Setting up strip grazing

[now_loves_mares]

I have a grazing dilemma as one horse is the size of a house, the other is like a whippet, as she insists on spending the whole day hanging out by the gate, where there is no grass left. So I'm going to have to create two adjoining paddocks - one forcing the whippet into the decent grass, the other a small strip for the fatty.

The area I need to create it has pretty decent spring grass. So I need to get it grazed down as safely and quickly as possible. What's a fair sized area to start off with? I think I'll put both of them in the same area to start with. It needs to be big enough as they like to run about; but if it's too big then obviously it'll never get grazed down. If I make it say 20m x 40m will that get it grazed down quickly enough, so I can then move the other one to the remaining grass (of which there is plenty).

Or am I better just putting the fatty in a tiny bit on her own from the off; and if so, how tiny? Obv I could make it really small, say 10m square, but that hardly seems fair on her.

Sorry if these are dumb questions I've only ever really had TB's before so no idea how to "do" starvation paddocks

 

[DuckToller]

If the fatty is seriously fat, I wouldn't want to put her on any good grass in case it tipped her over the edge as far as laminitis is concerned. But equally if the whippet is hanging around the gate because that is where he feels safe and happy, it will be quite hard fencing him further away from the gate if he then stresses.

I think 20 x 40 is a good size for the fatty - I was told to fence off the size of a basketball arena and get the other horses to graze it right down before I put my lami pony back out. Perhaps you could mow an area and remove the cuttings if that works better?

Can you fence off an area round the edge to make the fatty walk about more? There have been poss on here before, think they call it paradise grazing or something, you fence off a strip all round the edge so the horse has to walk quite a lot to get grass and then walk back to the water etc. Would that work with your field layout? Hard to make suggestions without seeing your field!

 

[now_loves_mares]

She's not seriously fat, no; she just needs to have it caught now. She's in work every day as well, but in the last week she's been out 24/7 so I've seen it creep on.

I don't think the whippet will stress as such, she is just such a nosey thing that she wants to be able to watch what is going on all the time. My plan is to put them in their separate paddocks during the day, then to limit them (together) to the bare area at night, which gives them access to the shelter. Not ideal for the whippet but I reckon so long as she gets good grazing during the day that'll be enough - she's only a tiny bit skinny, not a rescue case!

I've thought about the "walkway" you mention but not sure how to make it work. As it is, the water is near the gate in the bare area, and I'm trying to keep them off that for a bit anyway. I'm going to therefore have to do manual water, somehow. Will give the layout a bit more thought and see if I can persuade her to walk more, but I am shelling out for all the electric stuff at once, and it's not cheap My field is long and narrow which really doesn't help the plans!