I moved my horse to a new boarding facility. I’ve discovered they don’t maintain the grass paddocks very well, ie do nothing at all other than rest them occasionally which I would say is pretty much never. It’s headed into dry season and I see about 3/4 of the horses still graze some and eat hay some, and then a few like mine just want to eat hay. I talked to a boarder who said she and another boarder tried to re-seed the paddocks their horses are in a while back and they were unsuccessful in improving the grass. How much will removing manure from the paddock help with the grass? Would once a week be sufficient?
How big are the paddocks, how many horses are in each paddock and how many hours a day are the paddocks occupied?
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Are the paddocks devoid of vegetation or are the paddocks populated with weeds? In either case, it sounds like a management issue that needs the BO’s participation to resolve.
Ditto the questions.
If the hay is good, and there’s enough, I wouldn’t worry about not eating grass. You’d just want to make sure you supplement enough Vitamin E.
That said, if manure in the paddocks is a constant problem, that’s a management issue, it increases the risk of parasite infection, and if it’s bad enough, would warrant looking for a new barn.
Whether or not getting the manure out will help depends on many things. If a week creates a large build up relative to the space (ie paddock is over-stocked) then no, it’s not going to help. It would need to be removed more like every 2-3 days at least.
If the paddocks are over-stocked, that’s a lot of ground pounding, and things may be so compacted that it’s not conducive to healthy grass growth, much less getting new grass started.
If the pH is all wrong, it doesn’t matter how “clean” things are, grass needs the right pH, and fertilization, to grow well.
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Is your horse in good weight, and is there adequate hay provided? If the answers are yes, then don’t worry about it too much.
If manure is building up I would give appropriate attention to parasite control. Especially if the horse has difficulty maintaining weight.
If the grass seed did not establish, the ground may be compacted by the horses grazing on it. Compaction makes it very difficult for grass seed to grow.
If there are too many horses in the pasture, the over-grazing will kill the grass and allow unpalatable, possibly dangerous, weeds to flourish.
It sounds like a blessing that hay is provided.
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