A couple of questions? What breed?

[SugarGlider9562]

My horse Coley his head is scratched up from sticking his head threw the fence to get BETTER grass I guess.We have about 3 acre pasture with alot of grass. Plus we feed him. Should I do something about this or put something on his face?O yeah he isnt sick or have a diease.

What breed is this?
We went to this omosh(Maybe Spelled Wrong) village to get my horse shoed for 20 dollars.When we got there there was a horse that weighed 2800 pounds.He stood about 5'6 at his back. Could it be a Belugim? Spelling may be wrong

[DomBee8]

First off, how bad are the cuts, what kind of fence do you have, and are you sure the cuts are from the fence? Do you have any other horses or herd animals on your land? From the sounds of it, it looks like you need better fenceing.

The horse you saw was probably a draft horse from your describtions. He could have been a Belgian, or he/she could have been a Percheron. Those are two really popular draft breeds. You can't really tell what breed a horse is just by looking at it or describing it.

[wolfcat]

DomBee8 has it covered as far as the fence. But I would add that he may be bothered by flies & be scratching his head on the fence to get rid of them. One of my neighbors horses did that one year. They werent bad scratches & they didnt really bleed but they were ugly.
A little repellent took care of it.
I heard somewhere that Amish workhorses are usually Belgium or Clydesdale.

[DomBee8]

I never thought of the flies. Most of the Amish horses I know are Standard breeds. Hmm, I guess they just use different breeds in different places.

I have a few more questions- are there a lot of weeds or fesses (poop) in your field? If so, he is probably trying to reach over and get good grass. Even if your horse is in a large field, you shouldn't just let poop lye around. It can cause dieses, worms, and pests. Horses will not eat around fesses, so he may be trying to get to grass he know won't harm him. Ideally you should pick up the poop, but it's so scattered in some fields it's hard. Some local barns just use their lawn mowers to spread the fesses. Once it's separated and spread it dissolves easier, and it helps the grass. Also, when it's spread out like that it attracts less pests and doesn't cause as many diseases. I would make sure there is nothing wrong with the grass in your pasture. Check the quality of the grass. If a horse is reaching over a fence to get grass when they already have plenty around them, it's a good sign that there's something wrong with the grass in their pasture. (or they are just extreamly bored- I see it a lot with horses that are kept by themselves)

[lneill84]

Horses carry worms, and worms love horse manure. By having loose poop in a paddock, the horse will naturally graze on worm infested grass. With open cuts in the summer especially, flies and bugs will lay eggs, and you will have a nasty infection. Use something like Furisine, which is a gunky bright yellow antibiotic that repels flies. Do NOT put any fly spray on it directly. It doesn't matter if a paddock has a lot of grass, it depends on the type and quality of the grass. Paddocks really should be rotated every month, depending on rain, etc., to make sure horses get the right amount of nutrients from the grass. You also need to be extra careful that he doesn't get stuck in the fence and panic. All fences should easily break if they are hit with enough force. They make super expensive ones that flex too. Its not fun trying to remove a horse thats freaking out and gotten tangled up in a fence. Horses are flight animals and do not take kindly to being pinned down (instinct kicks in).

[SugarGlider9562]

No there is not alot of poop in the field.We got another horse and he is starting to look like that too.The cuts are not bad. He is just missing patches of hair, But it is just at the top of his head. The fence the top is barb wire then square fence,but he cant get his head throught it. I am going to try some repellent plus he needs a lil bit.I will post a pic of him.

[sparkyharky]

For what it's worth...Amish ususally use Standardbreds for pulling buggies and belgians for farm work although other draft beeds are not unheard of in the Amish community. I wish you luck with the scratches on your horses head.

[shelby123gecko]

Barbed Wire isn't a very good wir to use with horses, they sometimes have a hard time seeing it and end up actching an eye on it , I saw one hore that actually was blinded because of barded wire... What fencing I have is board fencing ( My mom likes it for it's looks) and standard 6'' by 6'' wire square fencing to stop my horse from reaching through, which he really doesn't do. But just in case

Good Luck.. Put some peroxide on the cuts just in case of infection.