I’m looking for suggestions/ideas/cautions for renovating a small field.
In the spring, my horses are confined to a small (1-1/2 acre) field that I can keep mowed. This spring and last spring we had very hot weather and drought. That, combined with grazing pressure, has stressed the grass enough that I need to do something to renovate it for next spring. Usually what grows in the spring is a mixture of fescue, orchard grass, and ladino clover. Right now, because it’s late summer, I’m seeing a lot of bermuda, crab grass, and lespedeza (Marion, I think). I don’t want to do anything to kill off the summer grasses because the horses do really well with it. Unfortunately, these grasses don’t grow in the spring.
My horses are two very easy keeper geldings. One has a history of laminitis, so I have to be very careful with his exposure to spring grass. The horses are confined exclusively to the small field for 2-3 months from late April or early May until the end of June. I can’t turn them out in larger fields any sooner than July. They wear grazing muzzles in the pasture and are confined to a small dry lot for part of the day during the longest days.
The only practical way for me to renovate this field is to broadcast seed in the thin places, and I’m trying to decide what seed to use. I’m thinking probably a mixture of fescue and orchard grass, but I’m open to suggestions. I need something that will provide grazing during the spring season yet not founder my laminitis horse. Any thoughts?