Ryegrass or Italian Ryegrass??

Italian ryegrass is more short lived so is suitable for short term cropping, grazing (1 yr) whereas other ryegrass leys can be longer lived.
 
Italian Ryegrass i think is ideal for dairy cow silage (eg very high energy) so may not be suitable in many instances for horses I'd have thought but as with all grasses it will depend on the stage of growth/time of year of the cut.
 
cm2581 is right, italian ryegass is very high energy. It is higher than normal ryegrass. Any form of pure ryegrass is unsuitable for the majority of horses because it is very high energy and protein- for putting on meat or high milk yield in livestock. Very few horses need this level of energy or protein, unless they are working very hard e.g. very fit racehorses or 3 day eventers.
 
Italian Ryegrass is a 3 year lay, it is fairly high in protein but lower in sugars than typical horse mixtures.
It's quite good for first seeding of sandy soil as it develops nice root structure.
What you do is sparsely drill IR in Autumn, leave it over winter and take an early cut in end May/June, then depending on weather conditions either overseed straight away with something finer like Timothy or take another cut/cut some sheep on it and overseed in Autumn. That should give you good coverage of horse suitable pasture:)
 
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