How much land??

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nellieelephant

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Hi there everyone,

I know I'm new and hope you all don't mind me posting a question straight away but, How much land do you keep your horses on?
I have been offered a field from a Farmer friend which is two acres but I have three horses and not sure if this would be enough land? It also gets really boggy in winter but could do some drainage to it?

Thanks.
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It's normally worked out as 1.5 acres for the first horse & 1 acre per horse there after. For 3 horses you would ideally need 3.5 acres. I expect that if you drastically limited turnout then you may be able to get away with less.
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Thanks so much for your replys.
The other problem is that one of my horses is a stallion and would need to be seperated from the others?! feel it might not be enough land
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Real shame cause the land has its own stream and loads of trees and I know my horses would love it.
 
It sounds like it might do as a stop gap, but I reckon it would quickly become a quagmire, and being up to your knees in mud makes for a depressing winter. Will you have stabling, or will they be out 24/7?
 
I would be careful as we had 14 acres of land like that and for most of the year 10 acres were under water and 2 of my boys developed terrible sweetitch symptoms- the damp and trees were perfect midge breeding zones. since we moved 2 weeks ago the scratching has gone and they have been able to go without bugrugs.
 
2 acres is perfectly adequate for three horses if you are prepared to feed hay, probably all year round. Small paddocks and year round forage are quite normal here, I have ceased to have the usual British outlook of "No, you can't possibly keep a horse full time in a smaller paddock" Yes, you can, but it is easier if everyone isn't up to their hocks in gooey mud.

As you describe it though it sounds as if it may be more trouble than it's worth if you have to separate the horses permanently and it gets boggy. No fun at all in the winter.
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it's not always the quantity of land but the quality as well, if it's boggy you will have poor grazing in summer and mud in winter, not ideal at all. we've just moved from a 7.5 acre field system on poor land to a better quality 4 acre field, the improved grazing quality means we should be able to manage better on the smaller area
 
I'm managing two on 2 acres - its good well drained land but last January was so wet I took them off the main field and made a sacrifice paddock of about a quarter acre and they went in there and I let them plough it. When the main field dried up they went back out and the whole thing has recovered fine since spring. They are both very good doers and 2 acres is plenty for them.

I've been really happy with this arrangement and I ended up leaving them out 24/7 most of the winter - just popped them into the small paddock with hay at night. I did bring them in at night when it was pouring non-stop - mainly to get them out of the mud and lie down!

I agree with above - the quality of land is more important and how well it will drain. Good luck.
 
Trees + water = not good. You may find yourself with a huge fly and midge problem.
 
I have 6 horses on 7 acres and it's i have to keep having the fields topped to keep the grass down.
i can't rotate as i need them on it all the time to stop it getting too much grass.
In winter they are on 5 acres, but we have put land drains in so it rarely gets very muddy.
As long as you look after your 2 acres i think it would be more than enough.
 
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