# 1 Acre Horse Property Layout Suggestions



## Foxhunter (Feb 5, 2012)

Well, my way of thinking is that 1 acre, some of which is taken with buildings and a pond, is NOT enough to keep a horse on. 

If you have wet weather then the ground will become a quagmire au grass will,soon be grazed down to the roots and your horse will not have room tomexercise properly so, would need to be ridden every day to be kept healthy. 

Others may disagree.


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## walkinthewalk (Jul 23, 2008)

Foxhunter said:


> Well, my way of thinking is that 1 acre, some of which is taken with buildings and a pond, is NOT enough to keep a horse on.
> 
> If you have wet weather then the ground will become a quagmire au grass will,soon be grazed down to the roots and your horse will not have room tomexercise properly so, would need to be ridden every day to be kept healthy.
> 
> *Others may disagree.*


Not me. That’s the size of one of my sick bays —————-


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## Fuddyduddy1952 (Jun 26, 2019)

We're in Virginia with good land and pasture. I've always heard the rule of thumb here is about 2 acres per horse or cow. Personally I think that's not enough.
(Some people live in a 400 sq ft apartment). I like the idea of having a few pastures. 
The lot pictured isn't quite an acre but just over 40K sq.ft. Then if you subtract your house+pool area+landscaping+driveway you may end up with 1/2 acre for the horse.
Is it possible to but adjacent property (best), or something not far away?
What you have just wouldn't work out as I see it. 

Sent from my SM-S320VL using Tapatalk


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## knightrider (Jun 27, 2014)

When I was a kid growing up in MD, we had an acre and a third and a horse. The house took up some of that land, but the horse grazed everywhere. The horse was my life and I spent lots and LOTS of time with him. We fertilized and fed hay and we did fine.

As an adult, I bought another piece of land in Bowie, MD which was again, an acre and a third with the house using up the third. I let the horse graze in the yard. I built pens and limited the horse grazing to keep my pasture lush and healthy. My horses always did fine. It can be done. Maybe not ideal, but it was all I could afford, and I made it work. Also, I spent great amounts of time with my horses . . . and I picked my pasture for manure every day.


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## ulifamily (Sep 16, 2020)

Foxhunter said:


> Well, my way of thinking is that 1 acre, some of which is taken with buildings and a pond, is NOT enough to keep a horse on.
> 
> If you have wet weather then the ground will become a quagmire au grass will,soon be grazed down to the roots and your horse will not have room tomexercise properly so, would need to be ridden every day to be kept healthy.
> 
> Others may disagree.


Whoops, I should've clarified this is not her area to exercise, nor is it the only area available. We will be riding outside of the lot daily and training at a local center. Luckily where I am located in Texas we can ride out from the house.


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## horselovinguy (Oct 1, 2013)

You have adequate space to keep a horse at home...
Can it graze and sustain itself nutritionally on that size acreage...no.
If you go into keeping the horse at home knowing from the first day you will need to supply hay every single day to feed the horse, then this works.
Fence and keep your grass areas for specific periods of time if you want the horse to have grass cause honestly your property is to small to let a horse graze non-stop and not make a dust-bowl in a matter of a week or two of continuous grazing free-choice.
A few hours a day is fine and rotate where the horse eats will work...pasture management of good manure pickup is mandatory cause horses don't eat where they poop and not every blade of grass do our picky-eaters consume either...
But you have plenty of space to keep the horse home in a paddock where they can self exercise if they wish, wander around and be a horse...
You just need to feed them hay or forage products and if feed is needed, then do so.
Riding off the property to train, get instruction and such is fantastic as it allows you space to not need a exercise ring for...
Just another way to look at your situation.
_Welcome to the Forum...:wave:_
_:runninghorse2:...._


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## ulifamily (Sep 16, 2020)

knightrider said:


> When I was a kid growing up in MD, we had an acre and a third and a horse. The house took up some of that land, but the horse grazed everywhere. The horse was my life and I spent lots and LOTS of time with him. We fertilized and fed hay and we did fine.
> 
> As an adult, I bought another piece of land in Bowie, MD which was again, an acre and a third with the house using up the third. I let the horse graze in the yard. I built pens and limited the horse grazing to keep my pasture lush and healthy. My horses always did fine. It can be done. Maybe not ideal, but it was all I could afford, and I made it work. Also, I spent great amounts of time with my horses . . . and I picked my pasture for manure every day.


Thank you for this! I know it’s doable and wanted to hear others experience. I am fortunate to be home everyday, so the attention and manure tending will not ever be a problem. I just wanted to raise my boys with a horse on some land because that’s what I dreamed of. I hope our mini farmhouse life can provide similar memories to our boys like you had!


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## ClearDonkey (Nov 27, 2016)

An option on a small acre property like this is to create a track for the horse(s) to follow in order to eat from hay bags. 

