Half/three quarters of an acre enough to keep horse/s?

[Wagtail]

I'm going to go against the grain here and say, yes it could work, but not by stabling the horses most of the time. You want a manege to school in, but you have to be prepared either to use it as turnout too, or to build another, separate all weather turnout area. So long as the horses get adequate turnout time, plenty of forage and other exercise such as riding, then with careful management, two horses could be kept on 3/4 acre of land without seriously compromising welfare. No reason at all why they can't enjoy 24/7 turnout in the summer so long as supplementary forage is provided. Much better in my opinion than the thousands of poor horses kept alone because their owners think they don't have enough land for company. It is not an ideal size, obviously, but if you don't stable for long periods (by providing alternative all weather turnout) then I think it could work.

 

[chillipup]

No, not me, I wouldn't even consider keeping two horses in such a small area. Even my two donkeys had just over an acre of grazing, in addition they had access to stables 24/7 (with hard standing in front) Admittedly the grazing had to be restricted and often strip grazed and mowed, (but that's donks for you) but even at these times, they had enough room to romp around and play.

 

[vidis]

TBH I doubt I will do it. I want them to have the best life they can, not just survive. But If I can rent larger land nearby and build my own two little stables and a store room and an all weather ring, we could be talking.

 

[paddi22]

playing devils advocate though - there's plenty of good do-er cobs in yards all over the country kept in smaller restricted turnout paddocks to keep them healthy. I have a 2 absolute tubbers and there's no way I can keep them in the bigger field during the summer - they will definitely come up to the small paddock to keep them a healthy weight.

 

[MotherOfChickens]

TBH I doubt I will do it. I want them to have the best life they can, not just survive. But If I can rent larger land nearby and build my own two little stables and a store room and an all weather ring, we could be talking.

thats what I did-although it took me longer to find extra grazing than I would have liked (big cattle area). I am now sorted and it works for me although its not as convenient as livery. We also didn't buy an equestrian property, we bought an old mechanics workshop/place and so had a ready built hay/feed/tack barn, massive hardstanding area and workshop that we converted to internal stabling

 

[Enfys]

Well, I am going against the grain here.

Yes it is.

If:

It is well drained and doesn't turn into a swamp for 9 months of the year.
If you think of it as turnout.
If you are prepared to feed forage all year round.

Half to three quarters of an acre doesn't sound much but it is actually quite adequate for them to have a hooley in and more space than a lot of people actually imagine. Not very exciting for them, but then neither are a lot of beautifully manicured and perfectly straight edged paddocks that many are kept in either.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Well, then, I am concerned because the reality here is that in the depths of Winter your horse, even on full livery, WILL be stabled most of the day as they conserve the fields and I DO have a preference for an older, even semi retired, happy hacker. hmm :-/

My old girl is worth her weight in gold, but these days she looks like a cripple when stabled overnight. I made the decision to keep her out 24/7 unless the weather is of biblical proportions and she looks free and supple. This horse hasn't had a hard life either and she's been a very sound horse and pretty much injury and lameness free all her life (bar abscesses).

I have had her out in the outdoor school (with the other horses) and that worked fine, although the poo picking drove me potty as one horse I had then liked to break all the poos up into little teeny bits. Grrrr.

 

[Enfys]

Whoops, sorry Wagtail, I missed your post up there.

 

[Leo Walker]

Mine currently lives in a bare pen thats slightly smaller than a 20 x 40 arena. He spends his days bimbling about between the more grassy bits and the hay feeder. He only cares about eating and isnt interested in the slightest in hooleying about!

 

[Buddy'sMum]

I'm with Enfys and Wagtail, it's do-able. Good drainage or all-weather surface essential though and you'll need to feed hay year round.

 

[freckles22uk]

Im in Spain so no grazing (bar off the neighbours) Ive got mine at home, and Ive got 2800m2 of land (4000 is an acre) ... my 3 live out 24/7, the 2 mares have one area and the stallion the other, luckily its dry 90% of the time so the land never gets boggy, but I do have to feed 3 times a day, and they have their hay in trickle nets, so yes its doable, though I would prefer more land with grazing but I cant have everything..

