grass management and weight- this may be long

[H & Bailey]

hi im in a ditter- as per usual...
As most know i have 3 ponies,smudge mini shettie, bruno welshax shettie, and bailey welshd x coloured cob.
I currently rent my fields which are split into 4.
1. winter area 1/2 acre-has shelters and feed sheds on..is used all winter and now has sprinkle nibble length grass,mud and docks/weeds on.
2.1/2 acre big field shelter mostly weeds bit of grass
3.3/4 acre 1 tree for shelter some grass but type they dont seem to touch 'cooch' grass is what other people up the field call it? clover which they dont eat
4. 1&1/4 acre field alot of weeds bit of grass ,lots of hedging and tree lined shelter
the boys have been on field 4 on and off all winter and have holidayed on there while i was away.
i have gradully put them onto field 2. on during day then in field 1 on a night bruno was muzzled when on grass as he had lammi last year.
by week 2 the grass was very short so they have been allowed fulltime in field 2. bruno muzzle off on a night on in the day, then he got his muzzle off 2 days running..as the grass is nibble length practically non existant i wasnt too concerned. and was hoping to use this for my 'starvation' field in the summer leaving field1. winter field to be able to have a rest...
i was hoping to start to put ponies into field3 during the day and then put into field 2 on a night.. but went to turn out and when bruno got out of the field onto the path he was really footy..panic stations..so he is in 1. the winter field on rations for a month.
even though my grass they have been on is what i would call pickings bailey is fat and smudge is also..if i leave them on field 2 bailey is starting to push and break fences as there is not enough for him to pick at, hence why i was going to turn out but im so worried they will get lammi like bruno..i tried using brunos muzzle on smudge yesterday and he has got it off twice..bruno also hates the muzzle..
i have borrowed a big strimmer and have strimmed field 2 anyway to tidy it up and cut back all the weeds...and was going to start on field3 so they dont have too much grass....someone made a comment im stupid cutting all the grass and should just let them eat it! as if i cut it all now i wont have enough to last the summer and will end up feeding hay.
i dont like to muzzle them as bruno hates it and will actively avoid me and run away and often chooses to stay on his own just so he doesn have to have the muzzle on..smudge gave me evils for ages when i muzzled him...
they are also not getting exercised as much as i would like as i constantly seem to be ragwort pulling fixing fences or strimming! along with daily life...
If i had them on livery it would be easier as i wouldnt have any field maintenance or grass worry but i cant afford it.

so what would you do? i ideally i would like to turn out24/7 and not worry about them..my OH is not horsey and as i am going up and down to turn out and fetch in it is rather tying and he is getting really annoyed especially on a weekend when he wants to be away for a bit, and says i should just sell them as i am always stressing about them so need a horsey opinion...
would you muzzle 24/7 and leave on the grass...not ideal as risks of getting a muzzle off.but better for keeping OH happy
strimm all the fields short and leave them muzzle free .
muzzle on a day on grass unstrimmed and fetch into a strimmed field muzzle off on a night
Also how often would you rotate the fields i was going to do it monthly if they were on 24/7 but they have balded field 2. in 2 weeks, is it better to let them have a week turnabout on longer grass or let them eat a field down to the mud?i was have heard opinions from both sides..long grass is less sugary...but they can pig out on it!
short grass is more stressed so higher in sugars...but this would condadict a starvation field? OMG im so confused......help:confused:
oh a picci to cheer you up if you arent confused and bored!

[Joyscarer]

I'm afraid I'm not going to help much :o

I would NEVER muzle 24/7. At the max I would muzzle 12/24.

Joy is in a massive field with long grass in it and I can't reduce the size because my field mate wants a large field.

Last year she was kept with a pony that had had a rotated pedal bone due to laminitus and they were put on the paddock just vacated by the poorer doers and you would think there was not enough to sustain them.

However Joy managed to get fat last year and I only have this explaination for it.

When on very short grass they eat the shoot as they just appear and of coarse these are high in sugars and energy.

This year obviously Joy is fat but she isn't as fat as I thought she would be. The 3 horses stick to the grazed end of the field with the shorter grass and just keep on eating that. They aren't interested in the longer grass although that seems to fill them up more and contains less energy.

I don't know the answer. I'm only in my second summer with Joy and have gone from one extreme to the other as far as grass is concerned and still have a fat cob :(

[H & Bailey]

has anyone else got any ideas?
also hints on field rotation.. if i do it week about they arent getting alot of short fresh grass but stuff that has been there for a few weeks -will the sugars be lot lower?or should i leave them in longer to force them to eat the longer stuff as they will have to if they are hungry?
I dont want to muzzle 24/7 but have heard others do manage it with an hour or so break..and would rather do without..
if kept on a sparse field how do you know they are getting enough without them breaking fences? as that is what bailey does when the grass gets low...i could resort to toys in the field i suppose:rolleyes:
come on peeps any suggestions appreciated...

[Cupcake]

You say that there are a lot of weeds in there? I'd get those weeds out before you rotate again, some weeds are quite dangerous for horses. Also it will help the grass grow longer and less sugars will be in them.

Sorry I'm not much help, I'm horrible at paddock management. I just pick up poo daily, spray my spare paddock for weeds and rotate every 3 months.

[~Perdita.M~]

If you can possibly re-think the set up of the entire lot, I'll tell you what I would do, and the gist of it is in here, if you can read through it! http://ihdg.proboards91.com/index.cgi?board=talk2&action=display&thread=65732 It is proving wonderful for ponies like ours, to keep them moving and limit grass intake. Doesn't need to be done on a huge scale, just a track round the edge of the whole lot, water, salt licks and hay ( in winter) spread out so they have to travel, access to the shelters on the way round etc!

[H & Bailey]

hi perdita..looks good and would be great apart from my land is divided up by the people i rent off and isnt adjoined...it was old allotments so has been split into the 4 by the parish council-if they were together i could? but we still have proper allotments there as well in between mine.i also cant have electric as it gets stolen:rolleyes:the only fencing that seems to keep bailey in is pallets and that would really set off the complaints!!!!
re weeds..i do know some weeds are dangerous.. i have had the fields sprayed with grazon 90 which doesnt seem to have helped at all:mad:waste of money or the bloke has watered it down so much it hasnt worked!!!!
..its mainly docks, not much nettle and thistle, buttercup, bit of clover and we do have some horseradish ;)cooch grass.
im going to have to resort to strimming the longest fields anyway as they need to be tidy, and will try to stick to limited turn out on the good stuff,