19/08/2026
๐ด Fab advice from Simple Systems ๐ด
๐ฅ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป ๐ฎ๐ณ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต๐ - ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐ฝ๐ฝ๐ฒ๐ป๐ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ต๐ผ๐ฟ๐๐ฒ'๐ ๐ด๐ฟ๐ฎ๐๐? Rain coming after drought can be a shock, welcome or otherwise. For our horses, they will be happy to have softer ground underfoot, although riders should bear in mind it can take a lot of rain to change the going to that soft enough for faster work.
The grass however, will readily welcome the rain as during a drought it slows its growth, becoming dormant even to conserve water and protect its roots. Grass may appear brown and dead on top, but the roots are still very much alive and with decent rainfall, the grass reawakens and begins to grow again โ sometimes very rapidly. This period of dormancy, which stresses the plant and can lead to sugar retention, after rain fall can trigger growth akin to a spring flush, especially if temperatures are high.
To best support sugar sensitive horses, graze at times of day when sugar levels are naturally lower โ ideally turning out very early in the morning and bringing them off after a few hours. Overcast days are typically seen as being a little safer as there wonโt be as much growth or sugar production without the presence of strong sunlight and warmth.
If you have any well rested areas that have ideally gone to seed, this is potentially safer grazing as more mature grass is generally higher in fibre and lower in nutrition. Also, grass stores sugar in the base of the plant, so eating long grass will provide less sugar than eating closely grazed short grass.
If you need to supplement grazing to avoid over-consumption of sugary grass, or if paddocks are very bare (where there can also be a greater risk of sand colic), you can use hay, or you can give buckets of ๐๐ฎ๐๐๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ or dampened ๐ข๐ฟ๐ด๐ฎ๐ป๐ถ๐ฐ ๐๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฒ ๐ฆ๐๐ฎ๐น๐ธ๐, depending on dentition. These suggestions can also be used in dry lot turnouts or on track systems, if they are best kept off grass altogether. Providing different forage options is also great for enrichment and encouraging browsing behaviours if their natural ability to graze is restricted.
Consider using ๐ ๐ฒ๐๐ฎ๐ฆ๐น๐ถ๐บ as their forage balancer to help maintain normal insulin function and for horses and ponies prone to laminitis.
It is also worth bearing in mind that good doers may 'balloon' on grass grazed after heavy rain fall, as its nutritional value suddenly shoots up! Feed or forage that was necessary for supplementing poor grazing may need to be reduced, or even tapered off altogether.
