We’ve never had a problem with it. The only annoying thing is when they decide to rub on a tree and get sap EVERYWHERE.
I’ve never had one injure themselves in the woods or on the odd rock. But my gelding managed to rip his eyelid open in his stall, without even damaging his fly mask.
My gelding is pasture boarded and there are currently a dozen of them. They have a wooded area with mostly pines and they have pounded paths all over the place. They have a run in but a lot of them prefer the woods. The pine trees cut down on the amount of precipitation.
Clearly you own my horse’s long-lost twin! I just wanted to salute his prowess, that is impressive. Kind of him to save the mask for you though.
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The mask was still on too! No idea how he did it.
Ooh… I need help with this, too.
I have an undeveloped 7.5 acres that has been cleared and has pasture in the center. It is ringed by trees, mainly young-ish Loblolly pines (the tall, puff of branches at the top kind) and a few hardwoods. This is in the hot South. Here are my ideas. Will you guys tell me what you think?
- Take out enough trees so as to make sure a horse couldn’t get tangled in them and then put the fence through the remaining ones.
I will most likely use wood, one sight rail and no-climb wire for the perimeter fence but I’m not sure my fence-in-trees is a good idea since fixing those wire fences is hard. And the cost of this kind of clearing is high.
- Fence inside the tree line, but clear out a couple of cul-de-sac shaped spots at the corners of where my pastures will be so that these are natural run-in sheds for the horses. Because there are horses on neighboring properties and the horses will enjoy shade plus 360 ventilation, I’m hoping this will be what they chose in the summer so that I don’t have to run fans for them in the barn all day. But I do think the gnats will be thicker in the trees, so I don’t know what the horses will actually want!
If you were going to leave trees near one another or choose a safe distance between them or them and a fence for horses, how sparse do you think those trees should be?
Thank you!
Loblolly pine is actually a good tree for use in pasture situations. (In general the southern pine forests are better than the New England hardwood for mixed use or true silvopasture). Because of the size of the area, I’d actually take option one, do a perimeter fence, and thin the trees down to no more than 40% crown cover, maybe even 25% coverage. Then see where the horses end up. I would go for ending up with clumps of trees, rather than evenly spaced, however. Less issues with windthrown trees and more effective shade.
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While in theory managing your forested area for safety is a good idea, I’ve never touched mine, and neither has my neighbor, with no issues. Mine is about 700 feet long, and 50-100 feet wide, and it continues into a much larger forested area outside my fence. It has fallen logs and rocks, an intermittent stream starting from a marshy spring, and a steep hill. The trees are as close together as they are (I looked today and there are very few areas I horse wouldn’t fit between trees). The only things I have done are fill in the groundhog holes we had, and mow down the saplings that try to grow near the edge. Most of my woods are either too steep or too wet to do a lot of work in there with the tractor.
My biggest issue is checking the fence for downed trees after it’s windy. I have a 4-board fence, including through the woods. My fence is now 20 years old, and just recently, the boards have been breaking when something lands on them instead of just popping off the fence in one piece. Repair is pretty easy, especially if the board doesn’t break and I can reuse it. If the board breaks and I don’t have any, it’s usually only an 8 foot section that I can temporarily shore up with electric tape or a broken board held together with baling twine.
My pastures are all Pecan trees. They are one of the few trees that grass grows under, and well. There is plenty of open space between trees. They provide nice shade and habitat for lots of birds. My 14 HH pony did chew the bark off one small tree when I tried to put him on a diet, so lesson learned - tree died, pony flourished.
It is a mixed bag.
i have one field with quite a few walnut trees in it. When I posted here about them, the general consensus was that it was safer to leave them up than cut them with a chainsaw, as the shavings are an issue. I keep hay out all the time, and haven’t had any issues.
that said, there is always the risk of lightning strike. I try not to leave horses out in thunderstorms in that field. My uncle lost 9 cattle in a single strike once. Cattle and horses are very susceptible to dying from a strike because of where their hearts are located compared to their legs.
