You'll need hay year round. Recommended is 2 acres per horse and even then depending on your climate that may or may not mean hay part of the year. We live in a very mild climate (well until this week) and 3 on 25. They get hay during winter. I could cut thd amount by overseeding more pasture. You don't have the extra to allow for that. Basically you'll have a dirt lot once they're on it.

 

so how can i make them not turn it into a dirt lot?🤣 but still be able to put them outside for the day?

 

They're going to eat anything edible. No way to keep them from it unless you keep them off of it. Plan on feeding hay year round and turn them out.

 

thanks! so if i feed them hay, and then turn them out, they wont eat as much there?

 

Yes. They'll eat it all to the ground. They likely won't bother with hay until grass is gone. Two horses on one acre, the grass will be gone in a week most likely. You'd be lucky to get two weeks. The roots will be trashed and you'll have a dirt lot. You'll also be needing to manage the manure that they put out. Each horse of average size typically puts out over 50 pounds a day. Basically 3,000 pounds a month. You've got to be able to manage both ends. It isn't just about feeding them.

 

ok thanks for your help!

 

Many places keep horses on small acreage. It always turns into a dry lot. I have 4 horses on 3 acres and a section of the property is a drylot and a section is a track for them to move around on. Look at pasture paradise ideas.

 

thank you! i will look into it

 

Also, do not wait to get the second horse. Horses do not do well alone.

 

1 acre for two horses to live on, yes you can, but you will have to feed them too, they cant live off what grows on 1 acre, as others said it will become like a dry lot over time.

 

Just wanted to ad,
Even if you have one horse 1 acre is not enough for a horse to eat on and live, you going to have to feed it too once it eats whats growing on it down, and that wont take long.

 

Also wanted to say, even with more than one acre, the plant species in the paddock make a huge difference as well. I have two horses on roughly 5 acres, with mostly Indian Couch grass, some Rhodes grass and some other weed species. This doesn't hold enough nutritional value in the dry season to keep weight on both my horses, so they need free choice hay for 9 months of the year and hard feeds twice daily when they are in work to maintain condition.

 

A 200 x 200 riding ring is about an acre. So no, not enough to feed two horses. A nice sized turnout though, but you'll have to feed hay year round. There is no way around it. Best to forget the idea of preserving any kind of grass.

Paddock paradise is a great way to create a track system and keep horses moving on a small acreage, but you still won't have grass since even your track will be somewhat limited and they will trample everything on it.

And some horses do ok on their own, but it is really the exception rather than the rule. Most of them get either depressed or extremely anxious. They really do need company from their own species. A pony would do (but not a mini, they tend not to socialize with horses for some reason). We picked up a very cheap pony to keep my horse company when my daughter's horse would go to shows. She grew to 13.3hh and my daughter decided to train her. She is now a popular lesson pony at our barn. I only paid 650$ for her and since she is small, she eats less. Of couse the challenge is to avoid letting her get too fat while making sure my other horses have enough to eat, but we manage ok.

 

I kept horses with one acre in Maryland for many years. I made sacrifice pens with stalls for each horse. For a time, I had 4 horses living in their pens. All summer they got to graze on the one acre pasture for about 8 hours a day. I fertilized 3 times a year. I usually had 2 horses, but there were times when I had one horse. Although horses do prefer the company of another horse, my horses seemed content on their own. I was extremely involved with their care and spent a lot of time with them. Some horses bond with goats; some do not. Goats tend to get out easily and like to destroy things (like their enclosures). My pasture looked good--I picked up the manure every day and had people who would come get it for their gardens. It was a good system and worked well, but I was very careful and kept a close eye on my pasture. During droughts, I did not use the pasture.

I currently have 4 horses, and one of them prefers to be alone. She is quite happy when the others ride off without her and is not glad to see us return. She would work out perfectly as a solo horse, but she is OK being with the others most of the time. She deals with it.

 

My answer is a flat out NO, but you’re going to put them on a paddock size area anyway so——-


1. They need hay 24/7/365 days a year. No exceptions.

2. You need to pick manure every single day or you will regret not keeping their area clean for a number of reasons.

2.1. Make a compost area for the manure and keep it contained to one spot —- don’t ask me how to do that, my horses are on 20 acres, composting isn’t something I need to worry about for the sake of grazing space.

 

Where I board, the horses are all paddocked 1-2 per paddock (the single horses are surrounded by fenceline friends), and none of the paddocks are larger than an acre. Elle and her beau are in the largest one, and it's lots of space for them. There's also a nice slope to the property, so I have to say, the drainage is great. Which definitely helps. But the paddocks are poo-picked about once a week, and always look pretty pristine, even when they're due for it. They have netted hay in a raised covered feeder, but also graze the paddock all summer. The grass alone wouldn't be enough, so I'm glad they have both.

 

I have two horses on about 2.5 acre pasture. I do have another pasture to rotate . You must have room to rotate. I have to irrigate my pastures. I also feed hay . I put the horses one pasture while the other pasture grows back up . I also have a sacrifice area where I feed hay and put the water trough. You do not put horses on the pasture when the ground and grass are wet. They will tear up a small pasture. I have pasture grass, not native grasses.