Paddock paradise/track system

[Prjsmk]

Show me yours! Planning this for next year. PRJ has his own rather large field! Soends all his time along one fence line though with his horsey buddys, never ventures to the other side, so i am thinking of a track system but id like some pics of other peoples for ideas, plenty of trees around his field that he likes to nibble, mainly hawthorn and i think if he had a track he would be more intrigued to wander around and investigate. Pic of his field attached. Blue is where his water trough is, orange is the school, red wiggle is his buddies field, purple is where my slabbed groomingarea is. The red outline is how i plan to have my fencing and the middle left for winter next year. Any one feel free to re plan my fencing or anything. Fire away

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

Interesting that you should post this as I was thinking of a similar post. I am very jealous of your trees and hedgerow on both sides, lucky horses! I just have a long rectangle with trees at one short end (behind the shelter) only, and my track is as basic as it gets - about 15 feet wide all around the outside, with the inside saved for winter grazing.

I was going to ask whether anyone in the UK runs a "proper" paddock paradise, with no grass on the track at all. My YO would go bonkers if I did that, but I suspect it's a better option in a dryer climate. I try to keep the track just the right width to feed the boys in the summer without it getting worn and poached. I struggle with the section outside the shelter, which is used all year - I wish I had hard standing there but I'm not allowed.

 

[MrC]

It’s been something that I think would be perfectly able to be done on our yard with the lay out of it.

We have an outside field that all of us with poor doing horses can stay but the younger ones needing management could certainly make use of a track system done around our fields

 

[newforest]

There are two systems that spring to mind. The ones my friends do, just section off a track around the edge and all is well, then there is the pp system.
The planning permission for the latter might be hard to get, depending on where you are and what you plan to do. Because it's so wet here if you want to remove the grass you need to resurface and that's change of use. Sand schools need permission even though it's not even a building, it's change of use.

But the track I would love to try but can't on a yard setting.

 

[Jessey]

I have mine on a track, I am not purist PP as I do think that horses should be able to graze a bit. My current track is in its infancy, I moved from my previous yard in June, that one had been in place about 4 years. I don't have very recent pics but have a few from this year, its still a work in progress as the field was left untouched for more than 10 years and the owner had run a skip business out of there prior to that and dumped all manner of stuff everywhere (there's a thread on the field progress somewhere).

Brown - permeant fences
Purple - outer electric fence
Red - inner electric fence
Yellow - part of inner electric but this is not fixed so moves up as I strip graze the middle
pink - hay stations (the very bottom one is inside the barn)
Black - areas the horses can't get to
Blue - water

My guys utilized the track at the old yard better (charged around it more), but I have had issues with the horse in the field on the right and my mare, they have spent the summer in love (Jess has given up now she's out of season but the gelding is still besotted) and so they camp out on that side a lot and for a while in the summer I had to block off that side as my squealing mare was putting her legs through the electric fence , of course its the one open bit without trees or hedges to shelter them Most of my hay stations are movable, I try to move them once a month so each area doesn't get too trashed, apart from the bottom right one, that's a post dug in to hang nets on.

Loafing area

They have access to the barn all the time


The field here was mostly weeds when I moved in so I had it sprayed in the summer which left a lot of it bare, so I am now mulching it with waste hay and barn sweepings to reseed it and rejuvenate the soil as we are very sandy here, I was also mowing it in the summer and mulching the cuttings on it. Hopefully in another 18 months I will have a much improved sward which will help it hold up to trampling hooves better and it will be more like the meadow I had at the old place. Although my yellow fence is my moving winter strip grazing one I do move the red and purple one too, but they can only move 6ft or so as I have those onto wooden in the ground corner posts to enable me to get good tension on the fence.

 

[Jessey]

This is the old place that was more established

They are on the track here, around all that grass

Excuse the mess, hadn't quite got as far as poo picking yet

 

[Prjsmk]

I love both of your places jessey. I end up with more grass than horse! So track system needed so he can mow the track down and be on less through the year and have the middle a winter strop grazed area. So i need to plan some hay stations. Hoping to have a man made hill at the far end too. Im too excited about this

 

[Jessey]

I have more grass/weeds than horses, I borrowed 4 cows this summer to take the top off it I feed hay year round but my hay bill hasn't increased from when I had little grass in winter and fed more hay then, its just used evenly through the year now as I use the middle as standing hay in winter.

 

[Prjsmk]

Mine rarely touches hay if hes got grass, so il wait till its eaten down a bit before i add hay, hes still not touching the hay now unless we have a frost, fussy sod

 

[Jessey]

Mine rarely touches hay if hes got grass, so il wait till its eaten down a bit before i add hay, hes still not touching the hay now unless we have a frost, fussy sod

If I let mine have that much grass she gets footy and both get fat as houses, so they only have enough grass to just pick at, they need the hay to fill their bellies

 

[Prjsmk]

Thats my plan to end up with enough grass to pick at, the only one to get it down is for him to eat it unfortunately! If i get field owner in to cut it i have to move him to the 15 acre shared field which isnt very shared at the momenT with only two horses! So he would get very fat on that field! I try balance his eating with work he does something 6 out of 7 days and in the better weather hacks to the next 3 villages and back, hill work and different surfaces included in that. There is lots of work to do on the field still. Uncluding dreaded ragwort! This summer the field owner sprayed it and then cut the field so all the dead and seeds just landed in the field! Then sprayed the field next to us and just left it and i was forever seeing the seeds blowing all over in there millions so next year when it starts coming up il be digging it.. The joys!

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

My new field neighbour has one good doer section D on a 3.5 acre field (same size as mine, next to mine, but with a whole long side of hedgerow, lucky horse). She wants to establish a track but it's apparent already that there is just way too much grass for her in the field as a whole. She's developing a track to go around about 2/3 of the field and my poor-doer Mattie is going to try to mow the bottom section for her over the winter.

I want to find an aerial photo of my field so I can draw things on it!

 

[Jessey]

I want to find an aerial photo of my field so I can draw things on it!

I just google map search and screen shot it