Boys Just Gotta Have Fun

Warm weather and the prospect of green grass makes horses kept in small paddocks stir crazy in the spring. Our horses are no exception! As much as I wish I could just turn them loose on our Paddock Paradise, the lack of a fence is hampering our efforts to give our horses more freedom. Above is a photo of Cisco trying to look handsome.




Cisco is the more energetic of the two horses. I wouldn't describe him as athletic, but when he gets the notion, he'll book around our tiny paddock at nearly top speed. As he runs and bucks, you can hear the wind whistling around his hooves. It's a neat sound, but one I never hope to hear while he's under saddle!

Cisco loves to play with Riot the dog through the fence. Riot is not playing. He is always working. Lately he thinks he is a Border Collie and attempts to herd the horses into a nice tight group. They never cooperate and Cisco teases him by breaking rank repeatedly.




Cisco at top speed


Riot trying to "herd" Molly


Riot running with Cisco


Cisco is all muscle!

The fence for the Paddock Paradise is ordered and the horses are impatiently awaiting its arrival. As soon as big brown drops it off in the driveway, our workload will increase exponentially (again!) and we'll be busy putting in the step-in posts and stretching electric tape. For the perimeter fence, we're using green t-posts (in addition to every available tree along the perimeter) and three strands of brown, 1.5-inch electric tape. For the interior fence of the track, we'll use the step-in posts and only two strands of the electric tape. Hopefully the two strands will be enough to dissuade Molly from pushing the fence over and stealing forbidden bites of green pasture grass.

Once we install the fence, we'll have to gradually introduce our horses to the Paddock Paradise. Aside from a few mouthfuls here and there, the horses haven't eaten grass since they arrived in October. Tossing them onto lush spring grass, however little there will be in the "track" portion of the paddock, could cause a bout of laminitis. Spring grass typically has a high sugar or non-structured carbohydrate level, which can be dangerous for horses. Laminitis can lead to founder, which can be a life-threatening problem. During a bout of laminitis, the laminae of the horse's hooves become inflamed and lameness results. Laminitis can be so severe that euthanasia is the only way to relieve the horse's suffering.

You can bet we'll do our best to avoid that fate for our horses. My primary reason for following the Paddock Paradise model is to prevent such a thing from occurring. Horses in motion and gradual introductions to grass are the best measures for ensuring our horses' health during this transition.

So, until the fence arrives, we'll just be lounging around, enjoying the beautiful Connecticut spring weather (right!).