Q: I manage a small boarding barn and have several easy-keeping horses living together. Are there ways to reduce pasture sugar intake for an entire herd without completely removing them from turnout?

A:  Managing easy keepers can be challenging because we want to provide them with the three F’s (forage, freedom, and friends) without causing excess weight gain. To build a practical management program for easy keepers, I recommend having many tools in your toolbox.

The same plan will not work for every easy keeper, so you might have to try different tactics and combine some of them to see what works best for your facility and group of horses.

Increase Your Horse’s Exercise

For sound horses, increasing exercise helps combat weight gain from pasture intake. Aiming for a minimum of 20 minutes of active trot or canter during your sessions five days per week has been shown to be effective at eliciting weight loss. Note that if your horse is not currently in work, you’ll need to slowly work him up to this.

Change Grazing Times

The sugar content in pasture grass changes over the course of a day. If you have an easy keeper, try to avoid the high-sugar times. Allow these horses to graze early in the mornings (about 3-10 a.m.). Avoid the late afternoon and early evening because when plants are exposed to sunlight, photosynthesis occurs, which means the plant is producing sugars. This peaks in the late afternoon, so you want to avoid grazing for at least a few hours after the sun has gone down.

Use a Grazing Muzzle

Grazing muzzles can help limit how pasture grass easy keepers consume. Plenty of options exist, and finding the right one for a horse often takes some trial and error. Fit matters, and what works for one horse might not work for another.  

Slow Hay Intake, Prioritize Quality

If your horses do not live on pasture 24/7, managing their hay intake can help with weight control while still allowing them some grazing time. You can do this with slow-feed nets. If your horses still consume their daily hay allotment quickly, try moving to smaller-hole nets or doubling up the nets.

Also consider the quality of the hay you offer your horse. Hay with a lower nutritional value (relative feed value of about 75-102) can free up more room in the ration for calories from pasture grass.

Take-Home Message

Managing easy keepers on pasture calls for flexibility across the group. No single strategy works for every horse, so most owners combine methods to manage weight while still allowing turnout, movement, and social interaction.