Horse meadows are a dream for every hoofed animal. But how should this be planted and what should be considered with regard to the location? We'll tell you here.
In densely populated living quarters, it is usually not allowed to keep horses in the garden. That's why many pet owners are looking for a large field in the surrounding region that they can rent for their four-legged friends. However, before the proud steed can eke out its existence on it, a suitable horse meadow must be created, which, in contrast to farm meadows, must meet several requirements at the same time.
A horse meadow must meet several requirements
For your horse, a paddock must be a source of food, habitat and playground at the same time. In addition, horses naturally also have a strong urge to move, so that the turf is subjected to a great deal of stress from kicking and very short grazing.
Furthermore, the meadow must of course be fenced in so that your horse cannot escape. Because if that happens, it can get expensive, which is why you should also take out horse liability insurance. Because if the hoofed animal runs onto the street and causes a traffic accident, you will incur high costs that could ruin you financially.
In the following paragraphs you will find out which criteria are important for the choice of species and variety of intensively used horse pastures.
The right grass for horse meadows
So that the pasture can withstand your horse, its drive to move and its drive to feed, it should meet six important criteria:
- a sufficient feed yield
- a so-called palatability
- a dense scar
- high crush resistance
- a rapid regeneration ability
- for some sites: a bog suitability
Meanwhile it is known that the following types of grass in particular have these required properties:
» Timothy, meadow fescue and red fescue:
Timothy grass, meadow fescue and red fescue improve the ecological adaptability of the lawn mixture as well as the structure of the forage.
»Meadow herbs:
Meadow herbs are particularly popular with horses because they love varied and tasty food. In addition, the selected herbs have a positive effect on your pet's he alth, which should suit you well.
Things to avoid: Wetness and ryegrass
If you create a meadow for grazing horses, you should definitely avoid ryegrass (Lolium perenne) in your lawn mixture! Ryegrass is often sold as a forage crop, but this applies to dairy cows, not horses. All types of ryegrass contain up to 20 times more sugar than a good pasture grass for horses should contain.
The unnatural robustness and vigorousness of ryegrass displaces slow-growing, valuable horse grasses such as bent grass, timothy, red fescue and herbs. Rye grasses quickly overgrow the entire meadow, so that soon there is no longer any biodiversity and the meadow is no longer usable for horses.
Waterlogged and wet pastures are also completely unsuitable as horse meadows because they are particularly susceptible to soil compaction and the formation of gaps. In addition, they usually have an unfavorable population composition (including creeping buttercups). There is also a risk that parasite larvae are on the grass and thus eaten by the horses via the feed.
Forest edges, ditch hedges or garden hedges are also not suitable for a horse meadow because poisonous plants (e.g. yew trees, laburnum) often spread there.
» Tip:
If your horse is also to spend the winter in the meadow, light, sandy locations on hilltops are particularly suitable.