Study: Horses Able to Stay Fit When Kept at Pasture
By Kristen M. Janicki, MS, PAS Oct 01, 2013 I found this article of interest. Hope you do also. I know it can be hard to find a place in Boulder County to board your horse that can provide adequate pasture. Boulder County Horse Association continues to advocate for land use in Boulder County. We are able to do this by your continued support thought membership, donation and volunteer efforts. Please contact us if you have time to volunteer to help us to continue supported equine-related activities in Boulder County. There are many theories on how to best manage performance horses during periods with no forced exercise (whether after sustaining an injury or just for a rest period), and owners are often left with a dilemma: stall rest or pasture turn-out? To find the answer, a team of researchers recently completed a study evaluating how well horses maintain a certain fitness level with either pasture turnout or stall confinement. Patricia M. Graham-Thiers, PhD, and a team of Virginia Intermont College researchers assigned 16 horses in light to moderate work to one of three groups: pasture turnout (P), stalled and exercised (E), or stalled with no exercise (S). During the 14-week study, horses in the P group roamed on approximately 100 acres of pasture, while horses in the S and E groups stayed in stalls during the day and were allowed access to a one-acre paddock at night. The researchers exercised horses in the E group five days per week for one to two hours per day […]
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