Advice about keeping a horse next to a forest

RumbleTheTumble

RumbleTheTumble

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We are moving counties and we are looking at a house where the land borders a forest. I have some concerns about this with regards to mosquitoes, bugs and midges in general, hay fever allergies, excessive leaves etc. There are no problem trees that hang over or close by. Indeed, none actually hang over so I'm not worried about acorns, beech nuts etc. I'm just wondering if anyone here has experience of horses living next to a forest.
In East Anglia. Thank you.
 
Last edited:
ester said:
It recently came up on another thread - no grass because the deer eat it all..
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I'll look up that thread... thank you. I did search for similar before I posted. Do you remember what the title was and I might be able to find it🤞
I don't mind the deer eating all the grass. Was there anything about sharing grazing with deer?
 
I'm in East anglia, we're not near a forrest but my yard does have heards of deer that move through and graze with the horses, the horses don't seem to be bothered at all.
It can mean there's more change of them picking up ticks, but as far as I'm aware lymes disease hasn't made it to East Anglia and we haven't had any issues.
 
We weren't in East Anglia but we used to livery near woodland. Some fields were between the river and the woodland. Some horses/ponies were bothered by sweetitch but I can't think of any other problems. There were no deer.
 
Alibear said:
I'm in East anglia, we're not near a forrest but my yard does have heards of deer that move through and graze with the horses, the horses don't seem to be bothered at all.
It can mean there's more change of them picking up ticks, but as far as I'm aware lymes disease hasn't made it to East Anglia and we haven't had any issues.
Click to expand...
Thank you... that's interesting. We'll be somewhere in EA anyway. So maybe not next to a forest. Interesting to hear what it's like there as it'll all be new to us!
 
All forests differ, depending on tree types and climate/topography.

I’m west Ireland, i have my own mixed deciduous small forestry belt and old growth forest areas, but i’m mainly then surrounded by thousands of acres of sitka spruce government ‘forestry’ - it’s monoculture and an imbalanced eco-system within those forests, but there’s advantages and disadvantages to all forest environments.
Like you mention, bugs love forests because they help protect eggs over winter. These spruce forests near me bring the midges, as there’s a thick moss carpet everywhere, in which midges breed and are sheltered from frost, so survive winter.
It’s also high rainfall here and mainly mild all year round - no extreme hot/cold temps that enable midges to survive and colonise.

If there’s open drains between the land and forestry, that excess moist, dark place of a drain enable midge survival.
We did drainage work everywhere and when we closed-in the drains with pipe and stone closer to the buildings/yard, the midge numbers declined dramatically. They love open drains, as do mosquitoes.

Before these forests were planted these areas didn’t have severe midge issues, there’s still folk alive here that can testify to the fact, as many forest here were planted en masse in the 1980’s.
(we’re talking high levels of the biting buggers at key times of year that really hinder outdoor work - i own a midge suit! ).
I’ve constructed a ‘dry breezy’ yard so that us and the horses don’t suffer so much anymore. The horses bring themselves to the yard to get away from the midges at bad peak times in the lower moist fields.
Midges hate dry ground areas, they dehydrate and die…breezy areas blow them away.

Mixed deciduous forests have toxin issues from like you mention: seed drift from sycamore/acorns.
Despite your tree belt being safe trees, have a look further into the forest to check for sycamore and oak - as seeds do travel with stronger winter winds. Take into account the prevailing wind direction also to see if wind-drift will go away from your land or onto it.
Invest in a leaf blower just in case you have any grazing stock that like to graze potentially toxic leaves. We have oak but my horses leave the leaf fall alone. They eat ash /birch leaf fall. They love willow.

I love forests despite the disadvantages because they bring leaf litter that helps fertilise the fields from safe non toxic trees. Trees mine deep into the ground for minerals not in the top-soil, so having leaf litter on fields is free fertiliser!
The shelter from a tree belt cannot be under-estimated. Our buildings are saved by it. We get severe storms and are on a hill of a valley facing prevailing winds. The trees dissipate the serious gusts.
Wild-life galore exists in deciduous mixed forests. The birdsong right now is amazing…sometimes hard to sleep when they start at 4.30am! Ear-buds are my friends.
The shade and shelter for the animals in the fields is a godsend too.
The wild edible mushrooms from forests is a personal delight of mine too, i’ve been a ‘shroomer’ for many years. (Warning, not all wild mushrooms are edible, get them ID’d by a myco-nerd like myself, but you probably already know this - forests are great for learning about wild mushrooms)

Some ferns from forests are toxic to horses, and other forest plants, but horses tend to not eat them, but worth IDing the plants yourself so you get to know safe/toxic.

My horses love the small copse areas to hang out during hotter days and scratching on trees. They seem to love hanging out by trees especially.

Trees are useful for shade if there’s horseflies about. Horse flies tend to love bright sunshine, and don’t usually venture into dark shade of forests. The midges love forests, so there can be key times of year, where there’s midges in the shade, and horse flies in the sun, when my horses bring themselves into their shaded dry barn instead to escape all the bugs. It’s not everyday of the finer months, but can happen occassionally.