From https://equusmagazine.com/horse-care/limited-land-problem-30683

"At some small farms, a perimeter track within a paddock is used to encourage horses to be more active. By placing hay and water at various “stations” along the track, horses are encouraged to keep moving, even though the actual distance might be limited. You can even create various surfaces along the track, sand in sunny spots for lying down and resting, pea gravel for better hoof quality or little log jumps to make things interesting. It’s a little like designing a playscape for your horse."


I worked for a woman who had a set-up like this for her two horses, and I believe I would hang 6-8 haybags out for both of her horses around the perimeter of her pasture.


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## Haffytrailstoyou (Jun 28, 2020)

I have just over an acre my house and small barn. The horses have the majority of the property, so a huge corral. The sides of the small barn (used for hay and tack storage) are the walls for run in sheds on both sides of the barn. I feed with hay nets and the horses roam around the lot at free will. I have put gravel down inside the run in sheds to keep them out of the mud. I ride as often as I can given the fact that I usually work 6 days a week 50+ hours per week. I also feed a supplement to be sure they are getting all the nutrients they need.


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## Haffytrailstoyou (Jun 28, 2020)

When I get a minute I will take pictures.


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Horses can be kept on a small acreage, as long as they are fed hay (the grass will all die very quickly) and manure is picked up daily. I hope you realize that on average, a horse produces 50 lbs of manure each day. That's 350 lbs per week. Where will you put it? 

My biggest concerns would be that there are a lot of other things on the property including a pool if I understand correctly. So for one, you need to ensure the horse is not soiling areas that would affect your drinking water supply. If you have a septic tank, they should not be grazing over the tank or septic field either. I'm assuming this is not the case. Then, you will need to "baby proof" the yard so that there is nothing the horse can injure himself on. Fence off any areas that need to be kept clean. Make sure the horse cannot access areas like a deck or steps because they can put a hoof through those boards. Horses can, and will find a way to cut themselves, stab themselves, and find every and any sharp piece of metal. Your kids cannot leave things out in the yard. Bicycles, etc. become dangerous weapons if left laying in the grass where a horse might put a hoof through a wheel. 

Finally, expect your yard to be a stinky mess all the time. You can pick manure, but the urine will just absorb into the soil and eventually, the stench will be everywhere. There will be no grass left. It will look fine for a year, maybe two, but then as the grass all gets eaten, nothing will hold the soil together anymore and it will form a mix of dirt and manure that will blow around in dry weather, and create a big mess in wet weather. You will not be able to grow anything, anywhere. Which would be ok if you didn't also have to live there and walk through the yard. Really, I think putting down pea gravel might be the best idea. 

So no, I wouldn't do it, but I'm not saying it can't be done, just that there is no way to do it and still have a yard for your kids to play in. It seems like boarding the horse near your house would be a better alternative for everyone. Do you have a hay supplier? I don't know what it's like in Texas, but in a lot of places, it's getting harder to get hay. Plan on feeding half to three quarters of a square bale per day, as well as a ration balancer to make sure the horse has all the vitamins it needs to be healthy. Where will you store the hay? Or can you just buy whatever you need for the week? Still, you'll need a place to store 5-6 bales as well as any other feed and tack. Somewhere the horse cannot get into. So that will eat into your space as well. 

You mention that you can ride out from your house, which is great! But since you have kids and only plan on getting one horse, who will ride and what will the others be doing? Are they old enough to be left alone while you go out and ride? And will you walk beside the horse while one of the kids is riding? If so, I'm not sure that will be enough exercise for the horse because you won't be able to do more than walk.


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## waresbear (Jun 18, 2011)

Even in our small district, which is about as country as you can get, it is against the zoning law to keep livestock on anything less than 2 acres. They also limit the numbers you can keep on certain sizes of acreages. I had no idea this zoning law even existed, until somebody I knew who lives on just under 2 acres and has a horse was visited by the authorities. I guess somebody reported her. They gave her 14 days to move her horse or they will start fining her. She went to the village and got an extension of another 14 days because she is waiting to get into a boarding situation.


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## AragoASB (Jul 12, 2020)

This does not have much to do with small places, but it could. It is true horses will not eat the lush grass that grows up where they have manured. Cattle are the same way. So if you let horses into a cow pasture they will eat this cow poop grass. And if you let cows in where horses have been they will eat that grass. It is sort of like species/ grass management. That is what we do here. We have 3 small pastures on 16 acres.
Our new horse barn is in front of the house because that is the only flat place.


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## loosie (Jun 19, 2008)

Esp as it's only an acre, I'd put a track around the outside and the horse(s - hope you have more than one) would live on that. As 1 acres isn't enough to support a horse & will be trashed, might as well keep them on a track, which will save the rest from being overgrazed/ruined. Then you can open up inner areas for them to graze as you see fit, use the internal areas for other purposes & to ride in. Keeping horses on a track system will also motivate a bit more exercise. You could either have a full circuit, if you don't mind a couple of gates at your drive for getting in & out without horses escaping, or you could have a 'C' shaped section.


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## ulifamily (Sep 16, 2020)

Haffytrailstoyou said:


> When I get a minute I will take pictures.


Would love to see the pics when you can!


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