What are your fields like??

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Lottie4788

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I'm sure it's asked regularly and I supose I'm just looking to make myself feel better. I moved my old boy to a new yard in November where I was promised 24hr in the summer months. We have three cobby types on 5 acres for a maximum of 7hrs a day and it is trashed and there is barley a morsel to eat. I can't bring in any more as my boy has COPD and I already feel I'm asking a lot of him as his breathing is noticeably worse at the moment so not pushing him. I'm thinking we need to tape some off to start it resting but I'm worried they're won't be enough for 24/7 when it dries up. Have obviously been spoilt elsewhere as have never worried about lack of grass before. Pics and advice all welcome horses are doing fine and maintaining weight as eating their selves silly when in.
 
It depends what the soil type is really?
There's no point taping anything off until the grass starts growing a significant amount and that won't be until March/April. My 5 acres isn't looking great but my 2 live out on it 24/7, I jyst feed them some hay in the field as a top up
 
Our field is fine really. We have 9 acres for two, although they share it with a flock of sheep and (occasionally) two Shetland ponies. It is a bog at the gate, you gave to wade through, but after that the ground is doing really well and there is plenty of grass.
 
I have two horses on about 3 acres and it's trashed but they are grazing so they must be finding something, I had 3 on it last year all winter and they go out for about 8 hours a day and it recovers every year I manage to tape some off in about April then I rest the other half and do this all through summer then I often still have a good amount saved to open up around December, I also have a small paddock that I shut about now and rest until spring as it gets really wet, if you saw it in February it looks terrible but come April it looks like a different field and I never use fertiliser, and mine go out over night most of the time in the summer.
 
One field is a complete bog - the whole thing is churned up, there are large patches of standing water, and there's barely any grass - but it has kept growing all winter, so without that I imagine it would be pure mud. The other field is also very wet, but large enough that it's mostly saturated grass rather than saturated mud, with a big boggy patch round the gate. The others are all being saved / rested, but they're very wet too - if you put a horse on it it would be destroyed.

They're out eight hours a day. For the first time in my life I am trying to reduce turnout time, eg by keeping in longer for a good groom, etc, during normal turnout hours whenever I can.
 
I have 2 on 4.5 acres.
My winter paddock is quite wet (standing water on part of it) but pretty clear of mud as they came in overnight from just before xmas, to rest the ground overnight.

Fuzzies are currently in spring paddock as from yesterday, and now either in overnight for 12 hours, or as per last night - out - dependant on weather and my work pattern (3 days a week they will still be in overnight anyway, as its quicker to muck out, than poo-pick with head torch at 6am up fields :)

My 2 x summer paddocks up the top have a good growth due to the warm November, and its going to be already too much for mine.

Am v glad I don't have liveries this winter, last ones went in Oct last year, means I haven't had to put hay out in daytime this winter to date :)
 
Thank you so much for messages so far please keep them coming. We're not fortunate enough to have a field that we can alternate with from summer to winter that's why I'm so worried I think. I'm not very good with soil types? We're at the bottom of the downs so would I assume that's more clay?
 
We have ours out 24/7 - have 2 fields resting summer one and the winter one which he is currently on. It is trashed by gate and his field shelter where feed is but the rest of the area is not too bad although water logged in one part which happened recently when we had mega downpour. We do take him over to other field for a couple of hours each day where we have taped off an area for him to graze to get him off the mud so he's happy. He has hay and hard feed morning and evening so a good weight.

I wouldn't worry too much food wise as yours is getting plenty when in but I do think you need to start resting part of field in order for it to recover for springtime. With this amount of rain and horses trashing it it will have no chance.

That said always amazes me how fields do recover given the state some of them are in!

You are not alone so don't worry - I absolutely hate winter with horses can't wait for spring:D On a plus note tho the nights are getting lighter Yaaay !
 
Firstly - don't panic the fields will recover and all will be fine :)

Personally I would tape off a small amount just to save the integrity of the ground - so they have somewhere to go when you are resting the rest of it. It's nice to have a small area that isn't poached come spring.

I'm always amazed at how people manage when they have a low acreage. Yours is above what the Bhs recommend per horse, you limit grazing, but still it isn't enough :( I have 5 on 16 acres and have no mud except at the gateways - I guess I'm really lucky.
 
We are really lucky in that so far this year, compared to the rest of the country, it's been really dry and monsterously windy so the ground is the driest I've ever seen it in winter. My guys have just moved into their winter field to eat the hay fields. The winter field is pretty small. I start then 2/3rds of the way back and each day the front fence gets moved one human stride closer to the stables. So each day they get a new fresh bit of grass to eat/gallop up and down! It's only really muddy because they like bombing around! By the time they get to the front it should be March at which point I'm hoping it might be a bit better and they can have the whole lot to flatten the ruts out. Then they start on the back third stripping backwards. That's the driest bit of field do if we get a wet spring they will be on a decent bit of ground.
 
In six weeks time it will be looking so much better. Ours look dreadful now and always do. But early March it starts to dry, we are clay, it is rolled and harrowed and looks great and off we go again. Don't worry the end is in sight. As long as you give them plenty of hay they will be fine.
 
KatPT said:
We are really lucky in that so far this year, compared to the rest of the country, it's been really dry and monsterously windy so the ground is the driest I've ever seen it in winter. My guys have just moved into their winter field to eat the hay fields. The winter field is pretty small. I start then 2/3rds of the way back and each day the front fence gets moved one human stride closer to the stables. So each day they get a new fresh bit of grass to eat/gallop up and down! It's only really muddy because they like bombing around! By the time they get to the front it should be March at which point I'm hoping it might be a bit better and they can have the whole lot to flatten the ruts out. Then they start on the back third stripping backwards. That's the driest bit of field do if we get a wet spring they will be on a decent bit of ground.
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Blimey where are you located ?
 
