4 acres- how many horses?

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LauraWinter

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I was just wondering how many horses could be kept comfortably on 4 acres? We are considering a property with 4 acres in total and out of this space would hope to put up stables and a school which would take up some of it. Do you think it would be reasonable to keep 4 horses on that with 24/7 turnout most of the year?

Thanks
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Depends on many things. How well the drained the land is, what type of soil it is, how well the horses do, has it been overgrazed in the past etc.
I have 3 1/2 acres with 2 horses and a pony. THe fields survives very well in summer, but because it is clay, it is impossible to keept them out 24/7 in winter. If I did, I would have no summer grazing and have to feed hay all year round,instead of just from december to march.
You need to maybe get some more info from the vendors to establish realistically what you may expect from the acreage.
 
BHS says its supposed to be 2 acres for the first horse and 1 for every horse after that i think. but it obv varies a lot with the size of horse and long they are turned out for.
 
As Spottyappy says.

It could be possible but you will probably have to provide plenty of additional hay/haylage in the winter. We have six horses out on 20 acres and are having to hay them. Our fields drain well and are not that muddy either.
 
Definitely check out what the soil is. We are on clay and I would have a ploughed field if I had that many horses on 4 acres, let alone out 24/7. On the other hand where I lived before the soil was sandy and free draining and it would have probably just about been OK
 
I think it depends on the size of horses.

We have two ponies 14.3 and 14.2 out 24/7 on 2.5 acres of well drained ground and have way too much grass in summer. Winter is acceptable and although some areas get very muddy, other are fine, due to thick grass.

It does take some managing though and others around us don't do so well, as there are larger fields near us with three horses in that look like they have been used for artillery practice!
 
Thank you everyone- as you can tell I am pretty dim about things like this having always been on livery! Is there a way of finding out what the soil is in a particular area, or what should I be looking for when we view to try and determine how well it might last? Horses would all be 15-16hh so I feel that the general consensus is that we might be pushing our luck? It wouldnt of course be essential to have 24/7 turnout, but ideal if possible.
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Er...right I have just found this on wikipedia in reference to the village where the property is located- does it mean anything to anybody and will it be true of all the fields?

(village) located on clay and sand, has a subsoil of red rock, which gives the fertile earth its distinctive red colouring....

Thanks
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It might be patches of each, so could vary by field. You can have it analysed, but if not get a bit of the soil and add a bit of water to make if damp. If it rolls up into a squidgy slimy ball you prob got the clay :-( If it doesnt really want to make a ball at all, just grainy and loose, you might have the sand. Check a sample from the surface and further down (could be sand on top of clay) and also get a cheap ph test from a garden place, sandy soils normally more acidic (lower ph)
 
Hmmm there is no definitive answer to this to be honest, and no one can really say without seeing the land in question. I have seen 5 horses kept sufficiently on 3.5 acres 24/7/365 but I have also seen a 5 acre field unable to cope with 2 horses.

The field that had 5 horses on was split into small paddocks. One paddock (approximately half an acre) was entirely floored with anti-poach mats. There horses were corraled in here during the winter, with a ring feeder of haylage, and a large field shelter (also lots of natural shelter). The remaining 3 acres were left for summer rotation - again these were fenced into small half acre paddocks. The land was soil tested and fertilised accordingly every year, and rigorously poo picked, harrowed etc.

It really depends on soil type, grass root structure, how the field is managed etc - there are so many variables.

I was told the basic "rule" was 1.5 acres for the first horse, and 1 acre for every horse after that.
 
I have 6 acres of clay land: 4 are kept for winter, I only have two little ones and a 14.1hh on it and its trashed!!
They are out at night, in during the day, there's still patches of grass, but the boggy bits are very very boggy!!
 
I have 4 acres split into a 2 acre field and 2 x 1 acre fields. We have 2 horses and an old pony and tbh are struggling even with well draining land. That's with them coming in at night during the winter Oct>Mar plus we hay them every day whilst they're out. In an ideal world 2 horses would be enough but because the oldie is a bit laminitic it just about works. 2 acres per horse is perfect to allow for resting.
 
Nope unless you plan on haying and having lots of mud!!

I think it should be 1 acre per horse on rotation, as a guess.
 
It depends on the soil and the horses.

