HORSES are naturally browsers as well as grazers, generally social animals more content in a group than kept separate, curious to explore their surroundings and given long limbs fit to roam over large areas.
Pretty basic needs, all things considered and Dr Green generally provides. Particularly now (in these challenging Covid-19 times) many horses, such as National Hunt racehorses in peak fitness are being turned out to grass at short notice. It’s important that horse owners make the transition as gradual as possible and minimize the potential for unintended consequences, such as laminitis.
Watch for sudden growth spurts of energy-rich spring grass, for example, and restrict access. Check under the rugs covering clipped, thin-skinned recently-in-training racehorses.
We have a better chance of keeping our horses healthy and happy the more we can mimic natural conditions. In Ireland, this is best achieved by allowing them exercise as a settled social group in a hazard-free, extensive mixed-grazing area. Provide shelter from the worst of our wind and rain, ideally via hedges they can safely browse. Don’t over-wash and groom your horse, as this can strip their coats of valuable oil content. This ideal isn’t always possible (urban yards with show ponies perhaps); safe (e.g. mature TB stallions); or practical at all times (grazing land needs protecting in wet weather).
Basic needs
As a minimum, horses need access to a continuous supply of fresh, clean water – this truly is a basic need. And their digestive tract is designed to manage a nearly continuous supply of high fibre feed material not the occasional bucket of concentrates. Fodder may, of course, be supplemented with a well-regarded, well-balanced horse mix but this needs to be matched to the animals’ additional needs if any – are they young and growing rapidly, pregnant or lactating, or is strenuous athletic performance currently required of them?
- Obesity is also a health issue – excess fat places unnecessary strain on any horse’s metabolism and skeleton.
- Adjust the diet gradually to match a change from ‘horse-in-training’ to ‘convalescing’ or ‘maintenance’.
- Against tetanus (often fatal in horses) – as hazards are more common and injuries are more likely to go unseen at grass.
- Against herpes virus if living in a broodmare band – to ward off an abortion storm.
- Against influenza – for an outbreak of this virus, as we discovered in 2019, is not pleasant for horses and has wide implications for the horse industries.
- Test, take veterinary advice and treat selected horses.
Ireland is blessed with limestone-rich lands but not all horse owners have access and must thus supplement with essential minerals like calcium, phosphate and magnesium. It is a good idea to to invest in horse health essentials – teeth, feet, preventive health care and shelter. Be careful not to rely on shortcuts that become a crutch and an excuse for bad husbandry and management.
Horses need regular dental care (especially as they age) if they are to get the most from grass and other fodder feeds. Everyone knows that lameness reduces mobility and therefore feeding. Pain reduces performance, whether this be milk production, growth rates, speed or jumping ability, or rosettes in the show-ring. Whether shod or not regular farriery is a sound investment for horses kept at grass or not.
Vaccinations
Horses at grass should be vaccinated:
Veterinary services are currently curtailed by the need to prioritise human health. Influenza vaccination schedules for competition horses that need to comply with rules set by the Irish Horse Regulatory Board (IHRB) and FEI should be maintained if this can be done safely in accordance with current HSE guidelines.
They are then well placed to compete again once public events, such as racing, resume.
Worming
Horses should be de-wormed appropriately but, if possible, live in an environment managed to keep parasite levels within tolerable levels. Veterinary medicines have been a fantastic advance in modern times but we must recognise their limitations and safeguard these drugs for future use.
We’re fortunate in this country that we have plenty of space: horses need it and space dilutes disease. Modern thinking on parasite control is not to treat blindly but to diagnose the need and then to treat in a targeted manner. Why? Like antibiotic resistance, anthelminthic resistance (that is the ability of parasites to resist killing by the commonly used de-wormer products) is steadily on the rise. Such is the growing concern that the veterinary medicines authorities in the EU and Ireland are talking of restricting supply of anti-parasitic drugs when intended to be used in food-producing animals.
By law, this includes equine species excepting where individuals have a passport signing them out of the food-chain. This is to protect animal health and welfare, certainly not the market, suppliers or end-users – who don’t generally favour further regulation or restriction on supply. The worry is that if we continue as we have done over the past 30 years we won’t have any effective de-wormer products in another 30 years.
Look for evidence that your horses harbour parasites – lice, small and large red worms (strongyles), liver fluke, lung worm, bots and tapeworm – in numbers that cause harm, before reaching for the medicine cabinet. Faecal worm egg counts, skin scrapings and blood tests all form part of the armoury. We need to strike a balance with nature, not work against it. Adult horses can well cope with moderate burdens of small red worms (strongyles) in their small intestine. Treating blindly with a de-wormer kills off all drug-sensitive worms and leaves any drug-resistance worms in situ - to divide, multiply and conquer.
- Test again to check that the product has been effective.
These strategies have the added benefit of improving both the nutritional quality and appearance of your land. Not all are practical in all situations, but horse-folk could consider which work best for them. Better this than an environment populated by drug-resistant parasites.