Pasture Management

Pasture: A major component of a horse's diet is hay or pasture. A horse weighing 1000 pounds will eat about 500 pounds each month. If dryland pasture is the only source of forage, your horse will need about 28 acres of non-irrigated pasture a year. An irrigated pasture will grow more forage than dryland pasture, so less acreage is needed. The amount of irrigated pasture land needed for one horse is roughly 1 to 2 acres.


Two acres of pasture are recommended per mature horse. One acre of pasture can provide adequate grazing but requires more land management. Manage your pasture as you would with any crop with soil testing, fertilizing, and managing manure. The horse will not eat trampled grass or grass with manure on it. Horses will quickly overgraze smaller areas. Therefore, a combination of pasture and small lot or barn is needed to minimize overgrazing.

Do not let the horse overgraze the land so that grass will no longer grow. Keep pasture grass healthy - overgrazed pasture may never recover. To allow for regrowth, leave about 1/3 of the grass uneaten at any given time. The horse could be confined to the lot or barn and only allowed to graze for specified times lasting for only a few hours a day, thus reducing damage to the small pasture. Rotational pasture lots are one key to using small acreage pasture space to the fullest potential. Portable electric fencing provides an efficient and economic way to partition you pasture. Over-supplementing your horse with hay and grain will not prevent your horse from overgrazing.

Is pasture absolutely necessary for a horse? No. A lush green pasture is not a reality for many. Horses can be well fed without pasture; however, pasture has several advantages. It is the natural feed for horses, reduces the cost of feeding, provides your horse with exercise, and horses are usually healthier when kept outside on pasture. Establishing and maintaining a productive pasture is not too difficult.

A few dollars spent for soil nutrients for your pasture is a sound investment. Fertilization will help your pasture to become more productive and produce more forage. Fertilization costs will generally be offset from good pasture rotating and from savings in feed costs for hay and grain supplements. Have a reputable fertilizer dealer or extension agent evaluate your soil samples and recommend the best fertilizer for your pastures.

Mowing is also important for pasture management. It minimizes the spread of weeds to help maintain a higher quality forage. Mowing weeds before seedheads are produced limits the spread of weeds. Grass should be mowed to 3-4 inches.

No matter how well you manage your pature, it will most likely thin. To help ensure your pasture continues to produce good grass, new quality forage seed should be spread every year. It is recommended re-seeding be done in the spring or fall. In the spring, wet conditions allow for germination and growth, but only if it is not too muddy. In the fall, there will be less weed pressure. Do not allow grazing on new grass seedlings for approximately 6-weeks after they have emerged.

Caution! Turning your horse out on green lush pasture before conditioning it to a change in diet is dangerous and may result in sickness or possibly death. Start your horse out slowly by letting it graze for few minutes each day and gradually increase to a few hours each day.