When is steep too steep

Bradsmum

Bradsmum

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Looking for some advice from anyone who keeps their horses on steep land. We recently viewed a property that we both loved. The house was perfect for us, there are some useful outbuildings and 13 acres of land. That is probably too much land for our needs in reality but the vast majority of it is described by agent as gently sloping to sloping. However on viewing it the main field, 10 acres, was sloping to sheer (towards the top). First impression is that it is just too steep but I can't get the property out of my head. How do your horses cope and what would be too steep for you.
 
Mine live on steep hills all year. I think it does them good - balance,fitness etc. They hurtle up and down flat out at times. And they are big TB's and WB 's, not nimble little mountain and moorlands!
If yours aren't used to it, electric fence the worst bits off for a while.

Downside is field maintenance- some of ours is much much too steep for a tractor, so thistles etc have to be hand pulled or strimmed .
 
If you can walk on it then so can a horse. Unless there is a cliff to fall off I wouldn't be too worried. I keep some of mine on hill ground all winter and they are kept fit by being on there.
 
Hills are good for keeping up fitness and topline - mine go out in a big hill field for the winter turnout and look great for it.
There is nothing I would describe as "sheer" though.
 
Is there some of what you describe as flattish ground were you could have a turnout area for use if you had an injured horse .
If so I would not worry if everything else is drawing you there .
Field maintenance is the only downside it will hard work if it must be done by hand but if it's much more land than you need then you can do much less than you have to when the land is being worked hard .
You can not beat having your horses at home go and have another look .
 
unless the whole field was basically vertical, it wouldn't bother me at all.The fields in my trainers yard are like mountain slopes and the horses stay much fitter, with better muscle. the only think i'd want is a good size gentle slope area that you could use if you had a very old/injured horse.
 
My lot have a main field which is on a steep hill with a flat area at the bottom. They also have access to a really steep bank, I had my doubts as to whether they would graze that bit but they do quite happily. They are all native types although my TB mare used to manage the hill and the bank well too. All the climbing and working for their grass does wonders for their waistlines!
 
Thank you all for your replies. I think we need to go and have another look which is no bad thing because when we went previously, it was a bright sunny day in October and perhaps on a rainy, cold day it might look different. Tvm.
 
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All of my land slopes, keeps us all fitter, poo picking is challenging so i use a bucket, which i find much easier anyway, downside is massive skid marks and maintenance ,most of mine can't be cut so i have to strim which is hard going, my only complaints are that i have nowhere flat for ground work so i always have to hack out and my vet has said the land is not brilliant for one of my horses as he has a dodgy hock , personally there would be a limit on how steep i would accept as one of my friends horses fell and broke her neck on her land but of course they can get injured just playing in a field with their mates, can you post some pics???
 
Meredith said:
Just a thought, if the gates are at the bottom of the field you might find that water drains there and makes it very muddy. My horses have over a number of years brought the earth downhill as they skidded and the ground level has risen quite a lot.
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It will be muddy ,however gateways can be managed with drains and hardstandings no where is perfect .
 
Mine are happy on steep, the one will happily canter up and down near vertical, watching her is pretty horrifying and riding her is terrifying but she is very fit (and she hardly does any work) and very sure footed. My other is pickier and prefers a less steep option. If you have plenty of land for your needs and the steep is only a part of it I would imagine you will get on quite well with it. I highly rate a bit of slope as turnout.
 
Goldenstar said:
It will be muddy ,however gateways can be managed with drains and hardstandings no where is perfect .
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We have tried hardstanding it disappears into the mud, gate mats the horses slide under them as they canter down to the gate and drains the stream thought it had found a new route ...........
 
Meredith said:
We have tried hardstanding it disappears into the mud, gate mats the horses slide under them as they canter down to the gate and drains the stream thought it had found a new route ...........
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A neighbour of mine with steep land has got round this by digging out a series of shallow sleeper faced steps leading down to the gateways. It also prevents her sliding onto her bottom as she's leading the horses in.
 
We've got a field which is flat at the top and bottom with a steep slope joining the two areas. It's steep enough that I have to turn sideways to walk down. We only use it for summer turnout for the hunters.

By the end of the summer, there is no grass, just bare earth and skidmarks. I wouldn't put our old boy on it, as his hocks don't enjoy downhill slopes.
 
Years ago, I went to see a 3 yr old that was being kept on the side of a hill with a load of sheep. He was a nice sort and sound but all 4 fetlocks were warm and swollen. His hocks were also slightly puffy. When I got him home, it took about a fortnight before his joints recovered from bring on a permanent slope and cooled down.
 
I'd love steep land- keep the porky highland fit :p
Perhaps not for winter turnout though if it's real slippy or if I had a easily broke TB type
 
Rowreach said:
A neighbour of mine with steep land has got round this by digging out a series of shallow sleeper faced steps leading down to the gateways. It also prevents her sliding onto her bottom as she's leading the horses in.
Click to expand...

Good idea but we have rock less than 6 inches under the higher ground. The only deep earth is where it has 'washed' down over the years. I just use a lot of baby oil on legs!!
 
Much to think about! I'm trying to work out if we could use the main part for summer (though I don't think we would use all of it) and then the two smaller fields for the rest of the year. Unfortunately the barn that I'd like to use for winter shelter is in the main field so may need to make a hard standing outside the barn for proper winter weather. A local farmer is currently grazing sheep on the land just to keep it down so hopefully we could come to some arrangement with him to continue as this will help manage it. Am pestering OH to set a weekend aside so hat we can revisit. I don't actually need to see the house, just the land and outbuildings again. The first viewing took 2 1/2 hours!!!
 
Good luck the second visit is all about practical plans what do you need to put in to make it workable ( and what's that going to cost ) .
 
We are at the top of the Pennines, when we were looking at property to buy, we rejected; 20 acres of "spider farm", which although advertised as if use able would have been a challenge to mountain goats, the farm where the land was higher than the house and we were genuinely concerned that the Clydie would slide onto the roof and the one where the house would have been perfect but the land was either so steep that it was safer to sit down and slide, or so wet that reeds were growing in it.
We then opted for our current place where we have what we call the flat field but which, in reality, is on a slope and part of the land where several people have warned us to be very careful if we take the tractor in there (as if we are bonkers!). We have also had them in a field which is too steep for a tractor.
I think you can only decide what you and your horses can cope with by looking at the land, its boundaries and its possibilities.
 
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