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Would you turn out in this pasture?

Horses are turned out during the day and brought in at night. Field is on a hill and irrigated with sprinklers. Usually wet and muddy. About 10 horses out there at once.
Would you do it, or is this a death trap? Asking for a friend. :wink:

How big is it? Is it always wet and muddy? Irrigation on all day? Is the herd wildly running around or just grazing? The answers will determine my opinion.

No idea what kind of space weā€™re taking about. Field looks way too nice to have 10 on it for even for half days unless it is actually huge and that doesnā€™t capture trafficked areas like for gates or water. I suspect it is rested in photo with horses off of it. If it is small-ish and is naturally low-lying with poor drainage, which I suspect, then I would it to be trashed quickly into a slidey, sucky mudpit by 10 horses out even just out half days in about a nano second

What part of the world has enough water to over irrigate pastures? Maybe itā€™s just my frugal, water conserving nature but I donā€™t get it. The west is so dry I canā€™t even imagine this use of water being allowed. The southeast is so wet it canā€™t be needed and at least around my little town in New England this use of water would be prohibited even if the source was private wells as the aquifers are all connected. My mind is boggled.

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What is your actual concern?

That it is muddy? That the grass is too rich?

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Concern is potential for injury. Literal rivers running down the hill from the irrigation and quite slippery.
Pictured is about half the field.
The herd spends time grazing, but also time running around.

Iā€™m asking whether personally, youā€™d turn your horse out on this.

I let my horses out into the pasture while it is rainingā€¦sometimes raining hard. My soil is clay so wet grass and clay can be slippery.
So I guess my answer would probably be yes.

Though I admit I am still confused because it is hard for me to believe someone would spend the time and money to irrigate a pasture and then leave it wet enough that the horses are likely to do damage when turned out.

Edit to add - I do not irrigate my pasture, or my yardā€¦ So to me it is silly to use that money/resource and then ruin all the hard work/money by putting the horses out while it is still too wet.

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Our barn has hillside pastures. I am fine with horses turned out on them, however, they are single horse paddocks. Have horses been hurt? Are there other options for turnout? Can the irrigation be turned off (looks like desert SW in your photo) more often?

Iā€™d be personally cautious if my horse were a known runner-arounder-tear-shoes-off kind of horse in this situatuon.

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If I didnā€™t turn out on a field like this, including the slope, my horses wouldnā€™t have been turned out from Jan-March of this year, and from October-March of 2019/2020 because everything was a red clay foot-sucking pit.

Yes horses ran. No nobody got hurt. Iā€™ve had a horse hurt while running on a dry pasture.

Horses who are regularly turned out donā€™t tend to do stupid-running stuff, they have their ā€œmud legsā€ and pay more attention to footing and their personal safety.

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I agree with @JB - I would turn my horses out here without hesitation (although one of mine would definitely need a grazing muzzle or sheā€™d end up wider than she is tall!). My horses live out year round in herds of 4-10 horses on very hilly fields in southern CA. During parts of the year, they are in a field that I think is slightly smaller than the one in the photo and during other parts of the year they have 25+ acres. Due to the climate, the fields are dry lots most of the year, have grass for a few weeks, and are a slippery muddy mess for a few days after each real rain (rain tends to be all or nothing in my area!) that we get in the ā€œwinter.ā€ But horses that live out, or are regularly turned out, are far less likely to do really stupid stuff - they know when the footing is good and when it isnā€™t and adjust accordingly. While Iā€™ve only been here 18 months (and none of the herd horses have been injured during that time), I am not aware of any significant injuries caused by running around on questionable footing for the many years the barn has had horses on these fields.

Like @frugalannie, as someone living in the southwest in the middle of a severe drought, my mind is totally boggled at this waste of water, but that doesnā€™t really impact whether I would or wouldnā€™t turn my horse out there!

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The only reservation I would have is if the sprinklers are left out. Iā€™ve seen that around here and just can create all kinds of bad scenarios involving running horses and the sprinklers. I have never seen anything bad just my active imagination and being around horses for 50 years.

Susan

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My horses are out every day no matter what the weather. While I donā€™t understand the ā€œover irrigationā€ to the point of total saturation , slick and muddy conditions ( not to mention the waste of water) I see the land is fairly flat so it should be pretty safe.

I can see the equipment being more of a hazard as I am certain it isnā€™t picked up .

I wouldnā€™t even bat an eye about turning out in this.

Pretty certain I live in this same county in a valley in a western state (and Iā€™m Iā€™m guessing the facility right, Iā€™m not too far away so I can give my 2 cents on soil/climate).

Personally, I would be fine to turn my horse out in similar muddy conditions. I find that our horses can be pretty smart about the ground conditions and adjust their antics accordingly. I also do a lot of trail riding, so I donā€™t mind exposing my horse to a variety of footing.

Due to the mud, Iā€™d be more concerned about tearing up the grass and ruining the field, which around here is hard and expensive to maintain.

We irrigate 1-2 times per week, which to be honest seems to keep the grass in fine condition. Although with the way the drought this summer is going, they might start restricting irrigation allowances, so the mud issue might lessen if the property owner canā€™t water as much.

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This would be my hesitancy turning out on this. Horses sure can just tear the snot out of a wet field!

Took me several minutes of slightly confused reading to see the OP is worried about the horses here. :rofl: Oh my no, theyā€™ll be fine. That grass, thoā€¦ :open_mouth:

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Iā€™m confused. If itā€™s meant for horses, WHY would you/they/whoever irrigate it to the point of saturating it every day? Water it once or twice a week and your concern disappears. Add me to the list of people more concerned about destroying your pasture over a horse getting hurt.

Mine also go out ~20 hours a day in all conditions, and yes, they gallop madly down muddy hillsā€¦they lose shoes once in a while, other than that theyā€™re all good!

My concerns:

For the horse: laminitis

For the pasture: divots because itā€™s wet and horses are on it

For the sprinklers: they look expensive. Might get broken.

Otherwise, I wouldnā€™t really be concerned.

My first thought is also the potential for laminitis. This looks like really rich grass. My easy keepers would blow up on that pasture. Iā€™d be curious to see what the pasture looks like by mid-day. Maybe it has dried right up by then so itā€™s not slippery at all?