Conference noted::equitation

    
    Definitely! I am doing exactly the same thing with my horses right
    now so that they will not colic.
    
    Feed the horse first, let him eat some hay before turning him out,
    so the grass will mix with the hay in his stomach...lessen the 
    possiblity of colic (upset stomach).
    
    Start him out the first few days with no more than:       
    	
    	-1 hour grazing time.   (2-3days)
    
    Work up to 8 hours in half or whole hour increments over the course
    of 3-4wks. 
    
    				Nancy
    
    

    I agree, work them up slowly.  But, I always get anxious to get
    them onto grass so to speed up the process and not hurt the
    horses I work it this way:
    days 1,2 & 3  one hour each evening
    days 4,5 & 6  one hour each morning and one and one-half in the evening
    days 7,8 & 9  one hour each morning and two or three hours each night
    usually by the end of the second week I have found it safe to leave
    them out for 4 to 6 hours at a time.
    
    Each horse is so different that you need to take a good look at
    your horses history.  A horse which colic's easily may take 
    4 to 6 weeks.  
    
    Good luck, and it is better to be safe than sorry.
    Karen

    
    
    
    	Hi!
    
    	I have a question to ask all you fellow horse owners...
    
    	I will soon be moving my *baby* home and in his new paddock he will
    	be in is full of grass.  My questions is what is a safe schedule to
    	put him to get used to all this grass?  At his present stable he
    	can nibble on grass but there is not to much to nibble on, so...
    
    	I plan on cutting down on his hay and also giving a call to my vet
    	but I was wondering what other horse owners did about this and
    	what schedule they used???
    
    	Thank you!
    
    	Zina & Prudential :-)
                                  

    I start with 1/2 hour for a few days, then 1 hour for a few days,
    (total - 1 week), then 2 hours for a few days, then 4 hours (total -
    2nd week), then full day.  But I haven't had a little baby, so it may
    be different.
    
    It also depends on the time of year.  Once the grass starts turning
    brown, its not so rich and not a problem.
    
    Mary

    
    	I'm sorry!  He will be coming home in September and he is 5 years
    	old.  I just call him my *baby*...:-) :-)

    .1 gave good advice, I usually start with small amounts of grass and
    increase gradually every day.  The day I turned my mare out in pasture
    for the summer, I fed her about 1/2 bale of hay for breakfast so she
    wouldn't feel the need to stuff herself, though knowing her, she
    probably felt that need!  I had hand grazed her for about 3 weeks, and
    started by leaving her out for an hour twice a day the first day, on
    the second day it was 3 hours in the morning and 2 in the afternoon,
    and so forth until about 4 days went by.  Then I fed her the hay and
    turned her out and had no problems.  I've been using this method for
    years and haven't had anything go wrong yet.

    
    I just weened my friends 12yr old Apply back on grass.  We did 2 hours
    for 3 days then 3 hours for 3 days then 1 week of 1/2 days... and now
    after 2 weesk he is on grass all day.
    
    He gets NO hay at all anymore.
    
    re 0. are you the same Zina that went to Hudson High School?
    
    Louisa

I asked my vet for advice last year when I brought my *children* home to
our grassy field. He actually recommended 15 minutes twice a day for the first
two or three days, and then start doubling it from there.

Some horse's body chemstries may be more sensitive than others. You don't want 
your pony to colic or grass founder.

I know of a case recently where a little too much time on grass (one session for
1/2 hour) is being cited as the cause for a serious case of founder.
Unfortunately it resulted in the horse being destroyed.

Better safe than sorry. It sounds like your on track in asking your vet for
some advice.

    
    
    	Well I called my vet and he recomended the same as .5, 15 minutes
    	twice a day for two days and then double it and so on.  My grass is
    	*very* over grown so the grass is not to rich at this time so
        hopefully things will go smoothly...  
    
    	God I can't wait to have him *HOME*!!!!
    
    
    	Thank you *very* much everyone for your help!!!!
    
    	Zina