Or perhaps, how much turnout is enough? I know everyone manages horses differently, so answers are sure to be varied but what is your horses turnout situation? Do you wish they had more space, or maybe less?
The main reason I’m asking is because SO and I are building a house on a 2.5 acre lot with about 1 acre that can be dedicated to full-time horse use (due to contour of the land), this area would include a simple 2 stall barn with tack room and hay storage. Would you consider this area too-small for primary turnout for 2 horses? I realize grass won’t last here so plan on having hay available.
Anyway, is anyone making it work with 2 horses in a roughly 1 acre area? Not planning on having an arena at the moment as I can trailer out to a couple nearby and utilize trails.
Anyway if you do it, I’d love to he’s how you’re making it work!
I think a lot depends where you live and how much you turn out. I turn out a lot and live in KY (muddy winters) and there is no way I could use 1 acre or less as a turnout for 2 horses. Maybe a couple of hours per horse per day in ideal weather.
I have a half acre dry lot, half acre lot with grass, 1 acre pasture in grass, and 1.5 acre pasture in grass. I have 2 horses. With less than one acre for 2 horses, you are going to end up with a 1 acre dry lot, which could work but wouldn’t be ideal.
I have 2.5 acres 1 horse, 1 pony. Works well.
Thanks for the replies, 1 acre dry lot is pretty much what I had envisioned. I know keeping grass on that small of a space with horses out for more than a couple hours a day is unrealistic. We will hopefully have the opportunity to purchase the adjoining proprty in the future which would open up more space for turnout but I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch.
I have 3 horses on my property turned out 24/7 all with access to run ins, stalls, or both. 2 pastures are approximately 2.25 acres and the smaller on is 1 acre. Works fine for my needs.
Well a one-acre pasture is considered pretty decent-sized here in the land of wetlands and non-contiguous dry areas. I have 3 horses + 2 ponies who live in my “big” pasture (somewhere in the 1.75 - 2 acre range), and then 1 horse each in two of my smaller paddocks (maybe 0.5 acres each) and it works out just fine. I think shape of the pasture comes into play as well. A longer rectangle gives a bit more room to run than a square or broken up pasture shape. My 1/2 acre pastures have a blob of pasture in the front of my property and then a chute around either end of my arena that they love to gallop down.
In the winter there is, of course, mud. But that’s a given here no matter how much space you have. And my muddy area is just around the shelter - the rest of the pasture fares just fine.
I do feed hay all year round. Less in the summer, of course, because we get pretty good grass spring - fall, but from a space perspective it works out just fine.
[QUOTE=Beaudacious22;8775913]
Thanks for the replies, 1 acre dry lot is pretty much what I had envisioned. I know keeping grass on that small of a space with horses out for more than a couple hours a day is unrealistic. We will hopefully have the opportunity to purchase the adjoining proprty in the future which would open up more space for turnout but I don’t want to count my chickens before they hatch.[/QUOTE]
You may want to invest in a nice stone dust pad in the paddock, in my area that 1 acre dry lot would turn to a mud pit in no time without proper footing. If you put in a good size pad, you can at least keep their hay and water somewhere high and dry year round.
There is already a drainage system in place on this part of the property, which will hopefully keep the mud down. Although a stone dust pad sounds like a good addition as well. Depending on how the barn layout works out I would probably have an overhang with stone dust underneath it to provide some shelter if I wanted to shut them out of their stalls.
I had 2 horses on a two acre lot that included the house, yard, pasture, a large shed row, and a small shed and dog run.
During the summer I was able to turn horses out on the “yard” for several hours a day. I had a small grass paddock/ring that horses could be turned out on for several hours year round. And I had a 3/4 area that the horses had access to 24/7. They were feed hay year round.
If you fence and put down good footing for a 60x120 ish size sacrifice paddock/ring and then have the rest as a grass paddock that gets limited turnout, you would still have an attractive place and a useful place as well. Depending on layout, you could subdivide the grass area into a couple of paddocks to rotate to get better grazing.
Right now, I have 4 on 5 acres and 2 on 2 acres. I have had up to 6 on 4 acres which was completely wooded (aka no grass). I think as long as you can deal with the mud issue in someway and your horses get along okay that you will be perfectly fine.
