was boarding at I set up a hot wire pen around his shed, the people that owned the property thought it was "cruel" that I kept him in there part of the day. Yes, I know that doesn't make much sense, letting him eat himself to death seems much worse, but it was there property so I respected what they wanted and consequently had to move him.

[Palogal]

Is there a reason you're worried about founder? It would take A LOT of really rich grass for a young healthy horse to founder. They are grazing animals- they are meant to graze all day. Ponies tend to founder on too much grass due to their size so I could see the concern if he's a pony. A horse is more likely to founder if he gets into feed and eats a whole bag or something. Just MO, but I would rather put a young horse out on the pasture all day to run and play then keep him in a stall. True, it's kind of a PITA to catch them in the mud even if they do come to you.

[WashingtonBay]

OK - I can see needing to limit him if he was overweight, but this time of year I don't see much risk in that. Much of the grass has long gone dormant.

[MyMia]

Have you tried talking to the barn owner/manager? Maybe if you talked to them and explained your concerns they'd move him to a better pen? Just a thought.

[Palogal]

OK - I can see needing to limit him if he was overweight, but this time of year I don't see much risk in that. Much of the grass has long gone dormant.

True as well. Founder is common in the spring when the rich new grass comes in and even then, it's not a big problem down here.

[talent06]

The place where I was boarding at had 3 irrigated, regularly fertilized pastures that the owners rotated the horses through. When I had three horses that were eating on the pastures it wasn't so bad, but I had to sell 2 of them so it was just Talent on the pastures. He was eating way too much and I think it was giving him a stomach ache, his belly was really swollen and he started bucking whenever I would squeeze him when we would ride and that is SO unlike him. Also his neck was getting cresty.
I tried giving the pasture people a call, but they are going south for the winter and dont want horses at their place while they are gone. Otherwise I would have already moved him over their for the winter.

My B.O. is kind of one of those people that if you mention something to her that she doesn't like, she will be extra rude later about everything. Does that make any sense? So I'm scared to ask her to move him into another pen until I have somehwere else to board him, because if she gets weird about it I will have no where to take him.
I hope that made sense.

[Palogal]

Ah, you are blessed with an easy keeper. Perhaps a grazing muzzle will keep him from over eating? Someone else is using one if I recall correctly.

[Horseaholic]

I was going to mention a grazing muzzle. :)

[Palogal]

I was going to mention a grazing muzzle. :)

Great minds think alike ;)

[Horseaholic]

Great minds think alike ;)
Very truuueee!

[shewasmyshadow]

What area of the country are you in Talent? Maybe we can help you look.

[talent06]

I'm in Moses Lake, WA. Basically right in the middle of the state. I would love the help!

The grazing muzzle sounds like a good idea! I've never used one before, what a simple solution, I guess I never really thought of it before. If I dont find anywhere else by spring I think I will put him back on the pastuer with a grazing muzzle.

[Palogal]

I'm in Moses Lake, WA. Basically right in the middle of the state. I would love the help!

The grazing muzzle sounds like a good idea! I've never used one before, what a simple solution, I guess I never really thought of it before. If I dont find anywhere else by spring I think I will put him back on the pastuer with a grazing muzzle.


IMO, that would be the best for him. You want him to run and play as much as possible. All of my horses are out all the time and it's really better for them. When I did board they were stalled and I find them much happier to be out.

[WashingtonBay]

Do you have recent pictures of him? Have you gotten a vets advice recently about him, and pasture? Because I'm still not convinced that the aversion to being on pasture all the time isn't inflated in your thinking. And I mean no offense when I say that! But we sometimes get ourselves in a groove of worrying about something until we have blown it out of proportion.

I just think it would be unusual for talent, as young as he is, to not be able to be on fall and winter grass. There may be a time in the spring when he needs to be limited, but unless you really think he is IR, grass right now is not going to make him fat, and will not make him founder. Our Cyn got too heavy this last year, and I limited her on spring grass, and cut her grain back to nothing, but I didn't take her off grass completely, and once the grass dried up in summer, I don't limit her now. All it took for her to come down in weight was to cut back on the very rich stuff, not the grazing and forage. Horses need grazing and forage. It would be highly unusual for him, minus a prior founder episode, to need to remain on dry lot for life.

Just my two cents.... :)

[Palogal]

If that's him in her avatar I can see where he might get overweight pretty easily.

[WashingtonBay]

I'd agree... but drylot? A mowed or grazed pasture (I haven't seen a lot of boarding stables that have knee high green grass all year round in the pasture) just shouldn't be too much for a young healthy horse to be on, if not all the time, at least for some hours every day.

[Palogal]

I'd agree... but drylot? A mowed or grazed pasture (I haven't seen a lot of boarding stables that have knee high green grass all year round in the pasture) just shouldn't be too much for a young healthy horse to be on, if not all the time, at least for some hours every day.


I guess it's a choice between letting him graze on grass or feeding more hay.

[talent06]

Nope, Talent isn't the horse in the picture, that was my paint Chase. He could be on pasture all year round without any issues.

I know Talent would be fine on grass in the fall and winter. The pasture he was on was extremely lush. Irrigated all day long and fertilized at least once a month. I don't have any pictures of him from when he was fat, but I promise you, he was not in a healthy state. I had to punch extra holes in my back cinch, and within 3 days of taking him off pasture, I could bring it up 3 notches. His tummy was so swollen people said he looked pregnant.
I would move him back to the place he was at for the winter and fall, but those people aren't boarding anymore. Believe me, if I could have kept him on pasture all year, I would have.

The place I was at wasn't really a boarding stable, it was just a retired couple who said they would board my horses. They had lots of time on their hands and felt the need to fertilize and water the pastures constantly, it wasn't your usual pasture. Lol.

[Palogal]

Well in that case I would do the grazing muzzle on pasture or a big dry lot with hay. The key being as much space as you can give him.

[talent06]

Problem solved! (at least until next spring). The neighbors of the people I used to board with also have pasture and some horses. They heard I needed a place to board and they said they had room for one more! So Talent will get to be in a pasture with a bunch of geldings this winter. It will give me much more time to find a boarding situation for the spring and summer:)