| A major part of a horse's diet is hay or pasture. | | | | reduces the cost of feeding, provides your horse |
| A horse weighing 1000 pounds will eat about 500 | | | | with exercise, and generally speaking, horses are |
| pounds each month. A horse needs roughly 28 | | | | usually healthier when kept outside on |
| acres of non-irrigated, dryland pasture a year if | | | | pasture.Establishing and maintaining a productive |
| that is the only source of forage. However, a | | | | pasture is not too difficult. A few dollars spent on |
| pasture that is irrigated will grow more forage | | | | soil nutrients for your pasture is a good |
| than dryland pasture, requiring less acreage. The | | | | investment. Fertilizer will help your pasture to |
| amount of irrigated pasture needed for one horse | | | | become more productive and produce more |
| is roughly 1 to 2 acres.Two acres of pasture for | | | | forage. Fertilizer costs will generally be offset |
| each horse are recommended. One acre of | | | | from good pasture rotating and from savings in |
| pasture will provide adequate grazing, but requires | | | | feed costs for hay and grain supplements.Mowing |
| more pasture management. Manage your pasture | | | | is also important of pasture management. It |
| as you would with any crop with soil testing, | | | | minimizes the spread of weeds to help maintain |
| fertilizing, and managing manure. Horses will not | | | | higher quality forage. Mowing weeds before seed |
| eat trampled grass or grass with manure on it. | | | | heads are produced limits the spread of weeds. |
| Horses will also overgraze smaller areas very | | | | Grass should be mowed to 3-4 inches.No matter |
| quickly. Therefore, a combination of pasture and | | | | how well you manage your pasture, it will most |
| small lot or barn is needed to help minimize | | | | likely thin. To help ensure pasture continues to |
| overgrazing.Do not let horses overgraze the | | | | produce good grass, new forage seed should be |
| pasture as this can cause grass to no longer | | | | spread every year. It is recommended re-seeding |
| grow. Keep pasture grass healthy--overgrazed | | | | be done in the spring or fall. In the spring, wet |
| pasture may never recover. To allow for | | | | conditions will allow for germination and growth, |
| re-growth, leave about 1/3 of the grass uneaten | | | | but only if it is not too wet or muddy. In the fall, |
| at any given time. The horse can be confined to | | | | there will be less competition from weeds. Grazing |
| the lot or barn and only allowed to graze for a | | | | should not be allowed on new grass seedlings for |
| few hours a day, reducing damage to a small | | | | approximately 6 to 8 weeks after emerging from |
| pasture. Rotational pasture lots are one key to | | | | the ground to allow for proper root |
| using small acreage pasture space to the fullest | | | | growth.Caution! Turning your horse out on green |
| potential. Portable electric fencing provides an | | | | lush pasture before conditioning him to a change in |
| efficient and economic way to partition you | | | | diet is dangerous and can result in sickness or |
| pasture. Over-supplementing your horse with hay | | | | possibly death. Start your horse out slowly by |
| and grain will not prevent your horse from | | | | letting him graze for few minutes each day and |
| overgrazing.Pasture grazing is not absolutely | | | | gradually increase to a few hours each day.Randall |
| necessary for a horse. A nice green pasture is | | | | Holman, site owner of Front Range Frenzy and |
| not always a reality. Horses can be properly fed | | | | horse enthusiast, is the author of the above |
| without pasture. However, pasture has several | | | | article. |
| advantages as it is the natural feed for horses, | | | | |