Livery yard field size

JFTDWS said:
My 3 live out 24/7, and over the past year have had access to maybe 10 acres-ish. This is mostly because I'm willing to move them around a lot and graze off bits of field as when the YO wants them grazed. Some bits of it are out of action at certain times of year (for ecological or ground reasons, or in the case of the field I was on over winter, because it has caravans on it in the summer). They've cut hay from two of the fields, and there'll be good grass regrowth by the time mine are done on their current field. We've had an unusually good year here though, despite the drought and recent downpours!

It's good, unfertilised grass, mixed species, some hedgrows and natural browsing. I run a track to keep them moving in summer, and they live in a herd. It's about as natural a life as I can reasonably achieve on livery.
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That sounds wonderful, and a great livery yard…
 
Marshpiper said:
Unfortunately I think in the world that we live in now means that unless you have your own property, your own land, that certain details of the things that you speak off, ie browsing different grasses, hedgerows and significant acreage/distances will only be a dream for most equines….
Better a small area to roll and nibble, look at friends, breathe fresh air than just albeit a nice stable, filled haynet, hard feed and constant water…it’s a lucky horse with this…
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I still don’t think that’s really acceptable, that’s just us thinking we'd be happy with that.
We should stop individual turnout, unless it's an exceptional case (yes, I know they won’t all live with others, but most will). We should use tracks, we should over-seed our grazing, we should plant hedges (very good for wildlife too, and there are subsidy schemes so it needn’t be expensive- I put one in 3 years ago and it's nearly fully grown), we should provide hard standing areas to feed forage on in the winter or turnout pens to prevent horses spending hours and hours in a 12 x 12 box. There are so many things that we shouldn’t just expect our horses to tolerate, because they are very tolerant creatures.

I have my own land, I know that’s a privelage. I live on very little money as a result!
 
TheMule said:
I still don’t think that’s really acceptable, that’s just us thinking we'd be happy with that.
We should stop individual turnout, unless it's an exceptional case (yes, I know they won’t all live with others, but most will). We should use tracks, we should over-seed our grazing, we should plant hedges (very good for wildlife too, and there are subsidy schemes so it needn’t be expensive- I put one in 3 years ago and it's nearly fully grown), we should provide hard standing areas to feed forage on in the winter or turnout pens to prevent horses spending hours and hours in a 12 x 12 box. There are so many things that we shouldn’t just expect our horses to tolerate, because they are very tolerant creatures.

I have my own land, I know that’s a privelage. I live on very little money as
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TheMule said:
I still don’t think that’s really acceptable, that’s just us thinking we'd be happy with that.
We should stop individual turnout, unless it's an exceptional case (yes, I know they won’t all live with others, but most will). We should use tracks, we should over-seed our grazing, we should plant hedges (very good for wildlife too, and there are subsidy schemes so it needn’t be expensive- I put one in 3 years ago and it's nearly fully grown), we should provide hard standing areas to feed forage on in the winter or turnout pens to prevent horses spending hours and hours in a 12 x 12 box. There are so many things that we shouldn’t just expect our horses to tolerate, because they are very tolerant creatures.

I have my own land, I know that’s a privelage. I live on very little money as a result!
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I don’t disagree. What you describe is very different from the way a lot of horses live, and TBH a couple at mine are on small individual spaces which to me look dull (owners choice in one case, and in the other because the horse jumps out of every other field regardless of company). The older I get, the more I feel that you shouldn’t keep a horse if it can only be in severely compromised conditions. To me that includes periods of no turnout (winter) or a lack of company.
 
We have a mix of sized paddocks that we move around to rest and strip depending on weather and waistline. It's a mixed grasses field that's had horses on for a generation and not been fertilised with hedges and trees but still a bit rich for natives. Pony shares with the one other mare who explodes (very very good doer) in the summer so they strip graze about an acre. In the winter we either use another field of just over an acre or go for a holiday to the next village where there's a fabulous hidden 3 acre field which is about as natural and sheltered as you could want for 2 native ponies but it's a pain to get hay over the river 😅. I am very lucky
 
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