# How Many Horses Per Acre?



## ButtInTheDirt

What would you say is a good number of horses/acre? Currently we have four horses on about one acre, but they have free-choice hay year-round. 

I've heard that some people say a good rule is one horse every one acre, but then again I've seen plenty of places that have much less than that with quite a few more horses. Does it really hurt to have this many horses on one acre? I take them out and work with them weekly, so they don't really just stay there. They have room to run plenty; obviously not for miles upon miles but a decent ammount.

We do have more land that we could plant and fence off, which I know we'll have too sooner or later. (Our pasture was overgrazed in late spring when we only had 2 horses, next spring it'll have to feed four.)

We have alot of land that is rented out to a farmer. The land is worth quite a bit, and it is worth more as farm land than it is for grazing. My father tells me that if I can figure out a plan to make money we might start boarding horses. (I know it is lots of work, I have been taking care of my own horses for years.) But that goal is far off, we'll wait till next year where we plan to build an indoor arena and a few stalls. 

So what is the bare minimum for room? We are trying to set something up a little bit better. I am going to try rotational grazing to keep good pastures. We have a 3-sided barn for them to go into, but we are planning on moving that to a different part of our pasture. That means we'll have to do a huge switch. We gotta move our tack room, run a water line and the electricity over to the new spot. Big ordeal, so I think we'll do something new with the whole pasture-situation.

*What is the minimum of space per horse?*


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## BornToRun

That will depend on your by-law


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## Tianimalz

Well that depends how much work you really want to put into it. I've heard the 1 horse per acre rule too, and if I had my way it'd be more like 3 per horse. More horses per acre, the more bickering there is likely to be, more poop to scoop, and more hay you gotta feed. 

I'm lucky enough to have 3 acres of rotation for my one mare, and it's great because I only feed hay once a day all year except winter/late spring.


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## Joe4d

I have 1 horse on 8, even with 2 horses I only feed hay in the winter. It all depends on your land and the climate. I imagine an area like Va with a long growning season and decent rain in the summer usually can support more horses per acre than an area under feet of snow half the year or drought and tumble weeds the other half. I wouldnt put 4 on one acre way to much hay money. Horses get real expensive if you have to feed hay all year.


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## waresbear

I am assuming you mean how many horses will the land sustain in grazing? That depends on climate, pasture condition, and type of grasses planted.


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## caseymyhorserocks

If you mean just amount of land for turnout on bare ground for horses, 1/4 acre per horse to prevent bickering and such. If you have horses that know eachother really well, you can get away with less, but with boarders, you want to have that amount. I have a friend who keeps 3 horses on just over a 1/4 of an acre, but they have lived with eachother in larger inclosers for at least 3 years, two of them 8 years.


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## xiamsvetlanax

Another idea you could do, is if you have like 10 horses to an acre, is to fence off parts of that acre to keep the horses separate. At the farm i work at, she has about 3 acres of land, w/ 20 horses out at once, but all separated. And like everyone else said too, depends on your climate.


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## karliejaye

You could get a range or pasture hoop, clip the grass, calculate the amount of forage per acre, adjust for growth year, amount grown so far and percent dry weight, divide that by half (to determine the available amount that will actually be utilized). Convert that to AUM (animal unit months) by dividing by 912. when you get the AUM's produced in your entire pasture, divide by 1.25 (the animal unit equivalent of an average sized horse) and you have the number of horses your pasture can sustain for ONE MONTH.


OR go to your local university extension office, soil and water conservation district or NRCS office and they may be able to help you out.

a good general rule of thumb is on nonirrigated, dryland pastures one horse per 4 acres, and on irrigated one horse per 2 acres (but then you get into trouble with trampling on wet ground ruining the seed bed for next year)


Sorry to go a little nerdy on this, but soil conservation and grasses and good productive lands are my passions, besides horses.





ALSO a good rule of thumb, if rotating cross fenced pastures: take them out when the grass is at 3 inches, put them in then it is a t 6 inches.


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## LittleZeasel

Karliejaye has already made a good point there. In addition to that, each state has a different "Stocking-Rate" in their laws. I know for Colorado, it is 1 horse per 5 acres - this is how much acreage you need, to have enough grass to sustain the horse for one year without feeding additional forage (hay, for example) or other supplements.
Tennessee has a stocking rate of 1 horse on 2 acres - again, taking nutritional value, grass growth, soil quality, etc. into consideration.


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## Golden Horse

I'm at 8 acres to the horse here:shock:


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## LittleZeasel

GH, that's because you are awfully lucky of having this gorgeous piece of land for your animals  ... 
Frankly, looking at your pictures, I can just droooool ... you have a gorgeous piece of land there  Lucky you and Lucky your horses


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## Darrin

Golden Horse said:


> I'm at 8 acres to the horse here:shock:


Where I live, if you drop 1 horse on 8 acres you would likely founder it during the spring.


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## Golden Horse

That's the trouble, seeing as this board is global the only answer is all depends!


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## RaiRaiNY

Our zoning laws say 1.5 acres for the first horse, 1/2 an acre for each additional horse.


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## WalkingAround

Ive always been told 2 acres for the first horse and 1 acre per additional horse. But 1 acre per horse will do. It has a lot to do with the land itself though. Is it 1 acre of open pasture, is the soil very wet or very dry. Does nice grass grow, or is it weeds or bare. 1 acre can hold 4 horses but I feel like you will save money in the long run by extending your fence so that you aren't forced to pay so much on feed bill due to lack of food from being overgrazed.