 

[laura_nash]

I have two at home, a happy hacker cob and my daughters lead rein pony. I am in Ireland so the same weather conditions. Although we have around 6 acres of paddock, we also have a hardstanding area with open barn / shelter. This is probably about 1/4 acre. Between wet weather, flooding, gales, flies and dieting they actually spend a lot of time on the hardstanding (and we end up cutting a lot of the grazing for hay) so I think it is doable if you surface a large enough area, especially if you rent some grazing during the summer to give them a change of scenery.

Around here that would not be a problem if you weren't too fussy about automatic water etc., I know my neighbours often graze their broodies and youngstock for free as horses are seen as a good way to clear small areas of long grass, e.g. around ploughed fields or on bits of land with awkward access. I gather this is because you have to register sheep / cow grazing areas at the start of each year but horses are easier to move around ad-hoc.

Personally I would stay away from stables, especially if you are looking at an older hack. Of my two, the cob cannot be stabled regularly due to ROA and the pony can't due to arthritic hocks. An open-fronted shelter works much better and I can easily stick a gate or rail across the front if I ever absolutely have to stable one.

 

[serenityjane]

We are on clay and have six acres, I was only thinking tonight that actually my mare does not need any more than her 1/4 acre paddock, 20 x 20 winter turnout area with a stable and the 20m round pen for a roll/ wee/ hooley/mooch around in the winter. In the summer she has 24/7 access to the turnout area, stable and paddock, and in the winter is kept just on the turnout area and stable (open access to both, so not stabled) but is turned out into the round pen 3-4 times a day. She has minimal hay in the summer, but haylage in the winter and does very well. She is exercised at least 5-6 times per week all year round. I suppose it depends very much on the type of horse. We have other horses that are kept on the remaining paddocks which are predominantly youngstock or a broodmare with foal-they do need more space and grass obviously. So I agree it is definately possible-but you would need to carefully consider the type of horse/pony.

 

[Orangehorse]

I think ifyou regard it as an outdoor stable and have to feed forage, i.e. hay, all year round. A track system could work well, but it depends on the type of soil. And also how much work they are going to be doing. After all, a stable was originally provided so a horse could be available for work all day every day and put somewhere to rest overnight.

In some countries, horses exist on small areas and given hay and have very little access to grass. I was surprised to see this in the USA, always thinking that they had acres of wide open spaces, but in fact many live in a dry corrall - but of course the climate is different.

 

[Lintel]

It's not ideal, but good land management it is probably doable.
We are currently looking into buying a house with 3/4 an acre with it will be for a Highland fatty and a small pony, it also has land beside for rent. They will be getting kept out 24/7 mostly during summer, there will be a small turnout area for the winter and they will primarily be kept stabled then. Luckily the land next door is available if things get a bit sparse but I'm lucky enough in a way that I have a boy who gets fat just looking at the grass so acres and acres is not what I want.

Ideally I'd love 2 acres but unfortunately nothing seems to have come up that is "perfect"!
-although with regards to the stables then taking up space.. an arena and the potential of there being too horses it would definitely be too small unless it was like hourly turnout sessions?

 

[Irish gal]

Three quarters of an acre isn't enough at all - that will be eaten in ten days. If it's a shetland or mini you'll be alright but a big horse will go through that in no time. I think horses need something like 50 kilos of grass a day - it's something in that order anyway. I imagine you'll need to rent a proper sized field.

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/clas...rick/mungret/quality-irish-horses-484520.html

 

[paddi22]

yeah but if you aren't using it for grass (which you rightly say she can't) there are other ways to manage it once you feed forage all year.

 

[ester]

I'd turn it into a large all weather turnout area and feed hay.

 

[stormox]

I keep my 2- a TB and a pony- on an acre, they come in at night, and get ridden for an hour or more a day. I put a bale of good hay out they nibble at if they want to, they have a mineral lick, and ad-lib hay overnight. The TB gets 2 feeds of alfalfa and oats each day. I have the use of a 3 acre bit of mountain in the summer, which is a bit rough and sloping but put them up there if weathers nice, they both look fantastic and I am often complemented on the condition of my originally half-starved rescue TB.