I have three on 2 acres at the moment and they do well. Two live on fresh air and are on restricted grazing for 8 out of 12 months and the third is prone to lami, so also restricted grazing although not as much as the boys are.

We still have some grass and the field isn't too poached, just around the shelter and gates. They are out 24/7 365.
 
I'd say to keep horses out 24/7 all year you need to double the usual amount needed per horse and would suggest 2 horses on 4 acres. I have 8 acres with two horses, a pony and a small flock of sheep and I'm struggling to keep it green this winter!
 
we have 4.5 acres 2 horses.

this enables us to have winter grazing oct- march during the day (3 acres) that we then take an early cut of hay off. then put our jumps/arena out there. while they graze the other 1.5 acres. There are times we have a bit too much grass but mostly it is about right. We make more hay than we need (about 210 small bales last year, we use 180 so sold the spare) and we are able to ride on it for most of the year, round the edge if necessary when very wet.

we are on the somerset levels but our field is surrounded by houses and I think it has had rubble chucked on it in the past as it is slightly higher than the surrounding ground. I am not sure it would cope with 24/7 in the winter, atm we split the 3 acres in to acreish patches and graze one at a time in winter so it lasts and they are always on long grass as cutting hay early lets it grow up for the rest of the summer.
 
Our soil is clay and sand and supposedly very fertile! We have three small mini shets and one horse on two and a half acres. There is plenty of grass in the summer but in winter the paddock turns into a quagmire. At the moment it is at its worst ever, thick gooey mud decorated with varyiing sizes of hoofprints. Ours have been in at night since October and we've been feeding ad lib hay ever since. I've had to keep them in on particularly bad days. We are trying to buy some more land but it is soooo expensive.
 
I agree with the other posters that it most likely will not be comfortable for 4 horses. Do you know how many horses have been kept there by previous owners? Are there any neighbours who have paddocks with similar soil, where you could take a look at how the paddocks are doing this time of year?

On a side note, if you put 4 horses to live out 24/7 on4 acres that would be below the DEFRA horse welfare code recommendation of 1.25-2.5 acres per horse.

"As a general rule, each horse requires approximately 0.5 – 1.0 hectares (or 1.25 to 2.5 acres) of grazing of a suitable quality if no supplementary feeding is being provided. Each donkey requires a minimum of 0.2 – 0.4 hectares (a half to one acre). A smaller area may be adequate where a horse is principally housed and grazing areas are used only for occasional turnout."
http://www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-pets/pets/cruelty/documents/cop-horse.pdf
 
again, I think depends on what the soil is like. Mine is fairly clay like and I keep 2 on 4 acres 24/7. We suffered this year with no rain during autumn (so grass was non existent going into winter) and then all the snow / rain during the winter so the field is a real mess and I have had to give them adlib hay from October.

But we have been away for 3 days and I definitely noticed that the grass was starting to come through so I suspect in a few weeks I will be cutting the field in half with leccy fencing to try and rest it a bit and restrict them from pigging out too much.

so... too little grazing in winter, too much in spring!

I think its do-able but you would probably struggle to do 4 horses on 4 acres without lots of extra hay, and you would have to manage carefully - ideally rotate and rest, harrow, roll, and weedkill, possibly reseed. Lets put it this way - you wont have well manicured fields looking all lush and green, probably just a mud bath in winter and a dust bowl in winter!
 
I have 5 on 4 and a half acres of sandy land. Three ponies, two of which are laminitic and have about half an acre between them plus hay so I can regulate what they have in the summer and the run of 4 acres in winter but are out 24/7 all year, a 17hh and a 15.3 cob who are in at night in winter but out 24/7 from about May to September. The 4 acre paddock will be split into 3 next weekend and the two big horses will be rotated round the 3 fields a month at a time from now to September. I usually put tillage on at Easter and end up with too much grass but I have it topped a couple of times in the summer. Because the ponies are laminitic it restricts the wear on the land.
 
Thank you all so much for sharing your experiences, it has been really helpful
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Incidentally, when I said to live out 24/7 I didnt mean that I expected there to be enough grass to provide for them all that time, I would plan on supplying ad lib haylage in the field from oct to march as we do at the yard now so I guess what I meant was is it possible to manage on 4 acres without churning up the ground to an irrecoverable state, not to provide enough grass all the time. Sorry if I didnt make it clear but if anybody thinks that given this, it seems more do-able then please let me know!

Thanks
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