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 Keep those crap slapping tails away!
Posts: 8871
     
Location: Around here somewhere... | How many acres do you need to have to comfortably contain 5-8 horses? Assuming you are NOT going to let them graze, and including an exercise area at least big enough for a hot walker. (I grew up and live on a ranch and have absolutely NO clue about keeping horses on small property, I honestly can't even envision how big one acre IS... but we're looking at moving and I need to know what is reasonable for keeping horses on small acreage, ex. 2 acres, 5 acres, etc. I have no idea what a realistic size is lol)
Edited by Blaundee 2014-09-08 10:11 AM
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Keep those crap slapping tails away!
Posts: 8871
Location: Around here somewhere... | trobertson - 2014-09-08 9:11 AMI have always been told allocated each horse about 5 acres. I thought that was for grazing? ETA- where I live/grew up, it's more like 20 acres/head for grazing.
Edited by Blaundee 2014-09-08 10:16 AM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1094
Location: Idahome | My horse are in about 3 acres of dry lot. I have 4 currently, but had 5 at one time. Plenty of room for them to still move around. |
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Keep those crap slapping tails away!
Posts: 8871
Location: Around here somewhere... | Thanks! |
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 Buttered Noodles Snacker
Posts: 4377
Location: NC | I am not sure. I have had 3 on about 3 acres and it was just one big pasture with a run in and we fed hay. I just bought 5acres and hope to build a barn and rotate pastures. I did buy a book about keeping horses on small acreage that had some really interesting designs. Might help give you an idea of what you need.
http://www.amazon.com/Horsekeeping-Small-Acreage-Designing-Facilities/dp/158017535X
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 Bulls Eye
Posts: 6443
Location: Oklahoma | Coming from Southern California, if you do 24x24 pens you can still have a rotational turnout area, an arena, etc. http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/11175-Beeler-Canyon-Rd-Poway-CA-92064/16826760_zpid/
This is the ariel of my friend's place. it is 2 acres and they have 8 horses on it now
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | trobertson - 2014-09-08 10:11 AM I have always been told allocated each horse about 5 acres.
That's not right--I've got 5 horses and a donkey on 10 acres and most of the time they have more grass than they can eat. 1 acre per horse will give you some grazing, if you manage it properly. If you're dry-lotting, I would say 1/4 acre per horse plus room for an arena? That's just a guess. That was the size of my dry-lot pen at my old place and they had enough room to be happy. |
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 Cute Little Imp
Posts: 2747
Location: N Texas | I would do a minimum of 5. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 448
Location: lone star state | The grazing depends on the area you live in and type of grass you have. As for horses having room to live safely depends on the horses you have age temperment etc. If you are searching for property talk to a realtor who has farm ranch experience. They will know your area and what grazing or stocking rates are. Also the local county agent can advise you.
Trainers are able to keep many horses in a very small area by stalling and maybe allowing turnout time on days not working.
It seems that you should find a property you like and can afford then detetmine if your horses get along well enough to stay confined to that property or if cross fences can be built to safely handle your needs. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1367
Location: mi | I would not want less then 5 total acres for that many horses. Taking into account you lose some for the house and drive and septic and.......
Ideally I like to have no less then 10 just so you have room if you want to expand to every corner. But for sure no less then 5.
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 Expert
Posts: 2097
Location: Deep South | We live on 7 acres, but when you take out what the house/yard/barn/drive/arena/etc is all on, I would guess that we prob have 5.5 pasture?
We've had up to 7 horses on it and I never once felt like it wasn't enough. Granted, we do have really great pasture. The grass just grows here, there is no needing to rotate them or plant seed or fertilize or whatever. We just keep it sprayed for weeds and such.
Lately we've only had 3 horses on it and we've been baling hay off of it because they just can't keep it eat down. 5 acres is producing about 300-350, 50-ish pound bales a cutting, we cut twice a year.
