# 4 horses on 3 acres



## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

You may think the grass is growing strong but those horses will eat just the good parts down and leave the parts where they go to the bathroom. I am not sure what part of the country you are in but I would create a sacrifice lot for all of the horses to fit into and feed hay BEFORE you put them out for any time so they do not gorge themselves on grass. Limit the amount of time they have in the pasture and if you are going to have 4 horses in 3 acres for long drag the pasture to break up clumps of manure and keep the long parts mowed. Ideally you could split the pasture into 2 sections and let one rest while the other is being grazed. I live in NW IL and have 4 horses on 4 acres. They have access to pasture 2-3 hours per day early in the AM when grass is less stressed to watch the sugars and not at all in the afternoon. Even with this my pasture get eaten down in the sweet spots. We fertilize and treat for weeds when the pastures are rotated. My horses are fed hay 3 times each day (small amts each feeding)


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

I have two horses on 1.5 acres. Not ideal, I agree, but I've seen a lot worse. There are places in the world (and around here) where horses don't have hardly any grazing area. I saved the pasture by roping off different areas throughout the summer and rotating them, but now that there isn't going to be a lot of growth anyway, they are free to come and go from their stalls (dutch doors stay open 24/7) to the paddock, to the pasture. They love it. I throw a bit of hay in their haynets at night, so they graze a bit throughout the day, rest a bit, come in to get away from the flies a bit... yes, my pasture is overgrazed, but with two very plump horses and one which may be bordering on insulin resistant, I don't mind that they don't have an abundance of fresh grass. I also have them on vitamin and mineral supplements year round to make sure they aren't short on anything.

They did not turn the pasture to mud or kill the grass, it just doesn't get that tall. But I have good natural drainage and live in a pretty balanced climate when it comes to dry vs wet conditions.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Ahead of the pasture-ruining concern, have you given thought as to how you will introduce the new horse to the already established herd of three?

I would hate to see someone get run thru a fence and permanently damaged. The new horse should be separated until everybody has decided they don't need to play King of The Hill.


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## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

They'll be fine for 2-3 weeks. Throw out some hay if the grass gets thin.


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## KigerQueen (Jun 16, 2013)

wish my horses had a grazing area lol. i have one who has never seen pasture a day in his life.


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## Prairie (May 13, 2016)

4 horses on 3 acres is going to trample all the grass in no time. Just our 2 minis on over an acre of good pasture ruined it in under a month----and that was feeding them hay too. Hooves are hard on pasture! As far as dragging the pasture to break up and spread manure, you'll need to keep the horses off it until that manure has composted and gotten hot enough to kill the worm eggs. Better would be to muck the 3 acres daily so manure is not an issue.


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## HeroAndGunner (Jul 25, 2016)

I boarded at a place with friends that was the exact same situation. 4 horses on 3 acres and the pasture was ruined in no time. 




This situation could get tricky. Is your friend willing to pay half of the hay as well? I know my friends and I could never get on a good schedule for buying hay and putting it in the field. No one wanted to buy hay for other people's horses ,obviously . It was hard to just give my horse hay because my friends didn't care if their horses got hay or not ... which then I'm either giving my horse hay or no hay. Because my horse was below one in the pecking order so the one above would keep chasing him away. So I would have to spread the hay around for all the horses just so my one horse got hay. Which I was still in high school at the time and had no extra money to be feeding other people's horses.






I'm just telling you this because these are situations me and my friend had with the other 2 friends. It was a disaster. No one agreed on anything.


The only thing I can tell you is make sure you and your friend are on the same page. Paying half and half for hay, or even building extra fencing to give parts of the pasture a break.. But that's still hard on 3 acres. Good luck, I would never go back to that, I like lush green pastures! LOL


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## greentree (Feb 27, 2013)

Can you buy a good, strong charger, posts, and electric wire? I would divide that patch into 4 sections, and move them every day.That gives every patch 3 days to recover.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

With good pasture management and cross fencing smaller pastures, it can be done. We have a short growing season for grass here. We have snow in November and lasts until April. There are some horse owners I have seen on 2 or 3 acres, they have about 4 or 5 horses and have divided up the pastures into 5 sections. I think they have 2 dry lots and looks like they keep the pasture picked of manure. In the years I have been driving by this place, always looks like they have grazing, limited, but they have it.


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## boots (Jan 16, 2012)

Can you put them up during the day, or night, or just give them a few hours a day on the grass? And supplement with a decent grass hay?


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## Saskia (Aug 26, 2009)

It really depends. Some places are a lot more crowded. I had my single horse on 1 acre and had grass year round. 

If its not going great I would probably do a range of things. I would systematically fence off an acre at a time and allow it to rest, turn them out half the time, keeping them in the sacrifice area overnight with hay, and keep them in when its wet.


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