Ideal paddock size

The old guide was 1 acre per horse, plus one acre. So, 3 acres for 2 horses. 5 acres for 4 horses etc.

This does depend on how good the ground is though, as in chalk or sand soil is better than clay for not turning into a swamp!

You ask about ideal, that would be chalk, with rolling pasture, with a shelter and post and rail fence with a hedge behind. Not many people have that though!
 
I had two ponies on 2.64 acres which was fine last Winter and then in the Summer, I got 94 small bales of hay. However, they have now trashed it and it’s like a bog (we are on clay). Luckily I’ve just secured an extra 10 acres so lots of Winter grass and can cut hay in the Summer. I wouldn’t want any less than 5 acres! I would ideally also have an all weather turn out pen too for emergency use when fields get too wet! Mine have between 8 hours and twelve hours out, although if it was drier then mine would have stayed out 24/7 until Christmas.
 
3 acres in summer for 2 (with a 400m track for most of it as it's too much grass) and 9 acres in winter. No bog, no mud, even on clay, 24/7 turnout and virtually no hay needed as I have natives now. I've had 3 x 17hh on this setup with no problems. Up to a point, there's no such thing as too much if you can use a track if necessary. Nothing worse than postage stamp paddocks imo.
 
We have 5.5 acres on sandy soil all out 24/7 no stables running mains water, mains electricity and ring fenced post and rail. We have 5 ponies from 12 - 15 hands young to ancient. Most years the grass lasts until February this year it has been so wet it is gone now so ideally would like a bit more for a few weeks a year. Costs 20 per head again would prefer to pay for the lot in one but thats how the landlord wants it. Have saved about 1.5 acres for summer track during which time the center foggage will be weedkilled, harrowed, reseeded and fertilised this year. As 10 years of poo picking has reduced the nutrients in the soil so the grass doesnt grow so well
 
windand rain said:
. As 10 years of poo picking has reduced the nutrients in the soil so the grass doesnt grow so well
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And there is the best argument ever for not poo picking!
We currently have 2 on 3 acres, when we had more horses we used a neighbour's land too, that meant that ours was rested in summer. This winter has been so wet that the field that they are in during the day (in overnight) has got so churned up, even though we are on sandy soil, they have to have hay outside. We tried keeping them in for longer on very wet days but it made so little difference that we've stopped bothering Fortunately a few dry days mean that the ground starts to dry pretty quickly - but I do think it will take a dry spring to make a real difference to the state of it this year.
 
I have a 10.3hh and a 14.2hh on just over an acre all year round, Diddy one needs restricted grazing and bigger one has PPID so I use a track system in spring, summer, autumn and feed hay, then open up the foggage for winter, I'm still strip grazing now and both still need to lose weight, I stable during the day and the go out about 15.00 till 7 next day, this set up works brilliantly for me although it's starting to get muddy, I would love more land but don't need the grass, my hay bill is quite expensive but I only pay 12.50 a week for the land, two stables, tack room and water, but I do all the maintenance, fencing, muck heap removal etc
 
Lovemarmite said:
I have a 10.3hh and a 14.2hh on just over an acre all year round, Diddy one needs restricted grazing and bigger one has PPID so I use a track system in spring, summer, autumn and feed hay, then open up the foggage for winter, I'm still strip grazing now and both still need to lose weight, I stable during the day and the go out about 15.00 till 7 next day, this set up works brilliantly for me although it's starting to get muddy, I would love more land but don't need the grass, my hay bill is quite expensive but I only pay 12.50 a week for the land, two stables, tack room and water, but I do all the maintenance, fencing, muck heap removal etc
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Mine is similar. I have 2 acres for four ponies (one mini so doesn’t really count!) I have far too much grass for most of the year so for all I would like more land, they’d still have to be restricted to the track all summer as they are now. Winter is the best time for them as they end up with the whole lot.
 
We have two small summer paddocks around 1 acre. Then three large fields between 6-8 acres each for winter.

This is my preference as we can rotate everything, especially in Winter to save from the mud a bit (but not totally, my ground is like butter!)
 
I have 2 in 2.5 acres on a slight gradient and it goes all year really well. Barely needs maintenance just topping once a year, they go out 12 hours in winter and live out all summer on it. I’m quite amazed how well it does all year round, the gate can get muddy in winter but never that bad.
 
