Ryegrass “safe” for seeding bare patches in a paddock?

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Horseperson432

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Needing to seed some bare patches in a paddock. 2 horses, neither of which have cushings or anything (touch wood!) though one pony is older and a little chunky so am careful about too much sugar etc. Would using a rye grass mix to patch over a few bare spots in a paddock be risky? If so does anyone have any suggestions for seed that doesn’t break the bank, is low in rye grass and copes well in clay soil?
Thanks
 
It depends. Ryegrass is a native grass, after all, and is still a component of most mixed meadows. A low-production diploid variety is not the same as something expressly bred to be rocket fuel, say. If you don't intend to let it go to seed it won't spread and it will stand up to repeated grazing better than most fine grasses. People want things from their grasses that they aren't evolved to give - if you heavily graze most of the finer grasses that are in many non-ryegrass mixes they will not thrive and bare patches can be the result, even without poaching.
 
I use rye mix in heavy use areas in my winter field. It's not the same as the genetically improved stuff that's grown the other side of the bridlepath for silage - that grows like a rocket, gets pretty tall, takes 2-3 cuts a year and fattens sheep over winter.

"Normal" rye is pretty hard wearing and I haven't noticed the horses making a beeline for it when the winter field opens up.
 
I use rye in my winter fields, unfortunately other grasses just aren't as resilient to being torn up by horses galloping around through wet winters.

I don't seed it through my summer fields though.
 
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