Equestrian Field Management

The field is the place you want your horse to feel relaxed, natural and content and you can help him achieve this by providing them with as many of the resources they would require naturally whilst keeping them safe and secure.

Fencing should never be made up of barbed wire or any other wire that horses could get themselves, their rugs or their shoes caught on. Many suitable fences include post and rails, electric tape secured correctly, solid hedgerows and walls. They should be high enough to prevent horses from jumping over them and gateways should be secure.

There should be adequate shelter for them to use to escape the heat or wind and rain. Natural shelter from trees or high hedgerows are good for this purpose but if this is not an option for you there are many form of field shelter that can be found on the market today that will suit most people’s budgets and horses needs.

Water should always be available to the horse when in the field, natural streams with access points are suitable so long as there is no risk of pollution or of the horse slipping and falling in. Water troughs and buckets are just as good but will need to be cleaned and monitored frequently to ensure a fresh supply.

If in the colder seasons there is not much grass in the field you can provide them with extra feed in the form of hay. The safest way of doing this is leaving it loose on the floor but hay nets can be attached securely to a tall driving post that can be put in the field. This will help reduce the wastage that many people are reluctant to see occur. There are obvious risks involved with this but tied high enough and secure enough can often tackle these problems.