Can horses urine burn the grass?

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jennie1000

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I've noticed that my mares urine is turning the grass brown and where she goes frequently its died away into a bald patch. None of the other horses on the yard seem to do it. Its definatly the urine as I poo pick daily and I've seen the spots where she goes.

Should I be worried? Also does anyone know what causes it?

She is out 24/7 at the moment. When she's in being ridden she gets soaked hay. 1/2 a net daily tops. Her feed consists of 1 large scoop happy hoof, 2 scoops naf general purpose supplement, 2 scoops oestress supplement, 30ml linseed oil and 30g clivers and marigold dried herbs.
 
My old girl is the same:) She pee's in one of 3 spots all the time and they are completely dead!
I have tried re-seeding but the amonia in the soil stopped the seed germinating :(
My little one either goes in a different place each time, or uses Mels spots, as Seren's wee doesnt do it :)
 
Yes I have dead patches all over my field! No matter what I do they won't grow which isn't much help on a postage stamp of a field.

I did wonder whether those dog rocks would help?
 
I guess we would have to buy an awful lot of dog rocks to go in a water trough If you scale up the water bowl size! Lol
 
Somebody said it was related to protein levels but she doesn't get vast amounts of feed. I guess the grass is growing though so will be higher protein. I've noticed more clover on her field this year also. Maybe that had had an effect.
 
Not only can, but does! My ponies are on a grass and hay diet and it is normal. That's why ragwort is such a menace because it likes those bare patches and the seeds germinate on them. Nothing much you can do, I fear, just keep on top of the ragwort and the grass will eventually come back.
 
My mare certainly doesn't get much protein, she's out 24/7 on bare grazing and has oat straw with a vit and min supplement for hard feed?
 
Hhhmmm..... Thanks for all the replys. If there are others experiencing the same problem it makes me feel a little more relieved.... Will stop stressing quite so much now!
 
Our mare used to pee, then the gelding would pee on top, I posted on another forum about this and the replies were, you need to lime the patch to neutralise the urine, then add a little top soil and grass seed.
Our current mare doesn't burn the grass even though the same gelding still pees on top.
Strange
 
Same mare is going to still be in the field though so probably not worth liming and trying to fix the bald patch for her to kill it again. She seems to be using the same three spots so guess I will just put up with it. As long as its not an indication of her being unwell then I can live with bald bits in the field! :-)
 
If anything, my land had too much lime two years ago. The urine still kills the grass! But it will grow back so I am not bothered.
 
Claude used to do it, but the woman I share my field with was looking it up and there was something online about horses on supplements are prone to doing it (not entirely sure what exactly it said, I forgot to ask her) so I took Claude off the supplements he was on and he doesn't do it anymore. All a bit weird.
 
Would be interested in the info about supplements. Would not take her off oestress as she's a moody mare. But naf general purpose..... Maybe she is overdosing on vits and minerals?
 
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