Overall, i love the mixture of forestry and open land. The plants and wild-life mix is a gorgeous medley of life, which generally brings more benefits than woes.

If this place you’re looking at has capacity for breezes to pass through, that helps.
If it’s land that’s at the bottom of a hill/valley and covered-in with trees all around, i’d caution that it could be quite hellish on damp cloudy days with bugs.
The lay-out of land/buildings really matter when it comes to being able to live with biting insects, or whether you’ll suffer constantly during their seasons.
Create dry ground, breezy corridors to have areas that are naturally more bug repellant.
 
PurBee said:
All forests differ, depending on tree types and climate/topography.

I’m west Ireland, i have my own mixed deciduous small forestry belt and old growth forest areas, but i’m mainly then surrounded by thousands of acres of sitka spruce government ‘forestry’ - it’s monoculture and an imbalanced eco-system within those forests, but there’s advantages and disadvantages to all forest environments.
Like you mention, bugs love forests because they help protect eggs over winter. These spruce forests near me bring the midges, as there’s a thick moss carpet everywhere, in which midges breed and are sheltered from frost, so survive winter.
It’s also high rainfall here and mainly mild all year round - no extreme hot/cold temps that enable midges to survive and colonise.

If there’s open drains between the land and forestry, that excess moist, dark place of a drain enable midge survival.
We did drainage work everywhere and when we closed-in the drains with pipe and stone closer to the buildings/yard, the midge numbers declined dramatically. They love open drains, as do mosquitoes.

Before these forests were planted these areas didn’t have severe midge issues, there’s still folk alive here that can testify to the fact, as many forest here were planted en masse in the 1980’s.
(we’re talking high levels of the biting buggers at key times of year that really hinder outdoor work - i own a midge suit! ).
I’ve constructed a ‘dry breezy’ yard so that us and the horses don’t suffer so much anymore. The horses bring themselves to the yard to get away from the midges at bad peak times in the lower moist fields.
Midges hate dry ground areas, they dehydrate and die…breezy areas blow them away.

Mixed deciduous forests have toxin issues from like you mention: seed drift from sycamore/acorns.
Despite your tree belt being safe trees, have a look further into the forest to check for sycamore and oak - as seeds do travel with stronger winter winds. Take into account the prevailing wind direction also to see if wind-drift will go away from your land or onto it.
Invest in a leaf blower just in case you have any grazing stock that like to graze potentially toxic leaves. We have oak but my horses leave the leaf fall alone. They eat ash /birch leaf fall. They love willow.

I love forests despite the disadvantages because they bring leaf litter that helps fertilise the fields from safe non toxic trees. Trees mine deep into the ground for minerals not in the top-soil, so having leaf litter on fields is free fertiliser!
The shelter from a tree belt cannot be under-estimated. Our buildings are saved by it. We get severe storms and are on a hill of a valley facing prevailing winds. The trees dissipate the serious gusts.
Wild-life galore exists in deciduous mixed forests. The birdsong right now is amazing…sometimes hard to sleep when they start at 4.30am! Ear-buds are my friends.
The shade and shelter for the animals in the fields is a godsend too.
The wild edible mushrooms from forests is a personal delight of mine too, i’ve been a ‘shroomer’ for many years. (Warning, not all wild mushrooms are edible, get them ID’d by a myco-nerd like myself, but you probably already know this - forests are great for learning about wild mushrooms)

Some ferns from forests are toxic to horses, and other forest plants, but horses tend to not eat them, but worth IDing the plants yourself so you get to know safe/toxic.

My horses love the small copse areas to hang out during hotter days and scratching on trees. They seem to love hanging out by trees especially.

Trees are useful for shade if there’s horseflies about. Horse flies tend to love bright sunshine, and don’t usually venture into dark shade of forests. The midges love forests, so there can be key times of year, where there’s midges in the shade, and horse flies in the sun, when my horses bring themselves into their shaded dry barn instead to escape all the bugs. It’s not everyday of the finer months, but can happen occassionally.

Overall, i love the mixture of forestry and open land. The plants and wild-life mix is a gorgeous medley of life, which generally brings more benefits than woes.

If this place you’re looking at has capacity for breezes to pass through, that helps.
If it’s land that’s at the bottom of a hill/valley and covered-in with trees all around, i’d caution that it could be quite hellish on damp cloudy days with bugs.
The lay-out of land/buildings really matter when it comes to being able to live with biting insects, or whether you’ll suffer constantly during their seasons.
Create dry ground, breezy corridors to have areas that are naturally more bug repellant.
Click to expand...
 
Thank you so much for your thorough and helpful and extremely informative reply. We are currently in a very breezy open field and one of mine had 'almost' sweetitch when we got her and that's fine now, so i do worry about that being an issue when we change environments.
Again... thank you for your time and care in responding
 
Ah yes deer!
How could i forget …im so used to the problem it’s become my ‘normal’! 😂🤦‍♀️
They eat my grazing and i can’t grow thick ley of hay. Thats a biggie when it comes to feeding horses and costs me thousands in forage costs!

East Anglia i grew up there….oh that is much drier on the whole.
Ask about local deer grazing. Ticks are a b*tch to deal with.

