How much room

sassafras manor · #1 05/08/12, 07:59 PM

Looking at getting a horse and need to know how much of our pasture we need to section off for her?

Teej · #2 05/08/12, 10:41 PM

In our part of the world the rule of thumb is 1 acre per head. If it's possible for you to do I'd fence off a section leading into whatever shelter the horse would have to use for a dry lot. Many horses don't need or can handle 24 hour turnout on lush, green pasture. Then I'd make the horse pasture as big as you can spare and divide it into at least 2 separate ones so you can rotate.

brody · #3 05/08/12, 10:52 PM

Horses also really do much better with companions. Other horses. Goats. Something. They are a herd animal through and through.
It depends a lot on how much supplementing you can or want to do but our horses had about 5 acres divided into paddocks. Came into the barn for the nights with a flake of hay to entertain them. 4 horses.

GrannyCarol · #4 05/09/12, 09:42 AM

Here in semi desert land and acre "pasture" was a dry lot for one horse... was a dry lot with NO horses! I would have had to irrigate and plant pasture to grow grass and it wasn't our land, so we fed hay year round. It was a nice exercise lot!

Blue Run Farm · #5 05/09/12, 09:55 AM

We have four horses and hay year round. Ours are on about 5 acres, divided into several sections. We'd be okay if the land wasn't so darn wet! The grass here has to be managed very carefully or the horses turn it into muck. So they spend a good bit of time on the drylot section to keep them off the grass when the weather is bad or when it is trying to grow in.

The answer to how much room a horse (two horses!) needs really does vary by location. For mental health for the horse, try to fence a large enough area to get some exercise in. They don't have to be on that all the time, but horses are much happier with as much turnout as possible. I'd start with a couple of acres for turnout if possible. Then a smaller drylot area for when they can't be on the turnout area. A shelter in each area or just in the drylot with access to the drylot from the turnout so they can access the shelter all the time.

ShyAnne · #6 05/09/12, 10:42 AM

We have 12 acres total, 5 welsh ponies.13.2 hh and under.
I have 4 acres for the ponies, 1 main pasture, 1 acre, and 2 ~1/2 acre paddocks. One for the ponies due to foal, or the ponies here breeding. The other 1/2 is a dry lot for my stallion. He also has his own acre paddock separate from the other ponies( except his companion mare. I feed hay yr round as I dont want my ponies on a lot of pasture.
I have 3 ponies in the 1 acre lot, and 2 ponies in the stallion lots. And the foaling pen as needed.
The 3 ponies in the 1 acre lot are all riding ponies so they get a lot of out time.
We also have another 2 acres with green grass that we let them out on several times a week, but that time is controlled.
8 acres is wooded, with many trails we ride on.

I agree, if you get 1 horse, get 2 or some sort of companion

akane · #7 05/09/12, 11:49 AM

Minimum 1 acre per horse but you should always have 2 horses even if one is just a mini so plan 2 acres for your horse and it's friend. Preferably you want to give more. On 1 acre worms will build up fast needing regular deworming, hooves will not wear down from walking, and the grass will be destroyed in most places. If you increase that to 5+ acres each like we have now you don't really need to deworm because they don't graze back over the same area and reingest parasites, the farrier comes out and says there really isn't much they can do because the hooves are worn so well, and we feed hay 4 months out of the year.

**bergere** · #8 05/09/12, 12:34 PM

I like to have at least 2 acre pastures/paddocks.... that way they have room to run around and play.
I have Icelandic's and a mini, so they are not big horses. If I had a bigger horse, would want a bigger pasture.

Rogo · #9 05/09/12, 02:37 PM

The one acre per horse is what's needed if there's only pasture. No pasture here in the desert, I've always free choice fed hay.

No matter what my livestock are and how many, they've always roamed free on the acreage whatever the size. With equine, I just can't see confining critters meant to run. And too, hooves are healthier when they're moving so blood can flow in the frogs.

I've lived on one acre and various sizes up to 40 acres with mountains on it. Less critters on smaller properties.

At different times in my life, I've had several equine where they were the only one. They did great 'cause they weren't ornaments. I ride a lot. Alone and with groups. When I walk out my door, my mount can walk right up to me for attention. Just about every layout I've had has allowed for this. My present mount is 24 and still enjoys like I do, the tough mountain riding.

akane · #10 05/09/12, 02:51 PM

Most people don't work their animals enough to have one. I've seen a lot of horses that developed horrible stereotypical behaviors from being the only horse. I've bought a few I had to turn around and sell immediately because they were so mentally unstable from being stalled or kept in a small paddock alone with little work all their lives they couldn't be put with a herd and were destructive towards their surroundings.

Rogo · #11 05/09/12, 04:10 PM

Akane, most folks I know keep their critters like I do, roaming free. Even my poultry roam free. Big advantage to that -- they scratch the manure down to dust and it blows away. Their scratching and pecking drives the gophers out of their tunnels and they leave. And I don't have to give the birds a paycheck!! :o)

Every now and then we'll see a horse in a 16 foot stall on 5 to 10 empty acres. Makes me sick.

akane · #12 05/09/12, 07:30 PM

Most people overall keep their horses in big pastures. It's generally only the halter and pleasure show barns or track horses around here that have small turnout lots or stall 24/7. Even with a big pasture for turnout though you should still have 2 horses.

Joshie · #13 05/09/12, 10:28 PM

Sassafras, there are no hard and fast acreage rules. I, like you, am in IL. I'm not sure the size of our pastures. They're several acres each. Our two boys do well in them. We move them from one pasture to another to keep the grass in as good a condition as possible. They eat grass only from spring to fall (March or April to November). Last summer was so bad, though, that we had to feed hay for a couple months. We feed a hay only diet during the winter. We don't grain at all. Do you have good hay storage?

Our Joshua was stalled before we got him at age 3. When his buddy coliced died last year we stalled him so he wouldn't keep going over to where his friend died. He went nuts in the stall so we let him out the next morning. I kept the boys in a dry lot over one winter and they got so bored they chewed on the barn door even though they are not cribbers. So... we keep them outside all the time. It's nice to have a lean to or a barn but I don't think it's absolutely necessary.

Have you checked local regulations? Have you had horses before? If not, you can get a better idea about what works in your area by taking lessons from an experienced trainer. If you're in central IL I can hook you up with a great instructor.

Good luck!

sassafras manor · #14 05/10/12, 08:38 AM

Thanks for all the info. I used to ride about 15 years ago and now have the opportunity to have a horse again. We have several acres of land that is split up into smaller sections and finced in. The problem is that all of our land is currently being used for rotational grazing of different animals, (cows, turkeys, pigs). We have one section, about 4 acres, that is in corn this year. We were planning on fencing this off this fall and adding it to the rotation. We are just trying to see if we could fit it in somewhere without messing up the rotation. We could keep it on about a 1/3 acre and feed it hay but I'm not sure I want to put it in such a small area.

GrannyCarol · #15 05/10/12, 09:47 AM

When I was a kid, we had 2 - 3 horses kept on 1/2 acre dry lot. However, we rode a lot and kept them well exercised. Seemed to work fine for active working horses, they seemed to have plenty of room to play and were right next to the house (our lot was 1 acre total) where they got a lot of attention. They had a 2 stall barn, but weren't stalled very often. So much depends on your situation and the amount of work and attention they get.

brody · #16 05/10/12, 06:39 PM

We've had horses and cattle turned out together without issue -might be worth considering