[Horse Beauty]

Hi everyone! As shown, I'm new here, new to horses, and know next to nothing! Mind if I ask a few questions?

How big of an area do 1, 2, or 3 horses need? What about miniature horses?

What do you guys think of electric fences for horses and miniature horses? I'm not considering getting one, I've just seen them before.

 

[Palomine]

How much land depends on where you are.

Here, you could probably do nicely with 2 acres for one horse, but in AL you really needed 5, and taken good care of pasture too, as the heat is so bad there.

2 acres down there would mean you would need to grain and hay possibly, here you might be okay if pasture well maintained. If you don't keep it up? Nothing but weeds eventually will be in there. Plus, you need to maintain manure pickup too. Diving it into grazing plots will help.

Figure at least 2 acres per horse minimum, up to 5 acres per horse.

Minis would be able to get by with less, there are some mini owners on here, so maybe they can give specifics on needs.

As for electric fence? Too much worry about if power goes out for me to want it. But many people do use them.

 

[Horse Beauty]

Thank you. I don't actually own a horse, but I wanted to know for a different reason. I'm thinking of volunteering at a horse charity that does great work with kids. The horses all look beautiful and obviously well taken care of, except that they have 1/2 acre to 1 acre per 2-3 horses, for at least one herd. Also, the 2 mini horses have about 1/4 an acre and the 2 goats/pig have about 1/4 an acre.

But, they have a great system working as they have grass pastures and dirt pastures for those that can only have limited grass daily. They'll switch out between grass/ dirt. And the grass land is beautiful and luscious.

They're stalls are VERY well kept. They horses are brushed, fed, and ridden. You can tell how healthy they look. They're probably some of the most healthiest horses I've ever seen.

 

[DraftyAiresMum]

Electric fences are great...if your horse respects them. Most horses get zapped good once and then want nothing to do with it ever again. Then you have horses like my 16.3hh draft cross gelding. About once a week, he decides that he wants to go on a walk-about and plows straight through the electric fence (which is always on). He never goes anywhere (usually just to a patch of grass outside his turnout or to visit the mares on the property to try to convince them that he's not a gelding), and it's become something of a running joke at my barn.
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[Speed Racer]

As long as they're being fed and exercised properly, there's nothing wrong with keeping horses and other livestock on limited acreage.

As far as electric fencing, I use it and have found it very effective. My horses are less likely to lean on or tear down fencing that bites.

Drafty, how high of a charge does your fence carry? I have a 50 mile charger for 5 acres. It packs quite a punch. I've heard that drafts and Draft crosses need more of a wallop than other breeds to keep them respecting the fence. My two Arabs and TB stay well away from the fence.

 

[3ringburner]

were working on getting a new horse for our new peice of land and we just recently put up a 3-4 acre pasture and we are looking at getting 1 horse right now, a pony in the future and maybe another riding horse. But im in missouri and we have great land, black dirt, and the grass grows extensively. We are running 4 strands of barb wire and 2 strands of hot wire inside the barb wire so horses dont lean on the fence.

 

[DraftyAiresMum]

Drafty, how high of a charge does your fence carry? I have a 50 mile charger for 5 acres. It packs quite a punch. I've heard that drafts and Draft crosses need more of a wallop than other breeds to keep them respecting the fence. My two Arabs and TB stay well away from the fence.

I'm not sure exactly how big of a charger it has on it, but it's a half acre turnout. I'm pretty sure my BO said it was a 50-miler. I could be wrong. He's been zapped pretty good by it (my boyfriend didn't realize the fence was on and leaned over it to pet Aires...I've never seen Aires spin and react that fast :lol: ), but a couple of days after getting zapped, he walked right through it again. I've taken to calling him a "daft cross" instead of a draft cross. :lol:
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