 

[FfionWinnie]

I agree it's do-able but your commitment to exercising the horses every day would be necessary. I would also not spend too long riding on a surface, they would need lots of hacking to keep them mentally and physically correct imo. It will also costs more in terms of buying in forage and would probably not be so good for a poor doer who needs grass to keep weight on. Of the horses I've owned all could live like this except 2 who really needed grass as they wouldn't eat hard feed. So buy a fat greedy one would be my advice

I have a horse who is kept out 24/7 on an all weather turnout area. This is for health reasons however it's actually a very good way to keep a horse for their own sake. She has adlib forage at all times. She's never fat, she's never restricted or hungry. It's not a huge area (it cost thousands to construct it so cost was a prohibiting factor on size) but it's absolutely adequate and due to the health problem she has, she needs to stay moving. It works well for us.

She is exercised daily either I ride her or lead her from my other horse or we are competing / at clinics. She has a completely happy, full and normal life - which she couldn't have if she were grazing grass.

You could also construct a track system round your house to give varied exercise. A lot will depend on the ground and what it will be like in the winter. An all weather surface for turnout is expensive, in Scotland I've got no choice. In a warmer climate it would be fine.

 

[Enfys]

Three quarters of an acre isn't enough at all - that will be eaten in ten days. If it's a shetland or mini you'll be alright but a big horse will go through that in no time. I think horses need something like 50 kilos of grass a day - it's something in that order anyway. I imagine you'll need to rent a proper sized field.
QUOTE]

True, if you go by BHS suggestions, but if you do not expect it to sustain a horse then it is fine. I would rather keep mine on poor grazing and feed hay year round than fret myself silly about them foundering and having to strip graze and muzzle.

 

[serenityjane]

Three quarters of an acre isn't enough at all - that will be eaten in ten days. If it's a shetland or mini you'll be alright but a big horse will go through that in no time. I think horses need something like 50 kilos of grass a day - it's something in that order anyway. I imagine you'll need to rent a proper sized field.

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/clas...rick/mungret/quality-irish-horses-484520.html

Though not big (15.2hh Morgan) my mare is more than happy with her 1/4 acre, and yes, it gets shorter quickly, but thats the thing about grass, it does keep growing!! If my mare had 50Kg/ day, she would be the size of a house and probably dead from laminitis. My 16.2hh hanovarian (so a big horse) broodmare with foal at foot has a couple of acres of grass of varying lengths and can move between paddocks at will, she also has a net of haylage in her shelter. Where does she stay for most of the time? On the half acre paddock of shorter grass, she prefers it and both she and her foal are thriving! So no, not only Shetlands or minis at all.....

 

[Wagtail]

I think the people saying it is not big enough are thinking of the grass being able to fully feed the horses. I have an acre and a half per horse here, but the only time I don't need to feed hay is now, in the late spring/early summer. I would need 3 acres per horse if I wanted the grass to fully feed them through spring, summer and autumn. I would still need to feed hay in the winter. As others have said, I would much rather have a horse on very little grass and supplement it with hay, than to have too much grass and be unable to use a lot of it due to the horses getting too fat. So ling as the space is large enough for them to have a canter and buck around, then the amount of grass is not really a welfare issue so long as the owner is prepared to feed the horses adequately.

 

[FfionWinnie]

Fresh grass, for most adult horses is not their best friend!

You do need to supplement with vitamin e if the horse isn't gazing plenty of grass, (that would apply to the majority of horses in the UK anyway!).

 

[PorkChop]

The thing is, all I do is restrict my horses grass intake, so it would be enough for me

I think if the ground/soil is good and stands up to the wet then it is doable, just not as a grass source.

 

[Luci07]

Just another thought - the consenus is no (and I agree) which could also mean you fork out to put up stables and a ménage only to find it impossible to ever sell on..

 

[Brightbay]

I have three quarters of an acre. It took me 6 years of keeping my horses elsewhere to realise that I had this (very common) misapprehension - "Turnout" is the same as "grazing". It's not. Horses need to move and they need to eat, but they don't need to eat grass, and in many countries, they never do and are healthy and happy.

At the same time, I live in Scotland, and for 6 months of the year, the ground is sodden, even in the 20 acre field where my horses have lived over the last while.

So I changed my viewpoint, and created a small, all-weather surfaced track with a field shelter and hardstanding on my three quarters of an acre.

