Turnout in muddy paddocks?

[filly78]

It was nice and warm in SE PA yesterday, so we turned our guys out for a bit. Since the grass is pretty much non existent right now, we threw out a few flakes of hay for our geldings. They were in separate fields, but decided to stand at the fence and "play" over the fence as well as roll in the muddiest spots they could find (did I mention one of our geldings is grey almost white?!? :eek:) Needless to say they were both covered in mud. Unfortunately the gate between the 2 fields wasn't securely latched and our geldings ended up in the same field and decided to run around like nuts for a few minutes - which left our fields torn to shreds. Ugh!!!

With warm weather here all this week, looks like nothing will be drying out anytime soon. What do you guys do when your fields are this muddy? I hate not turning our guys out, but all they have been doing is acting like idiots and tearing up our fields....!!

[deltawave]

You need a sacrifice area. Or, more correctly, your HORSES and your PADDOCKS need a sacrifice area. Seriously. My horses' hooves do not TOUCH my grass paddocks this time of year, ever. They have a 1/2 acre sacrifice area (sandy soil, never very muddy) where they live 24/7 and they can move and play all they want. If I put them out on the big pastures when it's deeply snow-covered, they play because it's "new", but only briefly. Still, it would be enough to tear up the grass if I let them do it when it's muddy or soft. So I don't. :)

I only have about 5-6 acres in grass, so I have to be very, very careful with it. Are the pastures more important than the horses? No, but the horses would have NO pasture if I didn't take care of the grass, and I don't want them running in slippery mud anyway.

Fence off a small corner of one of your paddocks and let that get destroyed. Save the rest.

[Calvincrowe]

In perpetually wet Washington, I created a sacrifice area large enough to stretch their legs, but not so large as to be a "field" roughly 48 feet x 60 feet excluding the 12 x 36 feet of barn overhang. I used screenings/fine gravel layered 8" deep over geotextile cloth and have no mud. This must be done during the summer, of course, but you could fence off a portion of your current field to act as a sacrifice area, and save your fields.

[c5rose]

My horses have a 1 acre sacrifice paddock, with a 50'x80' area of screenings next to their run-in shed to get away from the mud. I let them on their big pastures in April only when the ground has substantially dried to avoid too much damage.

[FoxChaser]

If I had a sacrifice area like you all describe, my horses would be in it from October-June (not worth it). I let mine loose pretty much 24/7. This summer will be different since I finally have a barn, so they'll be in during the day.

[deltawave]

My horses ARE in their sacrifice area, 24/7, from, well, January 1st through December 31st. ;) They go out on the grass paddocks when I let them, which varies from 0 to 12 hours a day. They have plenty of room in their 1/2 acre paddock to roam around at will, to play, to roll, and to just hang out. It's their "home", where they often choose to be, even when the gates are open and the grass paddocks are available. There's water, shade, shelter, the barn, and maybe a chance at some treats there--a happy place. :)

Grazing from May through November (rain permitting) and uniformly good/safe footing in non-mud-hole/torn-up paddocks is definitely worth it. :yes:

[Paddys Mom]

My horses ARE in their sacrifice area, 24/7, from, well, January 1st through December 31st. ;) They go out on the grass paddocks when I let them, which varies from 0 to 12 hours a day. They have plenty of room in their 1/2 acre paddock to roam around at will, to play, to roll, and to just hang out. It's their "home", where they often choose to be, even when the gates are open and the grass paddocks are available. There's water, shade, shelter, the barn, and maybe a chance at some treats there--a happy place. :)

Grazing from May through November (rain permitting) and uniformly good/safe footing in non-mud-hole/torn-up paddocks is definitely worth it. :yes:

This is my setup too and works great!

[imapepper]

I need to create a sacrifice area. I just rented a barn with a 5-6 acre pasture and it poured yesterday but hasn't started raining today. I turned them out this morning because I know it's going to rain again later today and I will need to keep them in for the next 2 days :(

[unclewiggly]

I either turn out in my riding ring (sand) w/ a flake of hay in one corner only and pick up the dropping like a fanatic.
Or T/O into one of the 60 x 60 small transition paddocks we put in stonedust.
Also a round pen w/ sand or stonedust or mulch works.
In a pinch I just use one paddock and T/O in rotation and when weather is better drag, top seed , spread w/ straw n manure and give it a f ew months off.

