Moving horses back onto pasture in early winter?

[back_in_the_saddle1]

Hello all-

I have a small horse property in Northern Virginia. We have 2 horses, about 2.5 acres of pasture with really good grass, plus two mud-free stone dust paddocks and another separate sacrifice field.

We just moved the horses onto the property at the end of last February, so this will be our first winter with them at home. I really want to preserve good grazing for them on the main pastures, so after researching and talking to the extension agent, I decided to take them off pasture at them beginning of October so I could overseed, fertilize, and lime.

So they’ve been limited to the paddocks and sacrifice field, and the grass in the pasture looks amazing. But now I’m wondering if I should allow them limited grazing on the pasture over the winter when it isn’t wet, or if that will just undo all of my work?

My young TB in particular really misses his time out there. He spends a lot of time at the fence in the sacrifice field just gazing wistfully at all the beautiful grass. Poor guy!

[stb]

In dry conditions I let my horses out to graze in the winter. I am in the south, so there is not much to eat from my Bahia pastures, but they do pick around a bit and most importantly, move around. I do put hay out so they actually have forage. It sounds like you won’t need the hay since you have cool season grass.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

I keep 2 of mine in their 1/2 acre paddock in rainy conditions (that is where the run-in is). I let them out 3 to 4 hours following rainy conditions and do as @stb does and put out a few flakes of hay. If it is dry several days in a row, they get 6 hours out. But they seems to enjoy grazing more, as the hay is often left untouched.

However, their pasture is 4+ acres. So maybe do fewer hours for smaller pastures. And check your ground frequently. If it looks like its getting torn up, reduce the days/hours they are out. But I believe exercise and pony happiness trumps a pristine pasture.

That said, I do take them off pasture entirely in mid-Feb (depends on when winter ends) until late/end of March to allow the spring grass to come in unfettered. Then they have very limited access until mid-May.

ETA: I’m in Tennessee. So my climate isn’t all that different from yours. My spring may come a few weeks earlier.

[back_in_the_saddle1]

Thanks for the replies! I think we will start letting them back out on a limited basis. I guess we can always take them back off if it’s getting too roughed up.

My other question is about sugar levels and if I have to be careful with the reintroduction like we are in spring. I’m not seeing a consensus in my reading.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

For an adult horse with no health issues (no Cushings/PPID, no IR, etc.), an hour or two of grass should be fine. My two I have to be very careful with, so I reintroduce slowly, starting with a 1/2 hour (one is prone to Laminitus, the pony is IR and most likely has Cushings).

[findthedistance]

I’m in your general area (MD) and would suggest you only turn out on your good grass in winter when it is very dry or completely frozen. It may look good now, but the grass is going dormant and needs all the root system it can maintain. Be strong and don’t give in to the wistful looks. The grass in the spring will be worth it!

[Libby2563]

I’m in MD too and I’ve managed my small pasture area (3 total acres for 2-3 horses and one mini donkey) a bunch of different ways in winter. No matter what, there has always been more grass than they can eat in the spring. So although I know it’s not the best practice, my horses have full access to one acre of pasture this winter. I do have a pretty big stonedust dry lot but my new horse is a bit of a bully and I don’t trust him to not beat up my old man if they’re trapped in there together. Plus he tends to celebrate freedom with lots of acrobatics so I want to limit the chance of him slipping and hurting himself by leaving him free to come and go 24/7. I’ve decided I’d rather have happy, healthy horses than manage the land perfectly. If the grass in that paddock seems to have suffered from this next year I’ll reevaluate.

[Jarpur]

This time of year, our local native winter grass comes up, with sufficient rain. I keep the horses off the pasture unless it’s dry. When I do turn out, their time on pasture is ramped up from 20 to 45 minutes over a few days, gradually increased to 90 minutes to two hours. I generally turn out mid-morning, after they’ve had hay (so not ravenous when they hit the grass).

Otherwise, they’re in a gravel paddock with hay; they have access to the paddock from the pasture, so could be in there eating hay (instead of grazing) if they choose – which, once in a blue moon, they will.

I used to overseed most years with rye grass, to have more grass available,and take some pressure off the winter hay supply, but haven’t bothered the last couple years. There’s been sufficient grazing with the native grass, and I don’t want too much sugar in their diet.

I watch the grass closely, being careful not to have the horses on pasture in either wet or drought, so my pastures tend to bounce back once conditions improve, so my horses still have some grazing when my neighbors won’t.

My horses are content with this system, and willingly come running when I call them in from pasture. They’re such good boys:tickled_pink:.

[B_and_B]

I’ve let my two back out on to about three quarters of an acre of grass. They have it during the day, then at night are in the dry lot with their hay. The field was rested all summer for the purpose, it is shorter than I wanted, as I had to use it in the fall due to some work being done in their other fields. It doesn’t give them any nutrition, but it does cut down on the amount of hay I use because they aren’t as bored. They think they are eating! It will need to be reseeded and rested all summer, however.
In Connecticut.

[mbv]

I am also new to managing pastures in VA and I found the extension program Graze 300 to be a useful resource.
https://ext.vt.edu/agriculture/graze-300.html
They have literature and videos about how to extend your grazing season, focused on VA producers. Some of it is cattle focused, but can be modified for horses. I would think that a lot would depend on your individual soil, terrain and quality and length of grass going into winter.

[carman_liz]

Not to highjack, but what is the best low sugar option for overseeding in the spring? Looking for something i can put down and give it a month or so to start coming in and then moving my pony n a senior gelding over to that part n over seeding the other pasture? After that thinking about rotating every two weeks? I am in east tn.