your thoughts please on my yard dilemma!

lynseylou1

lynseylou1

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 July 2010
Messages
129
Location
Cornwall
Visit site
Looking for your pearls of wisdom guys!
I am on a yard which has been a diy but very hands off by owner, in other words do as you like. My 15.2 mare is on a section of paddock I have section which is approx 1.5 acres. I poo pock daily / every other day and althougyh she is kept alone she has neighbours on either side and has close contact with others ,she is a happy horse!
Yard has now sold, lovely owners and really want to stay, new sand school going in and general needed improvements taking place.
However .... the will obviously be more liveries coming in and we will all have an individual paddock each. Approx 1/2 an acre in summer and another 1/2 acre in winter.
I have always had a field / paddock big enough so my horse can roam. Any of you on here using this system that can say how they feel it works? Im obviously going to have to feed hay / haylage all year round. It was suggested horses needed to come in either at night or by day every day all year round but I am not doing this for many reasons so will feed hay in field instead.
I know a horse needs 2-2.5% bodyweight per day of feed/ forage but anyone with any advice or ideas would be gratefully received.
I have been offered a share of 4 acres further away, would mean keeping her more naturally as she currently lives but no school. I would like to give it a go where I am but have some reservations about the paddock size and extra work/ cost invloved in these small paddocks..... Any thoughts???
 
Sounds like you'll be spending all your time poo picking, mucking out and other stable jobs if you continue as DIY where you are, plus up to 3x more liveries if they're reducing your grazing by that much? Will you even be able to get to ride in the upgraded school if you stay with the extra jobs and increased use? If you don't want your horse stabled all year round (1/2 acre winter paddocks will get cut up and will the new owners then want horses off them completely?), and you have a good alternative on offer now, no school can be worked around a lot of the time.
 
Hi, half an acre doesnt sound much does it - especially after how much you have been used to - i understand your concern. What is putting you off the 4 acre paddock (lack of a school?) :)
 
I keep 3 like this and LOVE it! Having been on yards in the past where the horse's have been in herds and had problems with bullying, getting in and out of gates with horses milling around, which is downright dangerous, and not being able to feed in the field.

I have 3 paddocks of around 1/2 acre, My competition horse stays in his own on limited grazing as he gets fat and lazy! - he has hay all year round.

My other 2 go in together in the summers and I rest and rotate paddocks,all paddocks are split in half lenthways to create long narrow strips so the can get up some speed if they want to.

We are very lucky that we are on very well draining soil, so mud isn't too bad, the comp horse stays in in winter as he doesn't do bad weather and will jump out and bring himself in regardless! so I have another paddock to play with.

As long as you poo pick it's really no problem and can certainly be done, and the cost of a bit of hay/haylage in the summer is minimal for the convienience, mine just gets a slice a day in summer, I also feed it in a large tub so it doesn't make a mess and get trampled in!
 
Dancing Queen said:
Hi, half an acre doesnt sound much does it - especially after how much you have been used to - i understand your concern. What is putting you off the 4 acre paddock (lack of a school?) :)
Click to expand...

its a few miles extra to travel everyday to the 4 acres about an extra 15 per day when I go twice.
 
im currently on a small individual paddock yard and i hate it. Horse has to be on her own but the paddock is small so grass goes v quick. Hay costs a fortune and despite having 3 big haynets a day and hay loose in the field she chews the fence coz shes bored and has turned into an escape artist.
 
SJcrazee said:
I keep 3 like this and LOVE it! Having been on yards in the past where the horse's have been in herds and had problems with bullying, getting in and out of gates with horses milling around, which is downright dangerous, and not being able to feed in the field.

Just out interest .. how big are your horses SJ?
Click to expand...
 
I would give it a go for the whole 12 months. It is not so bad having limited grazing as at least you can keep a control of the horse's weight by adjusting haylage amounts accordingly. The improvements the YO is making sounds like a good incentive to stay too. Plus your horse is settled and you know people. I would hate to move somewhere that just had a field. A school is essential to me.
 
I have a two acre field for my two horses. They have half in summer and half in winter, although I can rotate as I please, so effectively the situation you describe. I don't end up feeding hay in the summer. They do fine on their acre.

They aren't particularly small horses, 15.3 TBxWB and currently 15.1 TB (but she's still growing)
 
thanks everyone :-) def food for thought,..... i may try it for a couple of months and see how it goes. Unless something really special close to home comes along in meantime.
Thanks again :-)
 
Unless YO is intending to provide hay/lage in the livery price, I wouldn't even consider it. but then I wouldn't consider individual turnout anyway.
In your position, I would move to the 4 acres and look for a school to hire as and when.
 
lynseylou1 said:
SJcrazee said:
I keep 3 like this and LOVE it! Having been on yards in the past where the horse's have been in herds and had problems with bullying, getting in and out of gates with horses milling around, which is downright dangerous, and not being able to feed in the field.

Just out interest .. how big are your horses SJ?
Click to expand...


One just under 16hh the others are around 14.2 mark.
Click to expand...
 
We have five mares on two and a half acres at my livery yard - they are all up to weight - in fact some are too fat! I don't think its the size of the grazing, I think the quality has a lot to do with it as well. Ours is well looked after by the farmer and we rotate between summer and winter grazing. The quality of ours must be fantastic looking at the horses we have on such a small area!
 
personally i wouldn't be happy with 1/2 an acre, but that's because mine are used to having paddocks that are at least 2 acres if not more:)
When i got my TB she'd been kept in an individual 1/2 acre turnout set up, i was on a small livery where the paddocks were about 3 acres each, when her old owner came up to see her a few months later she cried when she saw the old girl cantering across the paddock, because she's never seen her do it before as there had never been room!!
watching how my lot mess about and have a good run i couldn't consider putting them in a 1/2 acre:(
 
I think it depends on the horse (how well they do on limited grass) and the quality of the grazing.

I've just come off this arrangement with my 17.1hh horse because he was being increasingly destructive and getting increasingly hungry despite me feeding £40 worth of hay, hay replacers and hard feed a week. He is good doer on good quality grass.

My friend's 15.1hh horse lives on fresh air and is very happy with it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top