There are factors to consider when choosing a field that is suitable for horses and ponies.
Ideally horse pasture grass should be level and well drained.
Although gentle sloping fields encourage horses and ponies to maintain some fitness.
Different soil conditions will dictate the number of horses that can be kept on a given piece of land.
Generally the horse pasture management, rule of thumb is to allow one acre per horse.
If you put too many horses on a field, you get all kinds of problems apart from injuries to other horses.
Too many horses will ruin a field.The field could become poached (badly cut up and muddy).
Another sign of an over grazed field is Tusocks of coarse grass surrounded by bare grass.
Lush grass is not good pasture for horses or ponies.
Horses eat a mixture of grasses, herbs and weeds such as yarrow, chicory and dandelion.
A fat or over weight pony is at a high risk of illness such as laminitis.
Hedges and grazing should be free from all kinds of poisonous plants.
A suitable field must be properly fenced to prevent the horses straying.
Unsuitable boundary fencing posing a risk to horses - Old iron rails, sheep wire, pig wire, chestnut fencing and barbed wire, especially rusty or sagging wire.
It needs some form of shelter to escape from insects on warm sunny days and also the wind and rain.
Large trees have their uses, as a horse will shelter underneath them or a wooden shelter would be ideal.
The land must have a fresh supply of water at all times and a safe gate made of wood or metal, that is hung properly and well maintained.
If the field is not supervised it is wise to keep it locked as a precaution against horse thieves.
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