Field & Stable • Paddock Care
Pristine Paddocks throughout winter After a very wet summer, horse owners are busy preparing for the winter. With paddocks, still trying to recover from the rain, Peter Hunter shares his advice on maintaining fields throughout the colder months and how to improve them in spring.
After the wettest summer on record since 1910, grass has gone from drought to saturation. This means that grass has suffered, resulting in many grasses becoming weakened, with some even dying out. Added to this many fields and paddocks will have been badly poached. As a result grass, hay and haylage are likely to be poor quality and may run into short supply due to the summer weather. Autumn is both the beginning and the end of the grassland year. It is the beginning because September is the ideal time of year to reseed worn out paddocks.
It is also the end because grass stops growing at the end of October and hibernates until the spring. It is important to keep maintaining your paddock so that it remains in good condition. Autumn jobs such as reseeding, mowing and harrowing the paddock will help the grass grow well and keep it tidy. Paddocks also need time to recover after so much wet weather. Oversowing to poached or damaged areas stops weeds invading these areas. Grass seed can be spread by hand, drill or fertiliser spreader. The seed mixture should provide a short, dense sward that will cushion the
horses’ feet, when the ground is hard. It should also be palatable and remain thick in the bottom.
from the roots they need to be burnt. It is also important to continue picking up droppings.
A horse’s grazing is important to his health and well being and provides a huge amount of nutritional goodness. If the preparation is right then the maintenance and upkeep of your paddock is easy.
Daily fencing checks should be carried out, to ensure all is secure. Quality horses need quality fencing to ensure they are kept in the boundaries of the paddock and are safe. Post and rail fencing is ideal, with electric fencing surrounding the paddock to create added security. Wooden fencing needs treating so it lasts, doesn’t go rotten or gets chewed. Barbed wire and sheep mesh are dangerous, hedges tend to have gaps and dry stone walls can fall apart. Also confirm the height of the fencing is appropriate for the size of the horse.
With this in mind, there are still ways to prepare and manage paddocks over winter, trying to avoid extremely flooded boggy fields. The first thing to consider is whether the paddock is an adequate size with sufficient grass for the amount of horses or ponies it is for. If there isn’t enough room the field will become very muddy and churned up. With little grass an alternative fibre source will need to be provided. It is always advisable to have one field resting, divide the paddocks up to allow one paddock to rest, while one is being used. This will enable a rotation system, to help avoid paddocks getting too badly damaged over winter. Check your paddock regularly for poisonous plants, Ragwort has been a big problem this year. Others are hogweed, laurel and yew. They should either be hand pulled or spot sprayed to stop them spreading, once removed
Make sure there is plenty of shelter, this is especially necessary if the horse is living out. Trees may lose their leaves, but dense hedges are great wind breaks all year round. If you have a field shelter, check it is safe. Is it water tight, with no leaks? Look out for sticking out wire, nails or iron that could cause injury. Make sure if the shelter is made of wood, it is treated and maintained. Vitally important is the fresh water supply to the paddock, whether it is a water trough or buckets these need checking and re-filling. Troughs need monitoring for rust and damage and should be cleaned regularly. Buckets can tip over and need to be constantly checked. Is your paddock secure? Put chains and padlocks on gates if necessary. To help poaching, don’t always feed in the same place and think about putting a second gate in so that one gate way can always be rested and have time to recover. If gates start to get muddy, cont. on p.24
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November 2012