# Little more then a half an acre??!!??



## HorsesAreForever (Nov 9, 2007)

I want to move lexi to my house but the back yard only has maybe a little more then half an acre we're planning on clearing out the back woods planting some nice grass building her a small 1 stall [10x12] barn. She would be getting ridden almost everyday down in this sand pit thats over 20 acres and she could get a lot of good excerzise down there and i could set up some jumps. We have a dog that could maybe become good friends with her. Just wondering what u thought cause im getting a little tired of boarding. say what ever comes to mind. if u need anymore info just ask


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## HorsesAreForever (Nov 9, 2007)

15 veiws no answers?? come on peoples i need ur help!


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

i think i read somewhere that you can comfortable have 1 horse to an acre, but i'm probably wrong. 1/2 an acre for her to be turned out i think is good, because she's not going to be staying there. And as you said you'll have ample room to exercise her. The only bad thing i can think of is that she might become lonely because she doesn't have another horse to talk to. 
I would say it would be fine to move her and if you do see that she's getting lonely, you could always ad on to her stall.


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## HorsesAreForever (Nov 9, 2007)

ya i was thinking she may become lonely i was thinking about getting a mini as well but idk i mean she'll be getting attention from me every single day for 2 hours maybe more if no hw or anything .. ty for replying lol at least someone does


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

well its always good for an animal to have its own kind. Everything my fiance and I get are in multiples. We have 2 ferrets, 2 horses, 5 fiddler crabs. That way if we can't devote enough time to them, they'll have company and be able to use all their energy (or most of it) playing with each other. 

A mini sounds like a good idea, or even if you get a companion horse thats a rescue. I also heard goats are good at keeping horses company, but i havent tried it so i wouldnt know.


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## HorsesAreForever (Nov 9, 2007)

lol i love goats  i think i might get her goat she seems to have a interest for them (the palce i board has 4) lol 


I also gonna miss some of the people at the barn tho  lol but i want her in my back yard do i wont have to drive 30 mins and i can only see her on the weekends so her getting saddle broke right now isnt happening in the summer ill be able to go up there a lot but idk lol 


hope to hear from a few others [hint to other veiwers!]


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## appylover31803 (Sep 18, 2007)

don't fret over people not posting. If they viewed it and didn't respond it could likely be that they didn't know how to answer it.

hopefully by the summer my fiance and I will have a house and move our horses there. we're finding it hard to find the time to spend with them and train them. It's more or less we have plenty of time to spend with them, if the place was open past 7pm. We are really looking forward to riding more, training them more and spending more time with them, so i understand why you want to move her to your house.


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## DGW1949 (Oct 24, 2007)

I understand your wanting to have your horse close by but unless you're planning to stall it a lot, It'll eat that half acre lot down perty-fast. And even faster if you do add a mini (or goat) and/or use that same 1/2 AC as an excersize or riding area.

One perty-much needs 1 AC of good grass per horse and depending on the weather and the type of grass you have, there'll be times that even that much may not be enough.

Hope this helps.
DGW


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

If you exercise her than no wrong with 1/2 acre. I'd say its' more than some horses have in my area (like 15 horses on 3 acres).. I don't have lots of space either for my 2, but boarding can be pretty bad (those expensive barns are REALLY expensive, and my horse was beat up pretty badly in 2 cheaper barns  ).


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## HorsesAreForever (Nov 9, 2007)

well we are planning on growing the grass pretty tall before she gets there also she will be turned out at certin times per day cause she likes her scedual lol but we are planning on putting a bale of hay out there aswell and we can always regrow the grass. lol and when the front lawn needs mowing (the other half of the acre) ill put lexi in there lol

and ya she will be ridden / excerzied out in the sand pit of about 20 acres almost everyday. ill leave a day for her that she can have to herself


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## Deb (Feb 12, 2008)

Considering that some show horses at the big show barns rarely even get outside, your half acre yard for your horse is magnificent by comparison. I had two horses on a one acre (and that included my house and my yard) property for 10 years and they did fine. You just have to feed all through the year and be scrupulous about manure pickup and disposal. That is always the tough part, but I am also a gardener so I managed to get rid of the pile each year. Composted horse manure all over the back lawn each spring looks awful for a couple weeks, but it does wonder for the grass.

