AGRIA: All Horses Want to Graze - with Ingvar Fredricson

All Horses Want to Go To Graze-with Ingvar Fredricson

Movement is a natural part of the horse's life, and an important prerequisite for a horse to develop and cope with work where the load on the skeleton and ligaments is high. Horses need to move freely in the pasture for several hours each day. This article is a teaser of chapter from our new book, "Hållbar ridning för hållbara hästar" (Sustainable Riding for Sustainable Horses).

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Projects on hilly pastures

Together with veterinary professor Ingvar Fredricson and Hästen i Skåne, Agria participates in a project in Brösarp in Scania, where large pastures will produce sustainable horses.

– It used to be thought that it was good for the foals to be born in January-February, so that they would be born as early as possible. But now more and more people have realized that it is important that the foals are born when they can go out and be outside and play with their peers as much as possible. Already during the foal's first months, the thickness of the articular cartilage is greatly affected by whether they are allowed to move - something that is extremely important for durability. Therefore, it is optimal that the foals are born in April-May so that they can be released to pasture immediately and not be left standing in a box with their mothers on a deep bed of straw, says Ingvar Fredricson.

In Brösarp, young horses have been let out in large hilly paddocks so that they can naturally strengthen their muscles, joints, heartsand lungs and develop into durable competition horses. Research has shown that there is a direct relationship between how big the pasture is and how much the horses move. If you let a horse out in a smaller paddock, it can certainly be outside, but the horse usually stands mostly still. If the horse is instead out in a larger paddock, the horse explores the grounds and moves much more.

The horse is made to move, and the first three years of life are crucial for the horse's future durability.

– Many owners lock up their young horses at night, when they normally move the most. Those horses do not get an optimal opportunity to develop. Then there are also hereditary predispositions, both when it comes to horses and people - some can mistreat their bodies quite badly but still last, while others who are very careful break down. It is not so simple that it just depends on the environment, notes Ingvar.

Curled horses – a misguided concern

Some horse owners hesitate to let their horses out in the pasture, for various reasons. How do you see it?

– It's a bit similar to how it is with children and curling parents, it's misdirected care - it means that neither children nor horses develop in the right way. Many horse owners put blankets on the horses in the middle of summer, and let them in at night. It may be well-intentioned but it is a type of curling that is very far from how horses have evolved. You can see that when you have the horses out on large free drives, that when it rains and blows and snows, they usually don't go into their stables, but stand and shiver with their rumps against the wind. They cope well. Ingvar believes that many horse owners humanize their horses, which makes them less hardy and durable.

There are so many things that the horses bring with them that we haven't taken into account. Nowadays, horses are so expensive and you invest so many years to produce a competition horse at the highest level - it takes nine to ten years, and then it must not become lame. Breeders have never really been paid for sustainability, they have only been paid for the horses being beautiful or talented. If you look at Milton, for example, he wasn't a star externally, but he was the world's best jumping horse during his time. There are many preconceived notions about what the horses should look like and how they should be bred. But it is much more difficult than that, concludes Ingvar Fredricson.
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#Hållbara Hästar #stoppahältan #Sustainable Horses #stoplameness

Published November 13, 2019

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