Preparing Paddocks For Autumn

The nights are drawing in fast and your thoughts have probably shifted to paddock preparation for the wetter, winter months. Here are a number of areas worth considering to help you get ahead this Autumn.

Fencing

Before autumn hits, ensure your fences have had a lick of treatment or paint. Meanwhile, you can catch the last rays of sun and top up your tan!

Treating fences before autumn hits is vital to ensure the future security and longevity of your paddocks. It also gives you the perfect opportunity to look out for any protruding, sharp edges, which may cause harm to your horse, plus any post that may have become rotten over the course of the year. This means your horse can only reap the benefits of turnout without any nasty surprises.

If you come across rotten fence posts, or one used as a scratching or resting post by your horse, they could snap, giving your horse free rein to go wherever they like. A snapped fence could also create sharp edges and fallen nails, predisposing to injury of the hoof and body! TIP: Splash bright-coloured paint on the fence post so you can easily see it when returning to the field to repair it.

Make sure all latches and bolts are secure, as ‘Harry Houdini’s’ of the horse world are likely to figure out an escape route via these exits. If your horse still manages to escape, replace existing bolts with bolts designed for use with a padlock. Replace the padlock with a simple dog lead clip so your horse cannot get out, but you can have easy in-and-out access!

Pasture

As autumn draws closer, the wet weather increases. Therefore, making sure you are turning out on well drained field is essential to continue turning out your horse through the autumn. Rest your summer grazing and relocate to a field on a sloped gradient, if possible. The natural lay of a sloped paddock provides perfect drainage and avoids poaching water-logged ground.

With the massive weight of horse hooves and the autumn chill making horse fresh, wet ground is extremely suspectable to poaching when wet. Wet and poached ground can encourage problems with your horse’s health, normally concerning hoof ailments and mud fever.

To further avoid poached ground, try to allocate one acre per horse if you have the luxury of space. Additionally, ground suffers the most at gateways as horses queue to come in for some TLC. If possible, change the location of your exit and entrance gates regularly so your horse isn’t waiting expectantly in one area. If this isn’t possible, try sectioning off areas with electric tape and alter the location of your exit and entrance along this fence line.

Knowing when your field, or an area of your field needs resting is also crucial to ensure field and turn out longevity. As areas of paddocks become poached, it may be too late to salvage for the dreary winter period. Area’s of mud and compaction will also cause problems further down the line, increasing suspectable to weed growth and reducing drainage ability, respectively.

How to know when to rest a grazing

The general rule is that grass should be kept at approximately 3 inches in length. Grass below 3 inches stresses the plant and reduces the leaf surface. The leaf surface is crucial for absorbing sunlight for photosynthesis and for maintaining the health and growth of the plant. Therefore, grass under 3 inches will have depleted energy reserves and suffer in terms of growth. Eventually, the ground will be stripped of living plant material for your horse to eat and result in bare patches, where mud is exposed.

BEWARE OF FALLING FRUITS…

Make sure to correctly identify trees, bushes and plants in and around your paddock. With the autumn wind picking up force, poisonous seeds and leaves can easily be blown into paddocks and put your horse at risk of accidentally ingesting them. Poisonous plants to look out for this autumn includes sycamore, oak and bracken!

Shelter

Making sure horses have appropriate shelter is also a key feature for any autumn paddock. As the weather changes seemingly hourly, it can be hard to decide whether to keep our horses in or out.

A man-made field shelter might spring to mind, however a good hedge line or a few trees will do the job, just fine! Current research actually suggests that horses actually prefer to be out and grazing, rather than in a shelter during adverse weather! However, it is always best to provide sheltering options for your horse, especially when the weather takes a turn for the worst. The addition of shelters can also provide a visual stimulus for your horse, keeping their mental health in check.

*TRY A MOBILE FIELD SHELTER FOR THE FREEDOM OF PASTURE MOVEMENT*