How much land do I need to keep a horse is the very first question asked when trying to work out if you can keep your horse at home. Much depends upon the horse you own, and the quality of the grazing available.
If you want to keep your horse at home, or on your own land, you need to know that the area you have available is suitable. Both in terms of size and grazing quality. Although it is possible to keep a horse on a small plot, good land management and access to additional forage will be necessary.
This article will help you to decide whether your circumstances are suitable for bringing your horse home rather than boarding at a livery yard or rented field.
How Much Land Does A Horse Need
Every horse is an individual and should be treated as such. However, there are a few rules of thumb that should always be adhered to to allow your horse to live comfortably:
- Friends – A horse should not be kept alone. Another horse or pony is ideal, but if that is not a possibility, a donkey, goat, or sheep will also suffice to some extent.
- Forage – A horse should have access to a suitable quality and quantity of forage. That may be grass, hay, or haylage. Leaving a horse without forage for hours will leave them with digestive complaints and most likely will lead to psychological problems and poor behaviour.
- Choice – A horse should always have access to a shelter to come in from the rain, or to get out of the sun, or away from the flies. This doesn’t need to be expensive, hedges or trees will provide shelter, and many horses prefer to live out even in the worst weather.
- Water – There should always be access to clean water.
- Fun – There should be enough space to gallop, roll, and mutually groom.
Once you are satisfied you can meet these needs, working out land management comes next.
If your horse is a good-doer companion that requires limited grazing then the amount of land needed could potentially be reduced as forage can be provided in hay form on a track system. However, if your horse needs a little extra to keep weight on, and is a large horse i.e. 16hh+ then you will find that he needs more space to gallop around and play, even if still utilising a track system.
How Much Land Does A Horse Need To Graze
The ‘normal’ suggestion is that a first horse needs 2 acres, with every additional horse needing an additional acre. In modern times though this is very rarely adhered to.
Many livery yards allow one acre per horse in individual paddocks. Even in a herd environment less than that is a regular occurrence. Many yards also limit winter turnout so that paddocks can be saved through winter and not churned up my multiple hooves.
If you want to keep your horse out year round and fed mainly on grass and ad lib hay, then you will need nearer to the ideal 2 acres as stated above. However, this is still dependent upon your horse, the quality of grazing, the soil type, and the weather.
Those on clay soils may need to have extra land available as clay very quickly turns to boot-sucking mud after a few weeks of rain. This can lead to feet problems and mud fever if your horse doesn’t have a dry area to stand on.
If you’re on sandy soil you may not experience the mud to such an extent, but a small area will get grazed down quickly without good management, and grass on sandy soil grows in less abundance than other soil types.
If you have less than 2 acres then a good routine will be particularly important. Poo-picking should be daily for example or your horse will be prone to high worm burdens and foot issues from traipsing through excrement regularly.
How Much Land Do You Need To Keep A Horse On Clay
If your land is clay based, then take the following into consideration:
- Drainage – Clay is renown for draining poorly. If you’re able to add land drains in this will make your land much more useable year round
- Hardstanding/Shelter – On clay it is important that your horse is able to get out of the wet mud that will invariably happen during winter. If you have a hard-standing or an arena, then you may be able to keep your horse on these during the worst of the weather which will save the grass and paddocks.
- Sacrifice area – If you don’t have access to an area, and for many it is just a pipe-dream, then when on clay it is good management to have a sacrifice area for winter. This means that you can allow the Spring and Summer paddocks to rest for the following year.
- Money – Unfortunately, as with most things equestrian, finances can make a huge difference. If you have a smaller acreage you’ll find that you need to provide more forage, potentially stable for longer – so bedding costs increase, harrow, roll, and re-seed more regularly than those with larger plots of land.
There are other considerations, but those above will help you if you have clay soil.
How Much Land Does A Horse Need To Live On
If you’re looking at keeping your horse on a small section of land, these are 5 important things to arrange before take the plunge:
- Poo-picking – This should be done daily.
- Poo-pile – You will need to place this in an accessible place and be prepared to either pay for it to be taken away regularly, or find another way of disposing of the heap monthly at the very least. A large muck heap on a small area of land will not only be detrimental to the health of the horses, but will reduce the land you have, and increase the potential worm burden of your horses.
- Storage – Have you got enough room to store hay/bedding/rugs etc.? These all take up a great deal of room. If you’re on a small piece of land, every metre is important, so deciding how and where you will keep the necessities is one of the first things to do.
- Exercise – Is there somewhere suitable to exercise your horse? Boredom will be increased in a small field/track, so regular exercise, and/or environmental enrichment is important.
Can A Horse Live On 1 Acre
If your horse is a good-doer or suffers from EMS or similar and is not permitted grass, then a smaller area is perfectly possible, especially if you are able to surface a track for year round use.
Remember that your horse should be kept with another equine preferably so as to maintain good mental health.
Although it is always stated that 2 acres for the first horse, with an additional acre per horse after that, is the minimum for any horse, this is not always necessary. If you’re wondering how much land do I need for a horse, or how much land does 1 horse need, then try to work with the guidelines of 2 acres if possible, but realise that many factors will affect how much you need in reality.
Fatty has EMS and isn’t allowed grass, only weighed and soaked hay. My gelding has no such problems. Both are around 13.1hh gypsy gobs. The land is clay, so muddy as soon as a drop of rain touches the surface. There are hedges and each has a wooden shelter. If shelters and exercise area are included, then 1½ acres is their summer turnout. There is a further 1½ acres for winter grazing with an external track, but this is simply as there is no planning permission to surface the track, and the cost would be eye-watering!
Fatty lives on a multi-pathed track through approx. 1 acre, all day, every day. Dollar grazes the centre paddocks in rotation during the day, and joins Fatty on the track overnight. I believe that if the track were to be surfaced, because of their needs and requirements, this would be perfectly possible to manage year round. This is obviously far less than the recommended amount of land, each individual situation should be considered in isolation. This set up wouldn’t work for larger horses that didn’t need a specific diet. So if you’re wondering how much land do you need for a horse, then unfortunately there is no one single answer.
A smaller area will require you to feed additional forage throughout the year, so this cost should always be considered when choosing where your horse will live. Storing many bales of hay on a small amount of land will often need ingenious solutions!
Conclusion
It may be the case that the minimum acreage per horse is 2 acres for the first horse, and 1 extra acre for each additional horse, but many horses mange perfectly well on far less. The number of horses per acre will be determined by the needs of the horse, the soil type and drainage of the land, and the amount of land management you are prepared to commit to. The smaller the land, the higher the inputs needed to keep horses happy and healthy.
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