Advice needed re paddock urgent please!

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gailt

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I am lookinf for a house with land to rent, i have found a house thats suitable but it comes with 2 seperate paddocks, one paddockis approx 3/4 acre the other is 2 acres, the owner is planning to fence the smaller one of the two to start.

sooo, question, would this small paddock be big enough for 2 horses of 14.2hh cob types, for a period of time? there is no stable yet so i will put up some sort of field shelter.. secondly, these paddocks are unbeleiveably long grass type stuff, its hard to walk its so long, at least upto your knee!..ungrazed for a long time!

i have never had to look after my own paddocks before so no nasties please..im in a horrible situation of bankruptsy so i have little choice...and need to move quick should i get the field cut down, would i need to clear the topped off stuff? and should i put hay in the field incase its rubbish grazing...can anyone help?
 
You should walk round the land and be very observant of which plants are growing in there. Particularly look for poisonous ones. Then it would be in your interests to have the field topped.

Yes that amount of land is fine to keep your horses in, however you will probably have to supplement their diet with hay. It sounds absolutely fine to me, so go for it!
 
You really need to walk at least the first paddock you are planning to use to make sure there are no 'nasties' in it, like harmful plants , wire, glass, etc.

Long grass is not ideal, but they will cope
 
thanks guys! i will be able to have the lot but the larger paddock is rented out for a further 3 months, although its unsed, its tied into a contract...but its mine when the contract is over...will definately walk the paddock although its hard to walk as its soo deep...lol..mind you it might slow my youngster dwn..lol..the youngster will be walked out everyday and the other ridden daily so they will get excercised too....feel lots better now, its been soo hard to find anwhere i could take my horses and i cant afford to put them into livery at the mo..will update you tho...thanks again
 
Oh, well go for it then.

Sounds as if you will definately have to get the paddock topped though. It will become an absolute mess if you don't - probably be very unpalatable for the horses and will not enable you to see what nasties are lurking.
 
More time to think! If you get the field topped, you would need to have that cleared - I wouldn't bother. The small paddock will work for a couple of months if you feed hay as well, but it will get very poached, so you will need to rest it for the summer and use the other one. Does that help?
Most importantly, on a small area such as this, be scrupulous about poo picking, which is a real pain in long grass
 
thanks watcher, some good advice!.. be ok for the summer once i get the other paddock. i should have fun searching in it, its so long its folded over!..lol...upside is there is great hacking!..lol..and its included in the price of the house!
 
I wouldn't want that small a field for a long term solution, but for temporary it might be ok. I imagine it would get really churned up over winter though.
 
Beggars can't be choosers I'm afraid. And the horses will not suffer from this situation.

There are many rules by which we all stand - mine is not and never has been the 1 acre per horse, mine is 3 acres for the first horse and then 1 acre thereafter.......however this is the amount needed to sustain a horse and not the amount needed for the horse to exercise properly. So long as she gives plenty of hay, the horses will be absolutely fine. Plenty people keep their horses on far less land....and quite successfully I may add.
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mine is 3 acres for the first horse and then 1 acre thereafter

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Think I got it wrong - yours sounds right - Duh
 
For a temporary solution I would think it would be fine. From reading your other posts about your current yard, Dancer will probably be much happier! If the grass is that long, they may well not want to eat it so you will need to put hay out for them. You will need to check thoroughly for any hidden nasties (bricks/rubbish/wire/old fencing - that sort of thing). Also make sure your fencing is good and not barbed wire - if it is electric tape & an energiser isn't too expensive and a godsend. Hope it works out for you - good luck.
 
I think your horses will be fine. In Spain, horses are are kept in much much smaller paddocks - so no 1 or 3 acres rules at all.

My paddocks (if you can call them that!) are about 15metres by 20m!!
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If its all you have then go for it - and feed hay if the grass runs out/isn't good enough. Domesticated horses will not have a problem with it!
 
I keep my two cobs (prone to laminitis) in a paddock which is about a quarter of an acre and there is hardly any mud. Drainage very much depends on soil type and drainage.

I would suggest that you find a contractor that has a 'Cut and Collect machine' as this will cut the long grass and collect it for removal off site. On the other hand you could let your horses eat it down by just letting them strip graze it using electric fencing. Anything they don't eat can be strimmed and removed off site.

Make sure that the paddock has a water trough (plastic are best as if they kick it they will not injure themselves) and that the fencing is safe. (preffered being post and rail with Equi-fencing attached to it).

Have a regime of picking up the poos each day to stop the pasture going sour or worm infested. Make sure that you still worm at least every 6-8 weeks.

Check for ragwort and kill with a spot application of Barrier H and once dead did it out. (Electric fence horses from it).

I would also be tempted to roll and harrow the field in spring.
 
It sounds fine to me . I kept my horse in the same situation for 9 years and it was fine. Good field management and poo picking is required. IMO i would turn them out as is and they willsort through what they want to eat. there is nothing in the grass at the moment so they will be busy. topping will leave massive tyre marks. tney are cobs so will manage on fresh air and a good view. dont see the prob with knee deep grass at this time of year. mine have just gone on 2 acres of it today
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Same here as post above. After checking for nasties in the grass, I'd chuck them out as is on the small paddock as long grass helps the ground in not getting so poached. Yes, poo picking is a nightmare, but if your'e skint I guess you can't afford to pay someone to clear it for you?

It's too wet to top now unless you doing it with a humongous tractor which will chew it up good and proper
 
thanks for the reply guys, i feel a bit better throwing them out in the paddock for now, hopefully by the time i get the other larger paddock, it will be dry enough to be topped off...I.E spring...i am worried about them living out when they have been coming in at night, am putting a thread up about DIY shelters so any tips or plans to DIY would really help..there is a big barn but not really suitable for sleeping in, i suppose if the weather got really nasty i could put them in there for some shelter, but it would be an emergency situation thing...
 
I have 1.75 acres and keep a 15.2, a 13hh, a 11.2hh and a donkey! Seriously overhorsed if you go on the 2 acres per horse rule. The land is split into 3, which includes one tiny starvation paddock for lami pony in the summer. It is hard work but you can manage on this amount. I rotate between paddocks so they never get too bare and badly poached, the 2 bigger ones are in at night in the winter and I feed hay fairly ad lib in the field. I also poo pick every other day at least, have field harrowed regularly and fertilised regularly.
We very rarely ride in the field tho, as this soon wrecks the grass. They are also fed in the field shelter which saves the field being churned up at one spot. As long as you look after the land you should be fine in my opinion.
 
Just read your post about field shelter. We have a very basic 3 sided shelter, with plastic clad steel sheets on the roof. It depends on how well your horses get on as to how big the shelter would need to be. I can sympathise with you about putting them out when they have been in. My donkey is seriously lame with a suspected foot abscess (long story which I won't go into here). He has had to come into the stable on box rest so my 13hh pony has had to stay out at night. I feel so guilty when she stands at the gate waiting to come in! She is not clipped, has a rug on and access to the shelter so is no doubt fine but really does like her warm bed.
Unfortunately donk looks like its going to be a long job so am hoping to try and bodge something else for him this weekend!
 
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