The locals said here on the grapevine there’s no Lyme disease in Ireland, but galway university tested the counties and found loads of Lyme in the western counties mostly, but still some further east, so it’s here. Also the fact that many have/had lyme disease here.
 
To find out about the deer on the land, ask the local farmers if they have deer eating their grazing/crops. They’ll tell you the truth.

I’d rather have no deer at all, to be honest - so many reasons…but even one small group of 5 living nearby will steal your grazing. Like having a herd of mini’s constantly eating the grass.
 
Alibear said:
I'm in East anglia, we're not near a forrest but my yard does have heards of deer that move through and graze with the horses, the horses don't seem to be bothered at all.
It can mean there's more change of them picking up ticks, but as far as I'm aware lymes disease hasn't made it to East Anglia and we haven't had any issues.
Click to expand...
Lyme disease is definitely in East Anglia. My neighbour picked it up in her garden (south Norfolk) and the Thetford area is lousy with it (to mix my invertebrates) as well as tick-borne encephalitis.
 
We live on the south side of 300acres of deciduous/oak woodland in North Wiltshire. Our 3 acre strip (500m x 30max) is right alongside the wood. Big advantage is the shelter from cold North/East winds in winter, we hardly feel them. The prevailing SWesterlies in summer blow any falling trees away from us, important as some overhang our buildings. Also any sycamore seedlings blow away from us into the wood, although there aren't many sycamores nearby anyway. I wouldn't want to live on the Northern side. We do get the odd deer but not an issue. Lots of midges at times but the horses have shelter - my sweet itch horse copes very well. Tree pollens can cause coughing - same horse always develops a bit of a cough when the tree pollens are high. Random thoughts...:-)
 
PurBee said:
To find out about the deer on the land, ask the local farmers if they have deer eating their grazing/crops. They’ll tell you the truth.

I’d rather have no deer at all, to be honest - so many reasons…but even one small group of 5 living nearby will steal your grazing. Like having a herd of mini’s constantly eating the grass.
Click to expand...
Sometimes I wonder why we try to have horses at all 🤣 I'd try it if I knew anything about life other than looking after horses! It's too late to learn alternatives now! Good advice about asking the farmers. I'm not sure people trying to sell houses would want to share too many negatives. I used to share with sheep and the ticks were worse then of course. Although I thought the worse thing was sheep poo all stuck in their manes!
Again... many thanks for your advice. It's interesting to hear about life in Ireland
 
Landcruiser said:
We live on the south side of 300acres of deciduous/oak woodland in North Wiltshire. Our 3 acre strip (500m x 30max) is right alongside the wood. Big advantage is the shelter from cold North/East winds in winter, we hardly feel them. The prevailing SWesterlies in summer blow any falling trees away from us, important as some overhang our buildings. Also any sycamore seedlings blow away from us into the wood, although there aren't many sycamores nearby anyway. I wouldn't want to live on the Northern side. We do get the odd deer but not an issue. Lots of midges at times but the horses have shelter - my sweet itch horse copes very well. Tree pollens can cause coughing - same horse always develops a bit of a cough when the tree pollens are high. Random thoughts...:)
Click to expand...
Thank you. Very interesting and helpful. Those were the things I was wondering about.... the tree pollen may well affect one of mine. As you say, there's good things too such as the protection and, in this instance, I would have lots of wonderful riding near to the house. I may just be swapping some good and bad here for some different good and bad somewhere else. Hopefully it'll all even or in the end!
 
Burnttoast said:
Lyme disease is definitely in East Anglia. My neighbour picked it up in her garden (south Norfolk) and the Thetford area is lousy with it (to mix my invertebrates) as well as tick-borne encephalitis.
Click to expand...
Crikey! I'll look that up. I'm not too well informed on all of that... especially mixed invertebrates 😆
Thank you
 
RumbleTheTumble said:
Sometimes I wonder why we try to have horses at all 🤣 I'd try it if I knew anything about life other than looking after horses! It's too late to learn alternatives now! Good advice about asking the farmers. I'm not sure people trying to sell houses would want to share too many negatives. I used to share with sheep and the ticks were worse then of course. Although I thought the worse thing was sheep poo all stuck in their manes!
Again... many thanks for your advice. It's interesting to hear about life in Ireland
Click to expand...
Yes, there’s pro’s and cons about every location really…that’s just life. With horses in mind we prefer healthy land, minimal bugs!

Absolutely check out via neighbouring others the reality of the land you’re buying, the sellers won’t declare the negatives.

Also, this is the time of year to check out the weeds growing on the land….they’ll be smaller now and not so easy to spot than their mature versions…but PITA weeds like ragwort and horsetail will be showing now. Have a slow thorough walk around through the fields eyes down spotting weeds. Some weeds like docks dotted about im not fussed by but loaded with buttercup/horsetail/ragwort - the whole land would need a regeneration/re-seed job.

Avoid paddocks with loads of clover too, but it’s not a deal breaker as that can be re-seeded.

Any land can be over-hauled with weed killing chemicals and preferred seed mixes - but buying land that has a relatively healthy mix already to use straight away is a blessing, and possible - so points worth considering about the land, aside from the trees.
 
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