Look into a track system/paddock paradise to maximize your use of space on a small lot. That’s really where those types of systems shine; you can have the horses getting lots of movement around a small track and keep some grass growing in the centre for grazing.
We have a large acreage now so we just do plain old pasture, but had looked into track systems extensively when shopping for smaller properties.
With a smaller space, you’ll end up with a drylot, but it sounds like you’re okay with that. I think you could still divide the 1ac in half. Have half as a ‘pasture’ and keep grass. The horses only go out there for a short time in good weather/footing. Then you can dedicate some $ to maintenance on the 1/2ac drylot half. Mud-resistant tricks, like gravel, french drains, hoof grid systems, etc, can all make the difference between a horrible mud pit and a 4-season usable dry lot turnout.
I am lucky and have about 5ac for turnout for 7 horses (half are out seasonally day/night, with 3-4 out 24/7 with a run-in). Rotation helps keep the grass we have, and the sandy soil helps a lot. But there are many areas in the country where any horse would be LUCKY to have a whole acre shared with just one other horse. If you are supplementing liberally with hay, don’t feel like you’re a bad horseowner. Just be thoughtful about how you’ll handle things like manure in the smaller space. Also, don’t forget to factor in a riding area if that is part of your horse-enjoyment. If you like to ride 4-6 days a week, it can be heartbreaking to bring them home, do all the work, and realize you’re not set up to actually enjoy them.
Thanks for the ideas and reassurance everyone! I think part of my “problem” is that my guy currently goes out on almost 3 acres with just 1 other horse. I know many horses/ owners make due with less and do just fine and having that luxury has probably clouded my judgement a bit!
Someone beat me to it but agree look up the equicentral / paddock paradise and/or track systems - predominantly aimed at smaller intensive properties. Personally i’d try for a border track with dry lots and possibly have some smaller areas on retic for occasional grass pick. Really will depend on the house setup etc.
I have 4 horses and a mini on 4 acres in Maryland. They are out 24/7 but get round bales starting in late Oct until Spring when they stop eating them for the grass.
Even though the ratio is about the same (1 horse per acre … the mini wears a muzzle so she doesn’t really count) I think the extra space really helps it not being a mud lot. I also fence it off and mow it twice in the spring before I let them on it.
With good management almost anything is possible!
Where I live, grass is incredibly resilient. It takes a lot of abuse and keeps on bouncing back. My three are out on less than two acres of pasture. They live out 24/7 365 and I’m still blessed to have grass in excess every summer.
My two horses live mainly in a 1acre paddock, with daily turnout on pasture (alternating between a 4-5 acre pasture and a 2 acre pasture) in the summer months. In the winter (October to May) they live in the paddock with hay.
They are fine, but the paddock I have is just the paddock – it doesn’t include the barn.
I looked at 2 acre horse properties when I was first farm shopping and they made me claustrophobic.
Currently, I have horses that I brought home because the leases didn’t work so I have TOO many at home. I’d guess I have 4.5 acres of pasture. I rotate, mow and use a temporary fence in 1 field to allow for rotation and a dry lot. I also have a smaller dry lot with run out. I do have stalls and hay year round, though considerably less in the summer.
I just moved my mare from a boarding barn with 30 acres of grass turnout to one where she lives in a much much smaller dry lot paddock. I am absolutely terrible at estimating distance/size, but I would guesstimate her paddock at maybe 30 x 50ft? Maybe a bit bigger? It’s enough for her to trot around in and kick up her heels a bit, in any case. Can pick up a canter for a couple strides. As I write this I’m really realizing my spacial sense is complete garbage. In any case…
I was SUPER worried about the move. I really value as much turnout as possible, and only made the decision to move so I could ride enough to really get her trained. I hemmed and hawed for months.
She is FINE. Happy as can be: calm, bright eyed, no weight loss, shiny coat, etc. I have always been super apprehensive about reducing turnout size or only having access to a dry lot, and this experience has changed my mind. That being said, it is a very very well run facility. Top notch hay, auto waterers, great shelter, paddocks cleaned every single day, great footing/fencing etc. In a perfect world, I still want the 30 acres of beautiful grass turnout, but I’m a believer now that a well managed smaller property provide a great home for horses 