So go for it. There is something so sweet about getting up on a summer morning, trotting out to the barn in your pj's and throwing your horse a flake of hay. The sun is shining, the birds are singing and your horse is so appreciative. What a way to start the day!


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## HorsesAreForever (Nov 9, 2007)

ty deb  that does sounds like a great way to start the day! I love the smell of hay and horses in the morning idk why but i do .. so 2 horses had 1 acre maybe??? half an acre for both  look at that lol ya im gonna have to figure out how to dispose of the manure ..


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## kim_angel (Oct 16, 2007)

You should also make sure that you are zoned to have livestock on your property.


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

We keep 4 horses on about 2 acres in the winter. They have about 7 acres in the summer that they are on from may/june til aug/sept depending on how the grass holds up. I rotate them to the 2 acre dry lot when the grass gets stressed. Anyway the 2 acres is fine for them they can run around and have shelter from the winter weather. There is no way I can grow grass on it. I usually plant a little in the spring when I move them over but it takes them about a week to have it all gone in the fall. If you plan to keep him on a small lot plan on feeding hay all year, and add the storage space of that hay and a place for manure into your area calculation. 1/2 acre can fill up with manure pretty fast if you don't keep it cleaned out. Good luck in getting Lexi home, I really like having the horses right outside, couldn't imagine it any other way.

Edit: As far as manure disposal I have a small manure spreader(john deere). I use the poo myself around the property on flower beds, garden and pasture. I also give it away to family and friends for gardens. You could put up a little sign and sell it too.


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## DGW1949 (Oct 24, 2007)

And speaking of acreage, grass and manure......

I've got a big QH and a TB/QH mix. 
Between them both, they put out about 15 gallons of manure a day which means that I'm dealing with close to 450 gallons a month. 
That's a lot of crap to shovel-up and dispose of. :shock: .

I've found it much easier to deal with if I divide my pasture in half and rotate the horses from one side to the other each time they're wormed. Doing that also helps with controlling parasites. And it gives whichever grass they aint on at the time a chance to keep growing during the spring/summer.....'cause if I don't get them horses out of there occassionaly, they'll eat it clean-down to the dirt. 

It is beneficial to whatever pasture you can spare, to let some of it go to seed sometime between the end of summer and the first fall frost. That not only ensures that it re-seeds itself, it later creates a layer of dead grass for protection during realy cold weather, hail storms or hard rains. And if you add some of that dried manure you've been collecting, it sort-of self-mulches and fertilizes itself when you run over it with a mower a couple of times later on, just before spring.

No way could a person manage all that with less than 1 AC-per horse to work with. Or at least, I know that I couldn't.
My two are on 2 AC's, plus there's a fenced-off, quarter-acre excersize yard which surrounds the barn. But even with that amount of ground to work with, there is some years that things still don't work out just right.

Your results may vary somewhat, depending on your own methods of up-keep. But if you move that horse onto a half-acre...and if you still have grass on it a year later..please let me know how you managed it.

DGW.... who still aint too old to learn.


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## HorsesAreForever (Nov 9, 2007)

lol ill figure it all out before we even move lexi home we are gonna build a barn and im gonna plant some grass for a while i mean every summer we get about 5 in long peices of grass if not longer its just in the back woods that we are gonna clear out we need to put some mulch down and plant grass down there 

lol ill tell u if i still ahve grass a year later  

i still have to figure out what to do with the manure.. 


my aunts like u can pick out the stalls everyday and put it in a trash bag and the trash peoples will pick it up im like umm... lol and my aunt wants me to put a poop baggy on her haha!


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## Deb (Feb 12, 2008)

[my aunts like u can pick out the stalls everyday and put it in a trash bag and the trash peoples will pick it up im like umm... lol and my aunt wants me to put a poop baggy on her haha!