It depends on the soil type, flat or sloped land and climate.
Ive got 2 over 14hh on 6-7 acres of various soil types, 3 acres mainly topsoil with a large peat percentage, which being mainly organic matter, when wet, leads to instant poaching. So those fields needs careful management. 3 acres more loamy and dont poach.
Climate is rain 2 thirds of the year, way over 2 metres annual rainfall...Valley weather. Like wales on steroids! Only 2 acres slightly sloped, the rest flat land, therefore doesnt drain quickly or dry up.
Unfortunately to get to my best 2 acres to use for winter grazing, we have to traverse through 3 acres of mixed peatish soil. (This was a much larger farm that got split up, so access to fields is via another field....its a bad design, making it hard to rest a field and manage the land for grazing)
So i dont do much winter grazing as through poaching and more rain in peat soil they can literally sink into it up to their thighs! Never would i have thought possible...its like quick mud, and its sectioned off from grazing even in the summer until growth and roots are very well established. Once theyve topped it grazing, they get pulled off. No poaching of that soil can be risked.
I tried a track system in the fields, having built stone hardcore tracks up by their stable leading to the land, 150m....but its too wet here for grass tracks all year round, even summer. The tracks get too poached too quickly. Even on the ‘good’ soil, the rainfall is so high, that gets poached on a track system and before the month is out theyre stomping through 10 inches of mud.
Bearing these things in mind, due to the rainfall and soil getting poached, it stresses the grass and i barely have enough decent grass on 6-7 acres for 24/7 grazing....only have that from june-end of sept.
This is also with metre wide and deep drains at the perimeter of land and interceptor drains having been dug.

So choose slightly sloped land, a sandy/loam soil in a decent area of no more than 1500mm rainfall per annum, and that land will hold up to horses well to cope with 1 horse 1 acre. Any more rainfall than that and flatter land, increases to 2+ acres per horse, all the way up to 6-7 acres for 2 horses not being enough for 24/7 grazing in very high rainfall, flat land with peaty type soil.

My land would be great for goats/sheep/alpacas....:p but heavy horses...land management is intensive and tricky.
 
Littlebear said:
I have 2 in 2.5 acres on a slight gradient and it goes all year really well. Barely needs maintenance just topping once a year, they go out 12 hours in winter and live out all summer on it. I’m quite amazed how well it does all year round, the gate can get muddy in winter but never that bad.
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Wow, im amazed! Sounds dreamy :) which region are you in?
 
I'd take as much as I can get in winter! The best one we ever had was over 8 acres split between two, and it was peaty, mossy moorland so it drained really well, although did get muddy round the gateway. That was super, but there was zero shelter, just dry stone walls, so they couldn't stay out 24/7 in winter as if the wind got up it was brutal (at times you could barely stand upright). At the moment I have about 4.5 acres in total and they are on about 2.5 acres of it now (again, two horses), which is fairly well draining. It holds the water after a heavy downpour but must drain fairly quickly as they haven't churned it up so far and we still have a good amount of grass. I've got another 2 acres in separate paddocks, the smallest of which I am saving for the spring/ summer. The other one I will open up in January.
 
I have 2 oldie on 1.5 acres for winter (turnout only as they both still need extra feed due to age). In at night as we are on clay ans its turned into a swamp. I rent 5 acres during the summer that i can do pretty much what i want with which enables me to get my own turn out harrowed, reseeding, sprayed etc as required. Would love to buy some more land but its fetching over 10k an acre round here and doesnt come up for sale very often, or if it does, its a few miles away which makes it unworkable.
 
THPC2019 said:
Ideal paddock size? and how much do you currently have for yours? and how many in there if shared?
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I was taught 1 1/2 acres for the first horse and 1 acre for every horse added.



when full we have 8 on 7.5 acres split into 4 so two used two rested. We have also grown our own hay and got 250 bales with this arrangement sadly before farmer retired.


The recommended Doesn't work with us as we have more to the land, than the written advise, but land copes very well with double the amount as
de poo daily
fields rested every 3 months
land well drained
well maintained
and I refuse to have grass liveries on it, so Part livery /diy only

if you have 24/7 grass than you have to work it differently
 
I thought the OP was talking about paddock size rather than total acreage/ hectares. I have 4 paddocks which total around two acres for two large horses. Ordinarily it works reasonably well but ideally I’d like another acre on this ground and I’d prefer maybe fewer but larger paddocks.
 
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