How to Rotate Horse Pastures

Horses need plenty of room to exercise on a daily basis, and their pastures or paddocks must have either hay or grass to eat. This is extremely important for digestion, weight and nutrition, as well as proper growth of equine teeth. If you have multiple horses, it's a good idea to learn how to rotate horse pastures, which means alternating turn-out so that horses don't eat their pastures bare and have nothing to munch on during the day.

Things You'll Need

  • Fertilizer
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Instructions

    • 1

      Determine how much room each horse requires to stay healthy and happy. Generally, horses need more pasture space when they are otherwise inactive, while performance horses don't need nearly as much room.

    • 2

      Divide your horse pastures into several quadrants, separating them with electric, wooden or synthetic fencing. You should have at least two spare pasture areas beyond the number of horses you own--in other words, if you have three horses, you should have five pasture areas.

    • 3

      Decide which pastures your horses should be turned out in first, then take steps to encourage productivity in the rest. Spread fertilizer on the ground, water daily and make sure there are no weeds or other contaminants that might result in grass loss.

    • 4

      Wait for the grass to get low in the current turn-out pastures, then switch horses to their new pastures to begin the same process over again. Fertilize, water and maintain the old pastures so you can rotate them again at a later date.

    • 5

      Provide horses with at least two flakes of hay if their pastures don't have any grass in them. This sometimes occurs in the heat of summer when the sun and the horses' activity destroys grassy areas.

    • 6

      Re-sod horse pastures if they don't seem to be growing back through other methods. Cultivate your green thumb; however, it is expensive to re-sod and you don't want to do this every season.