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## WalkingAround

Also, planting fall/winter grass and keeping them off of it for it to reseed is very beneficial. It's seems like a good bit of money to spend to not let them have immediately, but the following winter you will surely be glad you did .


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## horsesaremylife20

I was always taught horses need atleast 5 acres per horse, that gives them plenty of room to run around.


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## Bright Stride Equine

The ideal space per horse and the minimums are two very different things. In a perfect world at least 1ac/horse. The place I board at keeps 3-5 horses in about 1/2 and acre overnight and during the day they are let out onto 5+ acre fields. All the horses are in 'get along' groups so it works out.


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## Acadianartist

I'm sorry, but I've been to places like you're talking about. Where there are 14 horses and about three acres. My horse was (briefly) boarded in one of those places. They end up being mud fests. I feel so sorry for the horses living there. 

I understand the desire to have horses. I don't understand the desire to cram as many as possible in as tiny a space as possible. 

I've only had horses at my place for about six months now. We have two horses and about 1,5 acres of pasture. I thought it would be, but it's not enough. I had to pull them off it early just to let it grow again by spring. Next year we will be fencing off 2 additional acres. So that will be 3.5 acres for two horses. And I think that will be just right. 

I'm not talking about grazing. I'm happy to give them as much hay as they need. But what happens is they soil large areas of their small pasture. There is manure everywhere. Other than being a breeding ground for parasites, that manures obviously prevents the grass from growing. Then they walk in it and churn it into the ground. Before you know it, it's just mud. Once the roots of the grass die, that's it. Luckily, our pasture hasn't reached that point, but I've seen so many like that. 

I think the one acre per horse is a bare minimum. I am actually aiming for much more.


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## Nickers2002

Acadianartist said:


> I'm sorry, but I've been to places like you're talking about. Where there are 14 horses and about three acres. My horse was (briefly) boarded in one of those places. They end up being mud fests. I feel so sorry for the horses living there.
> 
> I understand the desire to have horses. I don't understand the desire to cram as many as possible in as tiny a space as possible.
> 
> I've only had horses at my place for about six months now. We have two horses and about 1,5 acres of pasture. I thought it would be, but it's not enough. I had to pull them off it early just to let it grow again by spring. Next year we will be fencing off 2 additional acres. So that will be 3.5 acres for two horses. And I think that will be just right.
> 
> I'm not talking about grazing. I'm happy to give them as much hay as they need. But what happens is they soil large areas of their small pasture. There is manure everywhere. Other than being a breeding ground for parasites, that manures obviously prevents the grass from growing. Then they walk in it and churn it into the ground. Before you know it, it's just mud. Once the roots of the grass die, that's it. Luckily, our pasture hasn't reached that point, but I've seen so many like that.
> 
> I think the one acre per horse is a bare minimum. I am actually aiming for much more.


Are you cleaning the fields? Just curious.

I have 4.23 acres total and 3 horses. Probably 2 acres is fenced right now. In that, I have 2 large fields (1 for both mares and 1 for my gelding), 3 individual paddocks that are of ample size, my barn, and a small dressage arena sizes riding space. Horses are out 12-16 hours daily depending on season and weather. 

I pick fields every other day and paddocks daily in the winter. The only mud problem I have is in my paddocks, but it dries quickly. They have grass from March to November and snub the hay I throw. In fact, it gets so thick and tall I end up mowing every 4-6 weeks and break out the muzzles to maintain weight lol. 

All I've done is I applied lyme 3 years ago, seeded the year after, and I use a graze safe weed and feed in the spring. I do not drag or spread manure anywhere. It gets piled and removed once a year.


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## Acadianartist

Nickers2002 said:


> Are you cleaning the fields? Just curious.
> 
> I have 4.23 acres total and 3 horses. Probably 2 acres is fenced right now. In that, I have 2 large fields (1 for both mares and 1 for my gelding), 3 individual paddocks that are of ample size, my barn, and a small dressage arena sizes riding space. Horses are out 12-16 hours daily depending on season and weather.
> 
> I pick fields every other day and paddocks daily in the winter. The only mud problem I have is in my paddocks, but it dries quickly. They have grass from March to November and snub the hay I throw. In fact, it gets so thick and tall I end up mowing every 4-6 weeks and break out the muzzles to maintain weight lol.
> 
> All I've done is I applied lyme 3 years ago, seeded the year after, and I use a graze safe weed and feed in the spring. I do not drag or spread manure anywhere. It gets piled and removed once a year.


I do clean the pasture regularly and the paddock daily. My horses are out 24/7 when they're on pasture. This time of year I bring them in at night. I suppose I could bring them in at night in the summer too so they don't eat all the grass, but I'd rather fence of a larger area and leave them out. They're much happier this way. We planted a pasture mix, added lyme and did mow once. But the grass was chewed down to nothing in no time. Maybe it has to do with the climate. We don't really have grass until June because there's still snow in March! And sometimes April. And heck, sometimes May. 

I never had a mud problem, they just ate the grass until there was nothing left. I do see a lot of people around here who have far too many horses on far too little land who do have a mud problem year round. Horses just standing in mud all the time. It's just awful for their feet. Your setup isn't that small for the amount of horses you have, but I've seen over a dozen horses on the amount of land you're talking about.


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