Paddock questions!

[Bobthecob15]

Hi all, we are in the process of buying a house with a small paddock. It's only about 2/3 of an acre so our plan is to use it occasionally for our pony in the school holidays, he is at livery nearby and our plan is to keep him there the majority of the time as they have better facilities and he likes company! We'd have him with us permanently but I doubt this is enough grazing when we factor in needing to put up a stable/storage etc

I don't think its had anything grazing on it for years, the house was converted from a barn in the early 90s. The fencing has pretty much gone so we'd need ro re-fence it and add a couple of gates. The grass looks OK...however there are patches where the owner of next door has just mowed it for the current owners and left the clippings. It's a bit sparce in places where the clippings have been left...im not sure how good the grass is. I just wondered if anyone had any idea what we'd need to do to get it back to grazing condition? It's laid to permanent pasture.

We are going to approach the owner of next door if the sale goes through to see if we could rent or buy the field the other side of our fence as there are a couple of acres we could possibly use...its not used for grazing either it seems they just mow it. Its kind of like a huge back garden for them. If this happens then we'll get another horse/pony for company and aim to have him at home full time.

Thanks ?

 

[Cocorules]

My parents bought a place like this and got a local farmer to plough it up and re-seed it. Don't do that!

I would just cut everything back with a brush cutter. That way you get a really good look at what is there. I would then pull out everything that shouldn't be there and then overseed it. Leave the cuttings until they have rotted before grazing.

We had two ponies so we had them there some of the time and at livery some of the time. Quite often they would be at the livery with other horses during the day and back home overnight.

If you only have one pony, are you going to borrow another one when he comes back or buy another?

 

[Bobthecob15]

My parents bought a place like this and got a local farmer to plough it up and re-seed it. Don't do that!

I would just cut everything back with a brush cutter. That way you get a really good look at what is there. I would then pull out everything that shouldn't be there and then overseed it. Leave the cuttings until they have rotted before grazing.

We had two ponies so we had them there some of the time and at livery some of the time. Quite often they would be at the livery with other horses during the day and back home overnight.

If you only have one pony, are you going to borrow another one when he comes back or buy another?

I'm not entirely sure, if we could get more paddock then we'd get another. I think we'd try him on his own and see how he goes...he likes the company of the yard but has been by himself before with a previous owner. Getting another pony would be tricky as we'd need space for both of them really at home...can't afford 2 at livery. So we'll probably see what happens then decide...long term he can stay at livery we just liked the idea of having him home from time to time x

 

[Chianti]

I used to share a pony where the owner did this. She lived very close to the livery yard and had a small paddock. In the summer she would bring her pony home for a couple of months to eat the grass down. He was on his own but seemed to cope. I did used to feel a bit sorry for him because if I hacked him out in the direction of the livery yard he would really speed up and would slow down when we turned away from it. I think he thought of that as home and must have missed his friends. Now I'd be a bit worried about any stress causing ulcers as so many horses and ponies seem to get them these days.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

If you can borrow a few sheep, they will soon get your paddock in order

 

[Bobthecob15]

I used to share a pony where the owner did this. She lived very close to the livery yard and had a small paddock. In the summer she would bring her pony home for a couple of months to eat the grass down. He was on his own but seemed to cope. I did used to feel a bit sorry for him because if I hacked him out in the direction of the livery yard he would really speed up and would slow down when we turned away from it. I think he thought of that as home and must have missed his friends. Now I'd be a bit worried about any stress causing ulcers as so many horses and ponies seem to get them these days.

Hmm that's a good point, I guess we will see how he gets on. Thanks

 

[Bobthecob15]

If you can borrow a few sheep, they will soon get your paddock in order

I've read that before about sheep! I'd love to know how they help! ?

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

I've read that before about sheep! I'd love to know how they help! ?

They will eat the grass much less discriminatingly than horses and if they do leave weeds behind, you will be able to see where the weeds are very clearly, so that you can deal with those yourself. They also fertilise the grass and the cross-grazing (after horses)helps to clean the pasture of horse-worms.