[brightwhitestockings]

i'm also located in southeast PA, and i feel your pain!

We've been turning out the quiet ones that don't do anything except munch on their round bale all day. :lol:

Our wild TBs ;) we've been alternating out in the ring and it seems to be working pretty well. My horse was recently injured pretty seriously from slipping in the mud while being turned out, so we're trying to be as careful as possible.

Either way, our fields are pretty trashed too. This weather sucks :mad:

[yellowbritches]

I'd LOVE to have a sacrifice area like dw's, unfortunately renting and not owning can often hamper that. So, they either go out on their muddy fields (are soil drains pretty well so that for the most part it is only the gate areas that get really gross) or, if it is really, really nasty out, they take turns out in the ring. Because we have 12 we have to rotate off the ring, they usually just go out there for an hour, goofy around, have a good roll, knock jumps over, then come in. It works, but not ideal. I rather have a good, non-muddy area for them to hang out in on the worst days. :yes:

[S1969]

I feel your pain! We let ours be out during the winter so long as there is snow cover or everything frozen solid...but we're getting a nice thaw so they may be forced in for the "mud season" pretty soon. This will keep them in our arena (80x100) and stonedust barnyard (60x60) until pastures are ready. Since I only have two horses and 4 acres pasture, I will probably allows early grazing [May?] on our smallest section of the pasture (overnight only) and then rotate the two large ones when the grass comes in fully, leaving the smallest one to regrow. We'll see...definitely weather dependent. We did this last year and it was worth sacrificing some grass to let them out because they were getting really crazy after a couple months in their sacrifice "prison" ;)

My horses only get to graze overnight otherwise there would be no grass left!

[theoldgreymare]

Our sacrifice pasture is about four acres and gets the big roughneck WB's in it until April/May. The slower paced ones are allowed on grass all year as they don't do much damage to the fields and are supplemented with loads of hay. The sacrifice pasture currently looks like a mine field with divets everywhere (no holes though) and little grass. They get a ton of hay to keep them busy and have plenty of room to romp if they choose. I feel guilty looking at the grass coming up in the other pastures that are resting but if we use them now, they will be ruined by summer. When the hooligans move into their summer pasture, the sacrifice pasture will get reseeded and rest until winter.

[Fairview Horse Center]

Our horses are in the fields every day. Yes, they run around and naturally "aerate" the soil. ;) Yes, the grass comes back, even with them on it. I have too many for it to come in lush, which is not what I want anyway. I don't want to have to be locking up the air ferns all summer. They are happy, & healthier, more resistant to illness because they get consistent management.

[FoxChaser]

Thanks FHC, I'm glad to know I'm not the only one. If I kept my TBs in little sacrifice areas, they'd be hell on wheels when turned out and then I'd have to watch for injuries. I figure it IS grass and it ALWAYS grows back :)

[Fairview Horse Center]

I'd have to watch for injuries. I figure it IS grass and it ALWAYS grows back :)

Yes. I can't tell you over the years of how LOW my injury and illness rate is. I think a lot of that is due to their consistent turnout, and low stress. I can give them nutrition another way if needed. Beautiful lush pastures are lovely for people to look at, but I have always considered my farm set up for what is best for the HORSES. Oh, yeah, that is why I named it HORSE CENTER. They are the center of everything.

Horses are designed as animals that graze on huge, but not lushly planted ranges. Low calorie grasses that they have to do a lot of exercise to ingest enough of.

They are not designed to eat periodically large quantities of rich grasses in a limited area, then be locked up for months at a time limiting their exercise. They are not designed to be on rotating pastures, because their diets then go from lush to sparse, change to lush, eat until sparse, etc, etc. That is best for landscaping, not health. No wonder we have so many reports of digestion issues, and syndromes, etc.

