Just moved horses to our new home

Question
Hi,
My husband and I have two quarter horses. They have been boarded the last two years and we have just purchased property where we can finally bring them home. Since we are new to feeding them, I am very concerned about foundering. Where they were boarded previously, they had a stall with a 100 ft run which was dirt. They were turned out on good weather days and sometimes spent the night on the pasture during the summer.
Our home has a barn with stalls, but we do not have runs for them. We have an indoor arena and a 3 acre pasture. The grass was very tall when we moved in, but we cut it prior to bringing the horses home.
It is July now and I know to slowly introduce them during the spring as the grass is very lush. We live in Oregon so we do get alot of rain. We stall them at night and give them good orchard hay and turn them out during the day. The have access to fresh water all day. We also give them a very small amount of rice bran with a probiotic, vitamins and a little salt in the morning. Should we limit their time outside? They are in beautiful condition now and look great. They are barefoot and are trimmed every 8 weeks. I am just so afraid being new to all this that I don't want them to get sick because we are stupid!

Answer
Hi Susan,

Thank you for your question.  Rich spring pasture can be of concern to horses that are prone to founder, but as the growing season progresses the forages mature and become proportionately richer in fiber than sugar.  Mind you, pasture is more of a laminitis trigger than it is a cause and so you are less likely to have an issue with non-prone horses than you are with horses who have a history of laminitis.  By the time July rolls around, the plants are less likely to trigger laminitis even in prone horses unless of course the plant is under tremendous heat and/or drought stress.  Stressed plants can be a tad more likely to cause sensitivity in laminitis prone horses, which is why many people will allow grazing in the evening when the plant is less stressed, and leave pastures ungrazed during intense sunlight.  Living in an area with lots of rain actually creates a less nutrient dense and more dilute plant, so less stressed and less dangerous.  

Since your horses were already used to part day turnout, and given that we are well into the growing season, I would say that you're safe to let them graze.  I see that you already have them on a turnout schedule so if you haven't had any issues then I would say you're safe for the rest of the season.  If I'm mistaken and you haven't yet started turnout, try a few hours a day (or evening if it better fits your schedule) at first and take 7-10 days to work them up to full turnout.  But the greatest danger period has passed. You're by no means stupid, and in fact you're on the right track!  Keep up the good work.

Thanks, Corlena