Is 7 acres big enough for 2?

[Chex]

*Might* be getting some land for Chex, and a future companion, but budget only allows me to get 7 acres. I'm now panicking this isn't enough

. He will be in a small paddock in the summer anyway because he's such a big fat pie, but winter he'll have the lot. Is 7 acres enough for 2 horses to live out 24/7? I'd rather not split it, apart from the summer paddock. Am I likely to end up 7 acres of mud? Eeeeeeeek, really starting to worry now

the offer is being put in very soon

. He's always stayed in large fields of above 10 acres and I feel so bad that he'll be in a little field for the rest of his days

 

[Natalie_H]

I have 2 on 4 acres 24/7. Split into 2 fields - rotate alternately. Plenty for them, so I would say you will be fine. I would love to have 7 acres!!!

 

[random_rider]

i dotn think that that is a ltlle amount! i think it will beb plenty big enough!!!! but im sure someone else will giv you a better idea x

 

[carthorse]

7 acres is masive.I have 7 acres split in two and I have 4 horses but they are only out half the time and stabled with hay in winter.

 

[Enfys]

Plenty!

I had four horses on two acres all winter, mind, it was frozen and covered in snow for quite a while. They just eat, walk to the trough and the shelters. I started them off in four acres but they didn't use it at all, so I moved them closer to the barns.

 

[mickey]

I wouldn't worry if I were you - That is a very large amount of land for 2 neds!

 

[JoBo]

Absolutely, we have 3 on 4 acres. You have to be a bit clever with the rotating but 7 acres isn’t a small amount of land.

 

[pagancluf]

Sounds good - half it for summer and winter and rotate, lucky you!!!

 

[Tia]

The only concern I would have is only having 2 horses on 7 acres. You will be absolutely inundated with grass!! Is there a neighbouring farmer who could come in and cut half of it for hay for you?

7 acres is a lot of land for 2 horses to keep control of.

 

[Forget_Me_Not]

To be honest you could get away with four horses happily. Agree with Tia, I would be worrid if hes a good doer about the weight although we have super large pasture so horses stay in grazing mussles, this way they can happily grass all day without restrictions and not get lami as they don't get the sweet bottom grass.

 

[helenandshadow]

I think that's plenty. We have 2 on about 3 acres, although not out 24/7. You're meant to have an acre per horse (ours don't have that much because they're fat ponies!) so with 2 horses and seperate summer and winter fields that's 4 acres so I would think 7 acres is more than enough.

 

[Chex]

Thanks everyone, I just needed to hear it from other people to calm my worries

I have no idea about rotating and things

. I guess I'll have to learn

 

[Chex]

I am worried about the grass, its more agricultural land than rough horse land

. There are sheep on it just now, so I'm either going to see if the farmer will keep grazing them there, or I'll buy some sheep, but I'm sure thats not anywhere near as easy as it sounds

. Some of it has been cut for hay previously, so I think it would be possible to do again. Their summer paddock will probably be about 2 acres, so hopefully that will stay eaten down.

 

[Chex]

[ QUOTE ]
To be honest you could get away with four horses happily.

[/ QUOTE ]

Don't say that - I'll have to be very restrained from accumulating a mini-herd that I can't really afford!

 

[Rachel_M]

LOL, I was thinking that was a good excuse to get more as well.

 

[*hic*]

We have 9 acres. 6 of it was seeded specially for horses, the other 3 just has "volunteer" grass.

I have 4 horses and 5 sheep + hopefully around 6 lambs a year. The last two years we brought the horses off the grass for 4 months and kept them in, fed exclusively on hay that we had made from the "sown" 6 acres. We have overproduced hay so much over the past years that I have have had 2 horses out all winter this year. Currently I have 2 horses out on the volunteer grass and 2 at home - 1 for laminitis reasons and the other had a fight and is injured but there is more than enough grass for all 4 of them on the thee acres and I'll still produce more hay than we need from the sown lot!

You'll have bags of space - fence them a small part off and get someone to make you your own hay or haylage!

 

[jewel]

7 acres is lots i've had 3 on 5 acres out 24/7 for 3 years didn't even need to feed hay this winter i brought 2 round bales all winter and they wasted most of that. 2 acres is a big stravation paddock for 2, especially good doers.

 

[suzyseymour]

I've got 3 on 5 acres split in 2. They winter out with no hay. No problem. We have too much grass here for them (1 is a shetland). So one of the local farmers takes a crop from half of the field in return for looking after the hedges etc.

 

[MillionDollar]

7 acres is HUGE for 2 horses. I'm having to keep mine in in the day as 8 acres is way too much for them.

Personally I'd split it up, have some for summer, some for winter and the other to make hay on. Oh and get a few sheep, they are fantastic to keep the grazing from getting horse sick.

 

[PeterNatt]

It very much depends on the soil type and drainage.

I keep my two in a half acre paddock in Winter and even less in the Summer. They are in at night but the land is well drained and does not become poached.

For 24/7 Winter turnout make sure that they have some sort of shelter if it becomes wet and cold.

 

[henryhorn]

Plenty big enough.
I would however split it into at least three preferably four paddocks and rotate. In summer you could even make hay off 2 acres and be left with enough grazing for two horses.
You need to be good with your pasture management ie harrow, roll, spray for weeds and use a good fertliser but it's adequate.

 

[harrihjc]

yes 7 acres is plenty! We have less than an acre for our 2, wish we had more!

 

[aimeerose]

Plenty!

you'll be needing sheep to keep it grazed down!

 

[southgate1975]

I always thought the rule-of-thumb was 'one horse, one acre'.