Off my soapbox ;)

[deltawave]

Lots of ways to do it right. And wrong. :)

If I had the luxury of FOUR ACRES for a sacrifice area I wouldn't fret the way I do over my soil, my pastures, my footing, etc. etc. Same if I could count anything I owned as a "field". That implies LARGE. Alas, the only thing "large" here is the manure pile. ;)

[Calvincrowe]

I'm with you, Deltawave. No one way to manage turnout. I only have a bit over 3 acres for my horses, and I prefer to have them on good pasture for 7 months of the year, so I restrict their access to the larger "pastures". I think that a sacrifice area needs to be big enough to "stretch their legs"--too many boarding barns think a 12 x 14 attached "paddock" is sufficient.

[Foxtrot's]

We have beautiful topsoil over clay. If my horses were not kept in a sacrifice paddock Oct-May they would be up to their knees in mud in no time with the rain we have here. Weeds would grow back faster than the grass, especially buttercups, and I don't like to spray.

During the summer their time is rationed because I don't have a lot of space, but they do like to get out and graze.

Like DW, winter and summer, mine have access to shade, shelter and water and hay. We had a long period of frost and snow - everyone had a vacation on the fields this winter.

I don't mean a paddock not much bigger than a stall - those amount to concentration camps for horses.

[Doodlebug1]

In England it's a constant dilemma. I have tried pretty much everything and now I have three horses on about 4 acres. The field is divided into four paddocks and I just rotate the horses (all turned out in the same field) when they've run out of grass and turned the field to mud. They are out in the field from about 7am to 6 or 7pm and in at night.

I am really careful to pick up all their poo a couple of times a week and then as soon as the weather allows I harrow, harrow, harrow and occasionally roll if I have to. I always remove poisonous plants and weeds asap and also cut down any rough patches of grass that the horses won't eat.

The grass always comes back and genuinely although one field at a time looks a little like a battleground six months of the year, the fields are in good shape.

Mentally the horses are much happier than when I've restricted their grazing (either by stabling them or by restricting size of grazing) and they get supplementary hay if they need it, which isn't often. They have ad lib hay at night and so even if I offer hay during the day, more often that not they are happy without.

The other thing is caring for the horses... I'm not sure if you have a different name for what we call mud fever, mud fever is caused by bacteria in the soil that enters cuts, chapped skin in the fetlocks and caused heat, swelling and oozy scabs that need to be picked off - hmmmmm, not pleasant. I'm lucky that my horses don't seem to get it but I do make sure I keep their legs as clean and dry as possible.

[Penthilisea]

So, planning ahead for when/if I bring my horses home to my 4 acres of grass, would two SEDATE horses be ok out on the whole thing all year round? Is the big issue horses running and tearing it up? I already know I will be feeding hay in the winter months, and grain year round for a balanced diet.

[deltawave]

Even my quiet old mare and Shetland would wreak havoc on the pastures if I let them out there when it's wet. Particularly around gates it gets just awful, and we have GOOD drainage.

IMO the smaller the property, the greater the need for a sacrifice area and thoughtful, careful pasture rotation.

[Fairview Horse Center]

I have just about 1 acre per horse. That area near the gate does get horribly torn up over the winter, but the further out stuff may get gouges when muddy, but a week later, those have settled back down and you can't see them.

Once the spring grass starts to come up, even with all the horses on the pasture, and 28 off them hanging out by the gate for an hour or 3 before bring in time, you can see the grass "traveling" closer and closer, filling in a good deal of what was just a sea of dirt/mud.

I have done this here for 27 years, and each year it comes back the same.

[denovo]

We only turn out on grass in the summer, in good(read: dry) weather. All 25 horses have covered, crusher dust paddocks for winter/bad weather. They are big enough to run around a small amount int--although, all the horses do run like crazy when first turned out in fields in the summer. They do just fine. :)
We are in southern BC, where it rains. constantly. So we have to be careful with grass turnout. :)

[JoZ]

Our landlord (the farm owner) cross-fenced several of our pastures so we could use the front 1/3 for winter sacrifice. Well, it's just not worth it. It gets incredibly slippery, for one thing. Also, it DOES grow grass in the summer, and having 6 months without having to buy and feed hay is pretty important to my annual horse budget. Turning the fronts of the pastures to muck would annihilate the grass.

So the winter turnout situation isn't ideal. We have a large indoor arena, and a smaller indoor turnout. We are hoping to get a larger outdoor turnout area (on fill and hogfuel, and on higher ground, so somewhat less mucky) horse-ready soon.