Maintaining a Healthy Pasture for Your Horse
Allowing your horse to grave on a pasture is certainly a good thing to do, but it is important to ensure you are properly caring for your pasture to ensure your horses are getting the proper nutrients from grazing. To keep your pasture healthy, keep these three things in mind.
Avoid Overgrazing
The recommended acreage per horse is about 2.5 acres. If you do not have this much per-horse space available, you may need to establish a few smaller paddocks and “sacrifice areas” where you do not expect grass to grow. During particularly hot weather spells, you can move the horse to one of these areas in order to prevent your pasture from being damaged.
Rotate
Along these same lines, dividing your pasture into smaller areas makes it possible to rotate where you let your horses graze. By rotating in such a manner, you allow the grass in one areas to recover while another is being used for grazing.
Protect Growth
When soil is dry, which it tends to be in the Arizona heat, the grass can break off from horse hooves trampling it. In turn, this can weaken the overall. To prevent soil compaction from occurring, reseed bare spots and fertilize and lime the soil while keeping the horses off of the pasture.