I just moved to the mountains and all the barns around me have hilly or steep pastures. I have heard people mention the hills in a negative way. What could the possible effects be if turned out for about 10 hours a day? Thanks!
My family once had a farm on the Ohio River other than unusual and interesting ways to describe distances. “Up yonder a ways” and “down the road apiece” or “as the crow flies” and “down by the crick” there wasn’t much a problem other than little flat land and heavy rains cause easy flooding
I guess rather than feeding the horses you will need to put on the vittles
I would think they would muscle up and become fitter going up and down hills.
[QUOTE=mk_riley;8796013]
I just moved to the mountains and all the barns around me have hilly or steep pastures. I have heard people mention the hills in a negative way. What could the possible effects be if turned out for about 10 hours a day? Thanks![/QUOTE]
You shouldn’t see any issues…except on icey days. The horses should stay very fit!!
actually, how steep?
moderate hills are okay – super steep and long are not too good.
steep is a problem. horses who do not have a somewhat even place to at least stand and eat will develop crookedness issues, for sure – too steep places a lot of stress on their tendons which causes soft tissue injuries. one of the farms i train at is very hilly (think VT) and soft tissue injuries in one of their paddocks are quite frequent; in fact, when i had my gelding there on a lease a few years ago he sustained the ONLY injury he ever had in my 10 years with him; a soft tissue injury in his knee. thankfully it healed up alright, but he did have some arthritis later on from the injury.
now, we have a slight hill in our pasture - it’s good for them but it doesn’t turn them into beefcakes.
Oh…I can help with this…we moved to WV last summer…bought a “holler farm”…in other words one with steep sides and a creek at the bottom. There are terraces on the sides and it’s not super steep everywhere but we have a bluff or two down to the creek and the only access I have in a few spots is steeper than ideal.
In summer, it’s no problem…but I discovered last winter that it was very challenging for me to get in and out of there for feeding…slippery and icey and then the mud.:no: When it is wet…and we have a silty clay soil over top of shale, it is like an ice skating rink. The horses do fine on it…no injuries or problems…but I’ve gone down several times. I’m not a spring chicken so that is something I hope to prevent by wintering the horses on the ridge top where it’s more open and less steep. I will have to haul water up there…but I think the trade off will be better safety and easier to get hay in and out.
Another challenge in the holler is getting in and out to mow and do access with a tractor…say to put out a round bale. I ended up using our Kubota RTV with a dump bed as our little compact tractor simply couldn’t handle the bales on that terrain without tipping over. I also had a few round bales roll all the way down the hill to the bottom…and just missed a horse once…so that was a lesson also.
In this area, horse square bales sell out fast…and I was unable to find enough to feed that way. Giving them rounds helped them stay warm also and kept weight on…so it really was necessary to use them.
On the upside, it drains well and the view is magnificent. 
As long as you have have a more gently sloped area to get in and out and feed or hay, you’ll probably be OK…but if you are in a mud/snow area, consider your access carefully.
I do think the horses have stayed fitter. I don’t have a fat horse on the farm…our pastures are not as lush as where we used to live but its more than that…almost as if their metabolisms changed up here. I’ve struggled to keep weight on lactating broodmares this summer for the first time ever…our breed is a small horse and generally very easy keepers. I’m certainly fitter also so there is some benefit there to the human also.
Best of luck with your decision. I have no regrets but it has been a learning curve for me…and I’ve had to make some adjustments due to the terrain.
It’s hard to keep good pasture because in the winter when the ground is wet if a horse slips they tear out a long strip of grass and roots, they also slip possibly a little more with slope. Obviously if the grass is allowed to get grazed down then any runoff will take your soil with it much more rapidly, though you tend to get fewer swampy spots.
The topsoil is often thinner and the soil poorer with fewer nutrients because of the runoff factor.
Mowing can turn into an art form, you have to learn how to mow a slope if it gets past a certain steepness.
The horses don’t mind it if the pastures are set up with a long distance on the contour, they can run on the level then, but a narrow pasture that goes up or down will get potentially uneven use, http://kingcd.org/pub_pas_abc.htm. I can attest to that, but it happens in any pasture, they wear out the soil where the tanks are and where you toss supplemental hay.
Gates have to be set up differently, you can’t open a swinging gate uphill, they pretty much have to be oriented with the slope in mind so it affects fence placement as well or you might end up choosing electric hook fence gates.
I live at the base of a mountain and we have lots of hills but none are very steep. My horses have a base level of fitness that is noticeably higher than horses that live in smaller and flatter fields. I consider our hills to be a benefit to fitness and balance.
However, mine are turned out in 10 + acre fields. I would not be comfortable turning a horse out in a small and steep paddock since they could easily torque something, stopping and turning. My 3 paddocks are not steep, although certainly not totally flat.
I’ve had few injuries over the years, although one life-ending pasture accident. But considering that I have had horses on this property my entire life, I do not blame the hills.
Also, I think it’s great to have acreage and hills for young horses growing up.
We have 23+ acres of rolling and steep hills.
The barn sits on the flattest spot.
I have everything cross-fenced. One year we iced up so bad I shut four horses on a 2 acre pasture that was hooked to the barn.
We have one hill that is so steep, we can only go up with bush hog or the tractor will wheel hop, even in low gear. The horses have never gone up or down that hill.
we have been here 13 years and have yet to have a horse injured because the property is too hilly for them. Doesn’t mean it can’t happen but my two remaining horses are in their early 20’s and honestly are “been there done that” rugged trail horses.
My worries for them don’t even include getting hurt on these hills and rock ledge. They stand a better chance of getting struck by lightening:eek:
Soil erosion! Horse hooves cause more damage to hillside pasture than cattle, sheep, goats, etc. And it’s not just in wet weather. We’ve all seen horses flinging clods of sod thru the air when they take off galloping. If you want to have pastures that are a large part of your horse’s forage then get bottom land for pastures.
