rescue horse

Question
I have rescued a 4 year old throughbred horse and want to give it the best care, I hear a million diffrent things about letting run in the pasture. I am not sure if I should restrict her to the barn, so that she doesn't over eat in the pasture and if I do restrict her pasture time, when do I start letting her run free from barn to pasture

Answer
Hi Tiffany,

Thank you for your question.  First of all, let me commend you on the efforts of rescuing a horse...it's a lot of work, but very rewarding.

It is important to gradually introduce a horse to pasture for the first time, and even to introduce a horse to new spring pasture.  There are 2 reasons to be cautious:  lush pasture can cause gas colic for some horses, and some horses may develop laminitis when introduced to new pasture (even if the pasture is only new to them).  The best way to introduce your horse safely to pasture (which is the same approach you should use in changing any forage) is to introduce her over a period of 7-10 days.  Start with allowing the horse access to the pasture for 1-2 hours a day for the first few days, and increase the amount of time they spend grazing a little bit more each day.  If the pasture is more mature (already well into the growing season) you can take a week to introduce them, and if the pasture is younger (early in its growing season)you want to take the full 10 days to introduce her.  As long as your mare hasn't shown any adverse affects of consuming her new pasture, she can then be allowed free access to pasture.  Having free choice access to quality forage is the best way to get your mare back on her feet.

Good Luck, and thank you for your question.

Corlena