Field management

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Sandstone1

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Thinking ahead to the spring whats best to help bring back a pony paddock thats been used all winter to good condition.

Have a couple of fattie ponies so not sure if should use a fertilizer or not.
Dont want to make the grass too good but it will need some help to get back in to good condition.
Any tips please.
 
I definitely wouldn't put fertiliser on it, there are some that are allegedly safe for horses but wouldn't risk it and the same goes for farmyard muck since it's very rich in nitrogen.

Instead just get it harrowed and rolled and rest it say from the beginning of April. It will recover, if you find you start getting loads of weeds you can get it sprayed with something like Pasturol Plus which will give the grass more 'room' to grow You can also over sow with a grass seed mixture intended for horses/laminitcs but |I have never had to go that far as yet
 
Great tip given to me by a canny farmer neighbour. If you feed hay in the field in the winter make sure you put it in a different place every time. The seeds will fall into the soil and hey presto come spring, harrow, roll and rest and up comes your new grass from free seed!!
 
The best fertiliser for horse fields is sheep since they do little poops everywhere which fertilise but not too richly and they break the horse worm cycle too. Their little trotters also even out the muddy patches - perfect!

But for a lami prone horse I think even their efforts are too much and chemical fertiliser def a big no-no.

Harrow and roll, maybe seed the barest patches with a low energy horse grass seed mix first if you want. (one with lots of timothy, some fescue (for hardwearingness) and some white clover; basically not all italian rye which is rocket fuel and yield falls away after a couple of years)
 
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