Hi! I'm new to the forums. I have 1 mare of my own, and I pasture her with my aunt's 32 year old gelding. We also have another pair on the property, a mare and gelding duo also owned by my aunt. At our place, we have about 48 acres of fenced pasture with 4 seperate paddocks. My horse and her gelding are on 2, and the other pair are on "the big one." Should I rotate them through the different pastures? It is feasible for us, but I wasn't sure what we should do. Is moving them around really necessary?

The only reason I can see for rotating is if the grass is getting sparce or the horses on the big one are getting too much grass while the others are starving! I did the same thing of rotating pastures with my mare because she would mow one down to the roots and the other one would be lush!!

Thanks so much. I was worried that I was missing something important, and you all have reassured me. I appreciate it.

I've been taught that rotating also encourages natural parasite controls...if you rotate every 30 days, and break up the manure in the resting pasture, you help control worms and flys.

Giving a pasture a "break" from grazing helps to keep the grass varieties that you want, more healthy. Most horses pick through and "over graze" on the plants they like, and leave the weeds and other stuff. So the pasture can appear lush thanks but not really be providing much grazing for them, becuase they will continue to munch on the same plants over and over. When the "good stuff" is gone, they will resort to what's left in the field, sometimes eating unsavory, toxic weeds, but that's usually only in REALLY poor pasture and the horses are starving, but I digress. As an area gets overgrazed, the hooves start to destroy the roots when they trample over the same spot over and over.

Taking the horses compeletly off the pasture for a week-3 at a time and putting them on a different section to "rest' the pasture will keep the best grasses growing and prevent root damage from the hooves. Also, it's a good idea to keep them off the pasture when it's SUPER muddy to prevent root damage, if you can.

 Also, rotating the pasture DOES help with parasite control, breaking up the worm cycle, esp if you spread the manure piles out to dry in the sun (sunlight helps kill some worm eggs).