Adding to my herd

[marsayy]

As my previous thread said I am getting a third horse, must be insane as I struggle with the two I have. I have two who are joined at the hip and can't ride one without taking the other. So that means I have to rely on friends to ride out with me, or I have to tow, which I hate as its a bit of a battle and its never ever fun.

So after a lot of consideration and deliberation a horse happened to come my way so I thought I'd give it a go. I am thinking of putting him in another paddock so they can see sniff and talk to each another over the fence but not actually be in with the girls in hope that when I come back from my two weeks away at work offshore, I can still ride him out alone.

I was also hoping I could work on separating my other two as they would have him as company when I ride one out.

The problem I have is the amount poop. I have tried paying a teenager to clean up when I'm away but thats not really working. I could do with a quad but can't afford it.

Apart from I know that its not great for the land long term can I get away with leaving some paddocks uncleared and let it rot away naturally?

I rotate my horses around about 3 acres that I've slit into smaller fields to help with their weight management.

[ladyndibs]

I've found through trial and error yes, though a lot depends on the type of horses, mine poo in certain spots and won't graze anywhere near poo, I've got about 3 acres split into 4 small fields and I clear some but I tend to muck spread if I can to put something back into the soil, my friend who rents a couple of acres from me with 2 horses does the same and in 4 years there's never been a problem though we do tend to clear more in the summer or pick a field section to muck spread on, it does rot away quicker if you spread it a bit.

[kafee]

I have 4 ponies on 10 acres. I use one half in the summer and the other in the winter, and strip graze all year round. I only poo pick when they're on a very small piece in the summer. I used to worm 6 times a year and when I had the first FEC, they were all 50 or less. I have been doing FEC's and worming 2 or 3 times a year for several years now. I have one pony that persistantly has a higher count than the rest. I keep intending to worm him every two months but keep forgetting yet it hasn't made a lot of difference to the others FEC's.

I understand some horses are more resistant to worm than others, so I would say it depends on how resistant your horses are to worms.

[jen526]

Haha Kafee, your catching me up in numbers:)
I dont poop all of ours, set areas I leave and when they are off that area I either harrow or kick and rake the droppings to spread. In this rain half our muck heap is also spread onto another section, ideal to wash the fertilizer (mature poo) into the field.
The growth rate of the grass is greatly improved, but the fresh poo makes it sour, when the ponies are not on the affected areas, I mow them, usually around 3 times which seems to make it palatable to them again. We cant afford to loose any grazing to sour pood on grass.
Though our scenario is different due to Sycamores, so I use the droppings to help discourage grazing Spring and autumn in our danger zones. Downside is affect on worming.