Well i think most ppl here know what mine are like !! i have two ponies on 3 acres in one field and 2 acres in another. Ive been resting the smaller field this winter but im on the last bit of the larger field now(ive been fencing pieces off) so i think i will be moving them into the smaller field pretty soon now.
My gateways are nto too bad because i have fenced them off, but my stable fronts and their shelter front is the absolute worse. A foot deep in slushy clay that my boots gets stuck in all the time. The ponies have been stood in that for best part of the winter, although the best thing i did was to floor the shelter and they love it as it gets their feet dry for short periods.
I do know I wont go through a winter like i just did and still am a bit. As soon as it dries out its getting dug out then i will layer it with appropriate draining materials and probably gravel or concrete an area off of about 20 ft around stable fronts, so that i can stand upright and i have somewhere i can get them dry and feet washed off too. I have suffered quite badly this winter. It's not going to happen again that's for sure !
 
Groom Mum said:
Well i think most ppl here know what mine are like !! i have two ponies on 3 acres in one field and 2 acres in another. Ive been resting the smaller field this winter but im on the last bit of the larger field now(ive been fencing pieces off) so i think i will be moving them into the smaller field pretty soon now.
My gateways are nto too bad because i have fenced them off, but my stable fronts and their shelter front is the absolute worse. A foot deep in slushy clay that my boots gets stuck in all the time. The ponies have been stood in that for best part of the winter, although the best thing i did was to floor the shelter and they love it as it gets their feet dry for short periods.
I do know I wont go through a winter like i just did and still am a bit. As soon as it dries out its getting dug out then i will layer it with appropriate draining materials and probably gravel or concrete an area off of about 20 ft around stable fronts, so that i can stand upright and i have somewhere i can get them dry and feet washed off too. I have suffered quite badly this winter. It's not going to happen again that's for sure !
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Can I ask what flooring you have put in field shelter?
 
Well it's not conventional. It was put down in a desperate situation by the guy who did my fencing. So he's a qualified carpenter but... The stables were put straight on to the field. They are raised on skids though, by a couple of inches. So, this is a temporary measure only until it dries up and we are pulling it up again. We put plywood down on batons then we rubber matted. Then so they don't come skidding into the area I just scatter one bale of shavings and a bale of straw. It makes a lovely comfy secure area for them to just get off of the sludge. They love it in there. I sometimes have to shoo them out so I can muck it out. The plywood will eventually rot with the wet. But my fencer thinks it will probably be ok for a year. I'm not risking that. So in the spring it will come up I will then put sand on the grass bit then re rubber mat it.
 
Lottie4788 said:
I'm sure it's asked regularly and I supose I'm just looking to make myself feel better. I moved my old boy to a new yard in November where I was promised 24hr in the summer months. We have three cobby types on 5 acres for a maximum of 7hrs a day and it is trashed and there is barley a morsel to eat. I can't bring in any more as my boy has COPD and I already feel I'm asking a lot of him as his breathing is noticeably worse at the moment so not pushing him. I'm thinking we need to tape some off to start it resting but I'm worried they're won't be enough for 24/7 when it dries up. Have obviously been spoilt elsewhere as have never worried about lack of grass before. Pics and advice all welcome horses are doing fine and maintaining weight as eating their selves silly when in.
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We have 9 acres for 9 split into 4, 2 are resting and as green as they come. Also 1 acre for the ponies strip graze and managing ok. The other pair is muddy near gate way but the top one fairs better. Considering they are out every day 7 am - 3.30pm the whole lot they are fairing better than others who have less horses but keep them out fill time.The two in use will have 3 months off soon and will recover ok till our land management starts next month ( harrow/fertilize/weed kill.)
 
2 acres for one horse. Bottom field is wet but no deeper than fetlock height. Still got some grass in there - horse always has his head down after 10 hours when I get him in at night!! Top field I rested since August so that horse would have some new grass in a dry field but then I realised there was way too much grass in there as it hadn't really stopped growing so have put some sheep in there and hopefully I can turn horse out there in about 10 days and rest the really wet one!! Also have a small paddock at the house which has way, way too much grass so will need to put sheep out there too before horse goes out!!

We just need a week of windy dry weather to start drying everything up again.
 
my summer fields have standing water which makes them good later. but the winter ones are just mud with some grass as the horses only decide to go out when they want to gallop around and play and spend the rest of their time at the hay and shelter area where its concreted and they can get out of the wind
 
We have had a melt so for the first time since Christmas I can see the ground, which is frozen, we had rain last night so that water just sits, and then it froze. So my winter paddocks are basically rather mucky skating rinks, half an acre of solid ice. The horses are terribly sensible and tippy toe about the place. Temps are rising, plus 3 tonight, so hopefully the water will run off a bit.

I am only using 2 flat paddocks by the house for convenience, water, hay, shelter all easily accessible, the others are steep and would be lethal with all the ice at the moment.
 
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The winter fields are half under water from the nearby river which has completely covered the neighbours field between them and it, and is now halfway up them. The water is over the level of the fencing at the bottom. The other half is a complete bog from having the horses on it up until Christmas. They have now been moved to a higher stony field which is getting cut up, but luckily can't ever get really muddy as its only ever a few inches down to the bedrock. The summer fields are currently part of the turlough (lake that appears in winter and dries out in summer) which is about twice as big as usual this winter.
 
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