Over Grazing - What Causes It?

Over grazing is a common problem that can potentially affect every horseowner.

Every field or paddock has areas that the horse will favour as providing the most succulent grazing. By the same tone, your horse will also selectively avoid certain areas for grazing, using these as his favoured toilet location.

Over grazing can also be caused when too many horses are turned out in a small field that cannot realistically cater for their needs in terms of nutrition and exercise. Find out more with our useful information on selecting the the right size paddock.

How Do You Know If Your Field Is Horse-Sick?

The former are likely the places where you find the majority of horse droppings. If the grazing on the rest of the field is sparse, your horse will graze closer and closer to the weeds which are likely infested with parasites.

Other parts of your field might be devoid of grass completely - perhaps where the horse shelters under trees or the area around the gate. In wet weather this can become extremely boggy which makes getting horses in and out tricky at the best of times while providing much hilarity to any observers!

If large segments of your pasture are in a poor state this will have a negative affect on the health of the horses and ponies using it. The more dominant horses grazed on this type of pasture will muscle in on the weaker herd.

Weight loss is inevitable unless the grazing is supplemented by hay or haylage.

If you only have one field in which to graze your horse, it would be impractical of us to suggest vacating it for long periods in order to allow the pasture to recover.

How Can It Be Prevented?

We believe that following this advice will preserve your grazing and help you get maximum value for money from your field.

Find out what we recommend in our guide to the Best and Worse Horse Fencing to provide maximum safety and security for your horse.

Return from Over Grazing to our Horse Care topic for lots more useful information.