How many acres for 2 horses and 1 pony??

Hels_Bells

Hels_Bells

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My 15.3 veteran ID x TB good doer and 16.1 WB eventer poor doer are currently on about 2.5 acres 24/7 . There's good grass coverage but it's all very short and they are doing well on it plus 2 decent feeds a day. We have an option to extend into another field and just wondering how much to extend by to include a further retired pony 13.2hh who can be prone to laminitus. [Laminitus will be very closely monitored and restricted grazing put in place if necessary].

Horses are out 24/7 in summer then turned out in another field over winter and brought in at night.

Just wondering what would be the ideal size of paddock for all 3. Would also be nice if I could give more grass and less hard feed at this time of year.

Thanks!
 
the recommended acreage is generally 5 acres for the first horse then an additional acre for each added horse. So that makes 7 acres. This may prob be too much for the pony howerver.
 
burtonse said:
the recommended acreage is generally 5 acres for the first horse then an additional acre for each added horse..
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:eek:Jeez! Inflation eh?!!!

Size of pasture depends entirely on whether the horses get on and you intend for it to support the horses without feeding hay or not.

I keep 2 horses on 1 acre, with ad-lib hay.

For 3 horses I'd be happy with 2-3 acres, but then I prefer to offer hay all year round so grass isn't a huge issue for me.
 
Hiya,

The (possibly outdated) rule I was taught was two acres for the first horse and an additional acre for every further horse you add. So you would need four acres for your three horses if they are living out 24 / 7 with no additional forage.

This depends on so many factors though: how much rainfall you get, the soil type, whether you are willing to rest, rotate and fertilise sections, whether you are willing to hay through the winter etc. If you feel there isn't quite enough grass to go around as things stand, then maybe an extra acre once you add the pony would be better. This would leave you room to create a small 'fatty paddock' if necessary but still give your two horses a little extra grazing.
 
burtonse said:
the recommended acreage is generally 5 acres for the first horse then an additional acre for each added horse. So that makes 7 acres. This may prob be too much for the pony howerver.
Click to expand...

ummmmm noooo!

BHS costs of keeping a horse or pony current guidance states:

"The minimum recommended acreage requirement is 1 - 1.5 acres per horse or pony"

So something between 3 and 4.5 acres would be sufficient. Like all land, it depends on the type (heavy or light, amount of rainfall, richness of grass etc). With 3 acres of heavy ground that gets poached in winter and drought in summer then it might be only just enough, but a couple of acres of really good land might be fine.

Given that one of yours is good doer and one is lami then I would say you could take another acre or acre and a half and that would be great. Any more than that and you might be looking at taking hay off most of it and rotating onto that once hay off.
 
i think giving the first horse 5 acres would surely kill it fairly quickly! i have 22 on 28 acres and still take hay and haylage, and dont feed additional hay from about april to nov! so for 2 big ones and a pony about 5 to 7 acres should give you turnout 24/7 in summer and day turnout in winter with hay. laminitic will need a restricted intake paddock during the growing season, so would be sectioning with electric fencing to give flexibility. Again it depends on the type of land, the quality of the grass, your paddock management and the weather.
 
I have 4.5 acres and have 5 horses on it. The land is divided into one large field of 2.5 acres, a smaller field of 1.5 acres and a third one of half an acre.

I never have a problem with grass and have it all year round.

If you manage the land properly then there is no problem in a small acreage.

Mine live out all year round and only come in if the weather is really bad or they are injured.

They have access to field shelters and the stables.
 
Actually its 1.5 acre for the first horse then an acre per extra horse but you also need to consider that you need winter and summer grazing so you can rotate and not ruin the grazing.

If it were me I'd be looking at 7 acres splitting the field in half.
 
Thanks everyone! This is very helpful! We are going to extend current paddock by a decent segment with posts and electric fence so it's flexible if we need to reduce or extend it.
 
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