But I know other pastures that are even just right down the road that aren't the same. So it's not just how much acreage you need it's the quality of those acres. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1094
Location: Idahome | Here is a pic of my property. In total it is 4.14 acres. The house sits on the north side of the canal and the rest of the property is on the south. The area in black is the dry lot. It is hard to see, but the dark dot in the middle is 4 horses huddled together. I have a full size pattern set out here and my husband has room to pull his dummy around without getting in the barrels. The area in red is where they water and feed. It is seperated, but the gate is open all the time for them to go in and out. To the left of the red, is where the trailer is parked, hay stacked, and the shed for grain, halters, etc. If you aren't planning to have pasture and just dry lot, you don't need a lot of acerage.
ETA: Guess I can't get the pic to attach.
Edited by KylaKris 2014-09-08 11:23 AM
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 The One
Posts: 7998
Location: South Georgia | I wouldn't go less than 5 acres. Ideally, you want at least an acre per horse. I leased a place that had 3.5 acres, but it was just perfect for my three horses. Any more than that and I would have been too tight.
Edited by horsegirl 2014-09-08 11:29 AM
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 367
| I know where I live there are laws on how many acres per horse you have to have. You may want to check into this. |
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Pig-Bear Dog Lover
| 5 Acers of PASTURE minimum so you'd probably want 6 acres at least. ... there's not such thing as too much room, and you'll be glad to have it. |
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Sideways Riding Expert
Posts: 11371
Location: ND--it snows, it floods, it snows, it floods | It really depends on where you live, rainfall, grass, ect. |
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  Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | its been said a acre per horse.. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 340
| We have two in dry pens and a 60ft round pen with PLENTY of room for a hot walker on an acre and a half. |
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 A Gopher's Worst Nightmare
Posts: 5094
Location: Southern Oregon | Honestly it depends on where you are at and what size barn and runs you going to have ect. Where I live it is WET........ If you dont want mud then you must have Lots of acreage lol...... |
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 Expert
Posts: 1440
Location: Texas | I personally would not want any less than 10 acres. |
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Veteran
Posts: 238
| Where we are, law says up to 4 horses per acre, and I darn sure know a lot of people push that beyond the limits.
I had almost 5 acres and comfortably kept between 4-10 horses. That is providing hay, not grazing. Still, plenty of room movement and keeping. 9-10 would get tight, but not because of acreage, just because of my fencing and lack of dividing. |
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Keep those crap slapping tails away!
Posts: 8871
Location: Around here somewhere... | Thank you so much everyone :) |
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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| A friend of mine has 3 horses on 5 acres. She has a decent sized arena - one smaller pasture and one a bit larger. She also has a 4 stall barn. They can manage up to 5 horses on it but its tough. Ideally they like to stay around 3.
As others have said rule of thumb, 1 acre per horse. |
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 Do You Feel Lucky Punk?
Posts: 3156
Location: NM...the Land of Manana | Three 4 Luck - 2014-09-08 9:19 AM trobertson - 2014-09-08 10:11 AM I have always been told allocated each horse about 5 acres. That's not right--I've got 5 horses and a donkey on 10 acres and most of the time they have more grass than they can eat. 1 acre per horse will give you some grazing, if you manage it properly. If you're dry-lotting, I would say 1/4 acre per horse plus room for an arena? That's just a guess. That was the size of my dry-lot pen at my old place and they had enough room to be happy.
LOL, here in NM I get to feed my horses for about a month on our ten acres during the monsoon season and that is IF it rains. Otherwise they get to eat that $250 per ton hay the rest of the year. |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Lightfoot - 2014-09-09 9:15 AM Three 4 Luck - 2014-09-08 9:19 AM trobertson - 2014-09-08 10:11 AM I have always been told allocated each horse about 5 acres. That's not right--I've got 5 horses and a donkey on 10 acres and most of the time they have more grass than they can eat. 1 acre per horse will give you some grazing, if you manage it properly. If you're dry-lotting, I would say 1/4 acre per horse plus room for an arena? That's just a guess. That was the size of my dry-lot pen at my old place and they had enough room to be happy.
Well, I did say SOME grazing. LOL I know it's totally dependent on location, but obviously when you live in a dry area you don't expect to be able to skip hay feeding no matter how much land you have.  |
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Regular
Posts: 55
| I would rather have too much than not enough. Get as many as you can afford!!! They are not making any more land value should not depreciate in the future. |
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How many acres??