how do you cope with sloping paddocks?

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Perce

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i am lucky enough to have very level paddocks. great for riding on, hay cutting and best for turn out, but was wondering if anyone had experience of fairly sloping paddocks, as in ranging from gently to mountain goat country!. how do they cope in wet weather/winter? how do your horses cope on them? they probabaly drain better than my flat ones? how does one acre of fairly sloping compare to one acre of level. obviously too steep for hay cutting i would think?! would it put you off buying land if all else good.
thoughts please.
 
The paddocks where my horse is kept are all on serious hills. Its actually natural for a horse to be roaming up and down hills all day, that is natural for them. It is also great for keeping them fit! Our paddocks are just like any flat ones - a bit muddy round the gate but otherwise fine. I guess it would be harder for things like riding in or haymaking though...
 
LOL - it always makes me smile when I read in property adverts the estate agents using flat fields as a plus point! I'd much much rather have fields that had hills, and slopes, trees, boulders, hollows etc etc - the more varied the terrain and the poorer the grazing the better. Obviously it's different if you want fields to make hay/haylage but for turnout out the more rugged the better. My fields are on the side of a fell - there isn't a level surface in any of them and as a result I have very fit and well balanced horses.
 
I prefer having them on sloped/hilly fields too, keeps them fitter and saves me having to do as much hill work as they're walking up and down them all day :D Not so good for riding in or cutting hay from though! It definitley wouldnt put me off buying land, it would probably encourage me more to buy it. One of my horses fields is quite a steep hill and i find that when it rains heavily you dont get the water collecting into puddles like i do on my other field, which is completely flat, so drainage is better. It's a bit hair raising the first time you see your horse bombing downhill flat out but it does make you realise how naturally balanced they are and how it's completely us that throws them off balance when ridden. (well, me anyway :o )
 
We have a mixture of sloping paddocks and hill pasture. They drain really well and are great for keeping the horses fit - the ones living out on the hill have fantastic muscle tone all yr round and love looking at the view!
The only down side I find is that some horses that are not so sure footed can slide about, espescially when the ground is greasy, like it is as at the moment. I have one livery who is a 16.3hh warmblood who finds it hard to walk on the slopes and does make a real mess sliding about, whereas the natives and smaller horses cope fine.
I can just about roll and harrow the hill field but it can be a little hairy if I get the angle wrong!!
 
Sorry, meant to mention we have a menage so doesn't matter that we can't ride in the field, and although the hacking is great, do sometimes wish for some flat country to let rip over!!
 
Ahhh where I keep my pony one half of the fields are gently sloping and the other half are flat(ish). The sloping ones have like these weird bumps on which annoy me but seem good =S

If the gate for getting your horse out is at the higher end of the field it keeps the mud round there less deep which is great!!
 
Mine ALL gently slope which is great for drainage so overall I like them, BUT it would be nice if there was one flat field, it cost us £££££££ to do stable foundations, major civil engineering project :-O and the barn we are putting up is also costing loads more to do because of it, and lord knows if we ever wanted a manege.

They arent really steep either, but its amazing how much concrete you
need and how expensive it is if you cant find a level bit!
 
There's no such thing as a flat field around here! Don't have any problems with hills, apart from needing more fence posts cos the wire either hits the ground or is way too high :rolleyes:. Drainage is better as even when its really wet the higher ground is usually dry. Just don't have your gateway at the bottom of a slope...
 
thanks for all your thoughts folks. i do wonder if it does depend on your horse as to how well they cope. can see the upside of the drainage. and the sense in not putting gate at bottom if poss.
 
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