Grass management.

c2b

c2b

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I own a Dales pony with a tendency to being overweight. For the last 5 years I have been on a yard where she shared a very large field with up to 11 others of mixed needs where grazing was concerned. No control over field management at all. She has worn a muzzle every year with no problems and seems to have no objections to wearing it.
Last week I moved her. We now have 3.5 acres to do with as we wish. Obviously giving her the whole field to do with as she wants is not going to be an option as she would just eat herself to death.
She is currently on her own with a horse in the next field that she can reach over the boundary gates. Doesn't seem stessed about being on her own but keeping my eye on her so that may well have to change. There are options for having company but at present would rather not share...unless she isn't happy then I would have to make alternative arrangements.
She will be living out 24/7 all year round. Have use of a stable for emergency medical reasons only.

So do I muzzle and let her have free range of the whole field?

Strip Graze......never done this before so pros and cons would be good for those that have experience of this.

Section off into smaller paddocks and rotate....again pros and cons please.

Any other ideas?

Just trying to arm myself with as much info as I can.
 
I think I would probably strip graze the length of the field. Putting electric fencing up and moving it across a couple of feet every few days so pony has to move up and down the field to graze rather than just moving around in a small paddock IYSWIM


No personal experience of this though as my 2 are in a mixed herd
 
This may be of interest.

http://www.all-natural-horse-care.com/paddock-paradise.html

It was originally primarily aimed at the barefoot enthusiasts, but, regardless of how you keep your horse, I think it makes a great deal of sense with regards to keeping horses moving and restricting food intake.

Strip grazing, I have found in the past, is a royal PITA, works best with two sets of fencing, one infront for fresh grass (so horse pigs out once/twice daily - isn't that what is trying to be avoided? ) and one behind to begin the re-growth/maintenance procedure.

If I have horses that have to be on a restricted diet I keep them in a bare paddocks with forage provided, including tree branches/logs for them to chomp on.
 
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I have done lots and lots of reading on grass management and my views are...

Paddock track system is by far the best way of exercising whilst trickle feeding in a controlled way. The track can be as narrow or as wide as you make it and you can feed at different intervals to encourage more movement, this can be done around the outside track or you can also run fencing into a continous double U shape with an underground electric cable to connect the fencing up. This also save a central area to grow as foddage or cut back for winter use (or a riding area in the summer).

Muzzle - will reduce the intake of grass by 75% which is perfect in livery yard situations where you have no control over the fields, it can also be used when going onto new grazing or starting off a track system... downside to wearing a muzzle is still the lack of exercise and I would say you need to do a minimum of two 15 min schooling sessions a day to compensate.

Strip grazing - single strip opens out more of the field as the year progresses... not good when the grass is growing quickly but OK when the growth has slowed. A movng strip is better at controlling grass intake but the strip needs to be moved by fractionally amounts twice daily to stop gorging, this also encourages movement along the whole length of the strip (very time consuming moving the fencing).

It is so much harder owning a good doer... if I had my own land I would probably turn it into a grass free area with lots of (soaked) hay stations lol!
 
Horses don't graze, they browse which is quite different. We keep two horses in similar circumstances to how you describe and we have a track round the outside of the field. This equates to a more natural walk and eat way of going for the horse. We have the option of cutting and baling the rest of the field inside the track, and/or putting sheep in later.

It does work very well, especially if you let the hedges grow up and provide shelter. I've noticed a few comments creeping in on the forum where people have started knocking the system, but few have tried it and have no real idea of how good it is.
 
AndySpooner said:
It does work very well, especially if you let the hedges grow up and provide shelter. I've noticed a few comments creeping in on the forum where people have started knocking the system, but few have tried it and have no real idea of how good it is.
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You won't get criticism about it from me, I think it is an excellent idea.

I don't care why people use it, each to their own, other than the obvious benefits to the horse, it is a far better way to utilise land economically, as you mention, track to the outside, hay crop to the inside:D
 
I've tried most varieties, including the Paradise Pasture track (only this was before it was "invented" and we just called it 'tracking'. We gave that up because part of our land is water meadow and it just turned into a trampled bog and took years to recover, even with re-seeding.

We've gone back to sectioning our pasture into 1 acre paddocks. The land is on two levels so the horses get plenty of walking up (and down) steep slopes. With 3-4 horses in the summer we graze each square for 7-8 days and then move them to the next paddock. That way you get a reasonable length of grass and you're not knackering the eco-structure. As a YO rather than a livery I hate to see what was good pasture grazed to its roots - nor I believe is it very good for laminitics, as stressed grass is meant to produce more sugar.

I agree with Enfys about strip grazing, but only if you do it with 2 lines of electric fencing, 'behind and before', otherwise they are just trampling and grazing the original bit for ever.
 
Strip grazing's a great way of doing it. Only con is, well certainly for our horses, they get used to getting more grass so when they don't find other ways, such as jumping out,or going through the fence (even with electric and four layer of fence!!) Then it'd have to be a muzzle aswell.
 
We use a Paddock Paradise type track for all our good doers and it works really well. They don't need to wear muzzles and are often to be seen bombing around having a good old yeeha as they are so much fitter from the extra movement. We have to take the tracks down in the depths of winter as it gets too churned but other than that they are on them all the time. The key is ensuring that they get enough fibre without too many calories which is always a balancing act as all of us with good doers know only too well!
 
Another track user here! I did dismantle it all for the winter, otherwise it just ploughs up too much, but it is a great way of keeping them fitter and allowing more movement with restricted grass.
 
I'm going to have a similar problem this year having moved yards last year. I've been looking into the Paddock Paradise track system but the cost of the fencing/posts and the fact that recent research has proved that horses don't move more in a track system than they do in a "normal" field are both meaning that I'm probably going to split my field into 2 or 3 and rotate the grazing. My field is hilly though so they'll always have to go up and down.
 
zandp said:
I've been looking into the Paddock Paradise track system but the cost of the fencing/posts and the fact that recent research has proved that horses don't move more in a track system than they do in a "normal" field.
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Fencing is expensive isn't it?

I was fortunate in that we made an unintentional track system when we fenced the centre part of our exercise track and put paddocks around the outside of it.

I have to disagree about the not moving around bit, MAKE the buggers move!
Water at one end and shelter, small piles of hay, salt licks, grain/treats/bribes etc, etc further away, they'll move if they want it. I'd love to have hills, slopes even! Our land is flatter than a flat thing, nuisance.

I keep water at the opposite end of the track from the hay, although the horses seem to have foiled me currently (who can blame them, it's hard work walking half a mile in knee deep snow) and have made holes in the ice on the pond and so actually hang around in about an acre of woodland. I'm not fussed at this time of year, saves me running the water heater to their trough as well, there's no grass and none are fatties or laminitics, they can do what they like.
 
zandp said:
the fact that recent research has proved that horses don't move more in a track system than they do in a "normal" field are both meaning that I'm probably going to split my field into 2 or 3 and rotate the grazing.
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My best researchers are my horses and believe me, I KNOW that they move around an awful lot more with the track set up than without it. Because I see it with my own eyes on a daily basis. I'm so pleased we did this but I appreciate it won't be practical for everyone depending on your yard set up etc.
 
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