DGW1949]

The garbage people are not going to pick up your manure. For one thing, they don't come every day (at least where I used to live) and a single horse will leave you 1/2 a small wheelbarrow full each day and that doesn't include wet bedding. After a week, you are going to have a whole lot of bags each week.

What I used to do was build a pile in the furthest corner from the barn and keep it covered with a tarp. This kept the toxins from leaching into the ground water when it rain, and it also kept it moist in the summer so that it could continue to compost down. At that point it becomes deoderised and fluffy and black and is great for the garden. Or like some folks around the corner from where I lived, they had a small bin to dump it in and periodically had a company come and pick up the bin and leave an empty one. You could check into manure disposal outfits. Not sure what you would look under in the phone book for that.

While I made it sound idealic, realistically, it is also labour intensive.


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

I'm not sure if this would work on a small lot and this is for DGW too. I used to seperate my 7 acres in half and rotate them. A few years ago I planted warm season grass on half and cool season grass on the other. Now they self rotate, they pretty much stay in the half where the grass is growing by season.


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## HorsesAreForever (Nov 9, 2007)

that sounds like a pretty good idea. Thanks I think i might do that it might save some grass


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## cory-boy (Oct 5, 2007)

Hi, I usta have a single horse, and all he had was a run in shed it was three and half sided. He seemed to be okay by himself, But I felt kinda bad, so inside his shed i put up a piece of that shinny aluminium, so he could see him self. and he LOVED it. that was his heard. But now he has a friend and we had to remove his aluminium, cuz he was not going to share his shelter. now they do good.


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## HorsesAreForever (Nov 9, 2007)

lol! thats cute


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## brittx6x6 (Mar 4, 2007)

I recommend that if you do bring her home split the pasture into two sides and put her in one side while the other one grows and then switch so that the other pasture can grow. Also make sure she has a companion animal that she gets along with ha ha ha


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## toosexy4myspotz (Oct 7, 2007)

Check with whatever state you are in! The states have laws for that. In VA I know you have to have a minimum of 1 acre per horse with at least a 3 sided shelter. If you dont check first there is a chance that someone could turn you in and then they would take her from you if you didnt provide appropriate housing. Im not saying 1/2 acres isnt enough I would just rather see you on the safe side than to move her and get into trouble.


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## HorsesAreForever (Nov 9, 2007)

i checked and we are aloud to have one horse in the back we made sure


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## twodozenroses (Mar 3, 2008)

I have one horse on 1 1/2 acres and that is really hard to manage. We are in a drought and there is nothing for him to eat. Hate to think what it will be like in winter. I would be inclined to say no 1/2 an acre isn't enough even with stable. The horse needs to have enough room to go for a good run. Also the paddock won't have a chance to be rested at all. You will prob get loads of weeds and pasture quality would go way down.


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## my2geldings (Feb 18, 2008)

It's not a lot of land but if it's just for a single horse you should be fine. Just keep in mind that you will have to feed your horse all year round. Half an acre will quickly get over grazed.

Will you have a companion for your horse?


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## HorsesAreForever (Nov 9, 2007)

ya and i know im planning on trying to put a round bale out there when shes turned out to try and save the grass lol and when shes in the stall ill cover it up just in case if it rains. and yes she will have a companion either my dog [lexi likes dogs] or get a goat.


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## Abby (Nov 26, 2007)

I don't think a dog will be a good companion as dogs are predators, whether you want to think of your dog as one or not. I'd suggest getting the goat. Also check your state laws as mentioned and make sure you aren't required to have 1 acre per horse. Sure you can have them but what are the space limitation laws. Make sure you check that or as mentioned, they'll take her away for improper housing.


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## HorsesAreForever (Nov 9, 2007)

:-S ill have my aunt look into that


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## Vidaloco (Sep 14, 2007)

My first horse had a companion cat. The cat would lay on the top of the round bale while the horse ate.


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## HorsesAreForever (Nov 9, 2007)

aww thats so cute and i think my dog would make a great companion for lexi she doesnt have a mean bone in her body lol she plays with frogs xD and theres never a scratch or anything on them and lexi seems to be getting better with dogs


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