I have 8 horses on about 6.5 acres of pasture (property is about 17ac, but we have the house, woods, riding arena, and yard that reduce the amount of grazable land to 6.5. We live in the sandhills, no mud, and have mild winters) It is doable having 8 horses on smaller acreage, but it means you have to 1000% maximize every square foot you have.
8 horses will eat a 1-acre pasture down in 1-2 days. Definitely not going to have grass to rotate them every week. But you can build a centrally located dry lot (or two) with run-in, water, and hay feeder, and then gates off to the pastures. So you can have the horses just on grass a few hours a day, and then close them back into their dry lot to eat hay the rest of the turn-out period. That should extend the life of your pasture space considerably. Also regular fertilizing and maintenance will help maximize the limited grass.
We drag our pastures as soon as we rotate the horses off, preferably before a soaking rain (so every 1-2 weeks). If the horses use just one area in concentration, you’ll want to shovel that section out, as too much manure, even dragged and broken up, will kill the grass.
For the dry lots, we pick ours weekly. It gets pretty gross if they use it a lot, but luckily most split toilet between dry lot and the pasture area. In your case, since the horses will be on the pasture less, you probably do want to pick it every day or three. I drive my tractor w/ FEL in, and shovel right into the bucket. No pushing wheelbarrows through sand or up hills, then I just dump the bucket right into the dumpster.
On a smaller property, definitely carefully consider manure management. You won’t have the land to exclusively spread, so a collection location is a must. A dumpster you can get hauled away weekly to limit the space requirement (also limits flies and smell somewhat). A dump trailer will give you the same advantages. Bagged shavings cost more than bulk, but require minimal space to store. For hay storage, while normally I prefer ground level and not lofts, with limited footprint, you’re better off building UP. Have a huge loft where you can store 6-12 months of hay at a time.
Since you said you’re keeping your riding horses at home, and want to eventually offer boarding, you’ll need a riding ring. That will take away from the amount of useable turnout space you have, but you don’t want to skimp on size. Go bigger to appeal to boarders and support multiple riders using it at a time. I recommend against using the ring for turnout, so don’t try to have it do double duty. (hay and manure will ruin the footing, and shuffling horses around in order to ride is a pita.)
If you’ll have boarders, what are you planning to offer them for amenities. Will there be a lounge? A bathroom? Horse trailer parking?
BPT find creative solutions to store tools, tack, blankets, etc to minimize the footprint required.
And good luck! I loving having my horses at home. But, I do caution you, boarding others can royally suck. You said “I was planning to make this my income while my husband works” but if you read the 1000’s of threads on this forum, you’ll hear over and over that boarding is a money LOSER, or at best, break even. Most professionals rely on showing, lessons, or sales to make the profit, and they just hope those activities subsidize the boarding program.
Finances aside, the drama of high-maintenance owners, horse “crazy” psychos, know-it-all teenagers, and the perpetually-late-on-board-payments-and-refuses-to-call-the-vet-becuase-they’re-broke will have your pulling your hair out. Set strict rules IRT care, barn hours, dogs, friends riding, BO responsibilities, etc in the contract. Lock up all your personal tack, and have cameras everywhere.
I find it doable to care for 8 horses as a part time job (DH and I both work full time, but the barn takes just a few hours a day). But you have to be smart and efficient in processes and layout. Visit lots of barns and see what works and what doesn’t.