Over the last three months, I have been forced to test my experiment, and have found that two large horses can live very happily indeed on this set up. They spend most of their day wandering around the track "browsing" the haynets set up there, go into the small dirt paddock for a roll and a sleep, shelter from flies/rain/snow in the shelter, and have a canter and a buck when they feel like it.

The main things I've found are that you need a way of disposing of your manure heap, you need a reliable hay supplier and somewhere to store it, and you need to work out good hay feeding stations.

Now it's summer, the two horses actually spend a lot of time in the "dirt patch" eating grass - I have no idea how such a tiny amount of grass can entertain them for so long, but they still wander off at intervals to browse at their hay feeders.

The positive is that I have now got a horse with the best and strongest hooves he has ever had, no mud fever and I haven't needed to rug nearly as much as previous years because they can choose to shelter.

I would say it would be more practical with smaller horses or ponies (currently a 15.2 and a 17hh on the track), but it can be done and it can be done with very happy, fit horses, significantly happier and fitter than stabling over winter, and while they're going back to the big field this weekend for summer, I will be bringing them back home as soon as the big field becomes boggy this coming winter.

 

[Leo Walker]

I would rather keep mine on poor grazing and feed hay year round than fret myself silly about them foundering and having to strip graze and muzzle.

Me too

I think the people saying it is not big enough are thinking of the grass being able to fully feed the horses.

This! Mine wanders about picking at the grass as it comes through but his main source of forage is what I feed him. Its only a small area but its big enough for him to have a canter about if he wants. He rarely wants :lol:

Fresh grass, for most adult horses is not their best friend!

You do need to supplement with vitamin e if the horse isn't gazing plenty of grass, (that would apply to the majority of horses in the UK anyway!).

Mine gets Progressive Earth Platinum Plus which has 2,000 ius of vitamin e. He looks pretty good for a grossly fat horse on a diet and he clearly feels well. Hes literally glowing at the minute, well under a layer of filth and dirt :lol:

For a very greedy good doer cob its the best way I have so far found to manage him. Its not cheap though. It costs me more than it would to keep a horse out on good grass, and but it will level out a bit over winter, and he'd be so fat he'd probably be dead from laminitis given that option! Hes always moving out, apart from in the afternoon when he takes himself to bed for a nap! And while there isnt really any grass to see, it is growing so he clearly eating it off as quick as it grows

 

[vidis]

Wow, piles of great info here, thanks everyone.

The plan is to keep thinking, researching and live in the property for up to a year before deciding to do anything big. I'm happy enough to put in stables as will use them for kennels if not required.

 

[HashRouge]

I have three quarters of an acre. It took me 6 years of keeping my horses elsewhere to realise that I had this (very common) misapprehension - "Turnout" is the same as "grazing". It's not. Horses need to move and they need to eat, but they don't need to eat grass, and in many countries, they never do and are healthy and happy.

At the same time, I live in Scotland, and for 6 months of the year, the ground is sodden, even in the 20 acre field where my horses have lived over the last while.

So I changed my viewpoint, and created a small, all-weather surfaced track with a field shelter and hardstanding on my three quarters of an acre.

Over the last three months, I have been forced to test my experiment, and have found that two large horses can live very happily indeed on this set up. They spend most of their day wandering around the track "browsing" the haynets set up there, go into the small dirt paddock for a roll and a sleep, shelter from flies/rain/snow in the shelter, and have a canter and a buck when they feel like it.

The main things I've found are that you need a way of disposing of your manure heap, you need a reliable hay supplier and somewhere to store it, and you need to work out good hay feeding stations.

Now it's summer, the two horses actually spend a lot of time in the "dirt patch" eating grass - I have no idea how such a tiny amount of grass can entertain them for so long, but they still wander off at intervals to browse at their hay feeders.

The positive is that I have now got a horse with the best and strongest hooves he has ever had, no mud fever and I haven't needed to rug nearly as much as previous years because they can choose to shelter.

I would say it would be more practical with smaller horses or ponies (currently a 15.2 and a 17hh on the track), but it can be done and it can be done with very happy, fit horses, significantly happier and fitter than stabling over winter, and while they're going back to the big field this weekend for summer, I will be bringing them back home as soon as the big field becomes boggy this coming winter.

That sounds like a lovely set up!