How many horses per acre of grazing do you all have?

Have three horses on 4.5 acres and we struggle. Clay soil turns it into a bog in winter and concrete in summer and at the moment nothing is growing so the rested (hoping to have for summer) field looks about good as the field they're in!

We've harrowed the rested field and are hoping to muck spread it in the next couple of weeks then HOPEFULLY we might even get some rain on it. The horses are still having to be fed haylage and I'm not even having to worry about my good doers weight at the moment. Everything is just a tiny bit worrying at the moment and with the lack of forecast rain and slightly too high wind speeds I can't see it picking up any time soon.

This is when everything SHOULD be growing and it just isn't and to add more problems the bunnies are making giant tunnels in the rested field. Literally nothing is going to plan with the field maintenance this year :(
 
I will have just under 5 acres for 3 (2 small horses + pony). The fields are terribly overgrazed though so I am considering my options but I hope that after a couple of years of good management it will be sufficient for 24/7 turnout in summer and all day turnout in winter for 4 (although I do have 7 stables). I have to restrict grazing in summer as otherwise 2 get too fat so I like them having turnout as opposed to grazing in summer. I normally feed ad lib hay over winter (clay soil).
 
I haven't read all the replies, but I have just under 4 acres for my Haffy and NF. They wintered out on the whole lot and then about Feb time I split it up into paddocks and it is growing lovely now and shows minimal signs of being used all winter.
 
I've got roughly 3 acres and two 12hh ish ponies. Currently on less than half an acre. One with EMS and one with sweet itch, though, so it's only fully grazed in very cold winter weather and even then my mare ended up with hindgut issues!
 
We have 10 acres for 7, well drained as on a slope. It's split up and the group is split up during winter too as we hay and feed in the field form November to April. In the summer there is too much grass, but there's not enough for winter without haying.
 
Just over 30 acres for 4 horses. In at night in winter, but out all day no matter the weather! They're out 24/7 from spring till the weather turns bad in October time.

We have far too much grass all year round and have to top it frequently. However it's great in winter as we don't have to put hay out unless it's a heavy frost or snow. It's an extra bonus that the fields are never muddy as we're on sandy soil too :)
 
JennyConnor said:
Just over 30 acres for 4 horses. In at night in winter, but out all day no matter the weather! They're out 24/7 from spring till the weather turns bad in October time.

We have far too much grass all year round and have to top it frequently. However it's great in winter as we don't have to put hay out unless it's a heavy frost or snow. It's an extra bonus that the fields are never muddy as we're on sandy soil too :)
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I am so jealous!

I have two horses and one pony on just under 5 acres of clay. They've just started going out 24/7. My fields arent looking too bad but I've only just got the third horse and the other pair had about a month with just an hour or so turnout a day due to big mare's mud fever.

We only moved here at the start of the year so waiting to see what it looks like in a years time. The fields have been pretty neglected maintenance wise for the past decade, so I'm hoping with some tlc (spraying, harrowing, rolling, aerating, liming, fertilising.... The list goes on and on!) they'll improve next year.
 
we technically have about 15 acres and currently only 3 horses. However, we are next to a river and the field gets wet very quickly and boggy, so during the winter we are very restricted on turn out so that it does not get too trashed. My boy has done a tendon last year and has arthritis, so cannot go out if too boggy. Now spring is here they are out on about 7 acres and the rest in currently fenced off, we may get a cut of hay off it. happily out 10 hours or more getting fat!

agree that it is a tricky question of how much you need. If we had less boggy soil that drained better, we would have enough acres for 10 horses! but over the winter the less hooves the better. then suddenly come spring we have tonnes!
 
4.5 acres for a 14.3 mw cob & a mini. Tho I did have an emergency with a friend who piled her 2 into my yard from mid December till mid March this winter

Over winter they free range a lot of the time over paddocks & now are resticted (both are chubbers) with TF in a muzzle.
They get a lot of exercise as during the warm months I remove water tanks & leave just the 1 large one down by the yard, the field shelters are open in 3 paddocks so they cover a fair bit of ground during the day :)
TF is shut in a 'diet' paddock overnight to have time off from wearing muzzle.
 
10 acres for 7 ponies (Shetland to 14.2HW and 15hh native). :) We strip graze and wear out the fields deliberately and feed the skinnys rather than starve the fatties! (3 purebred natives, two partbreds, a HW cob and a PBA, so don't really have a 'skinny!'. We don't have to feed through the summer or muzzle anyone so perfect balance.
 
We have 2 fields both approx 6 acres each. One field is grazed in summer and the other in winter, by 1 horse & 2 donkeys. Both are clay soil, so it gets very wet, muddy and poached in winter especially - but horse appears to love the mud!! Everything is out 24/7 with access to stables :)

We also make hay off the winter field, it drains quite well for clay soil and we also ride in it once the hay has been cut!
 
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I have five animals that live out 365 and I have the use of 17 acres. They get moved around the various fields through the winter depending on the amount of grass and how wet/cut up it gets. I don't need it all through the summer, I use less than half of it so we have cattle and sheep on it then.
 
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