Planning for Wintertime Horse Pasture Care

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If you are fortunate enough to have horse pasture winter is the time to baby it. It’s also important to realize that a good stand of grass is critical for environmental health. Grass roots hold valuable topsoil in place and prevent erosion. Grass plants minimize pollution by filtering out nutrients and sediments and reducing runoff.

sand paddocks
sand paddocks

Photos by Alayne Blickle
The best winter care you can give your pastures is to confine horses in sacrifice areas, or winter paddocks, and off pastures. Here are what our paddocks look like at Sweet Pepper Ranch

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Written by:

Alayne Blickle, a lifelong equestrian and ranch riding competitor, is the creator/director of Horses for Clean Water, an award-winning, internationally acclaimed environmental education program for horse owners. Well-known for her enthusiastic, down-to-earth approach, Blickle is an educator and photojournalist who has worked with horse and livestock owners since 1990 teaching manure composting, pasture management, mud and dust control, water conservation, chemical use reduction, firewise, and wildlife enhancement. She teaches and travels North America and writes for horse publications. Blickle and her husband raise and train their mustangs and quarter horses at their eco-sensitive guest ranch, Sweet Pepper Ranch, in sunny Nampa, Idaho.

3 Responses

  1. re: Planning for Wintertime Horse Pasture Care

    Help HELP! Just move to a 1 acre irrigated bermuda property the is chalked  full of burs and weeds. Like goats heads. And a LOT of gopher holes! The ground is packed. I am too chicken to use round up on the weeds and too chicken to let the horse o

  2. re: Planning for Wintertime Horse Pasture Care

    YES i GOT THE COMPACTION AND WEED INVASION

    I OPENED UP 2 X 5 ACRE PASTURES TO GIVE APRROX 2 ACRES PER HORSE

    AT MOMENT 2 YEARLING  2 X  2 YR OLDS AND ONE 4 YR OLD

    TRYING TO WORK OUT PLAN TO RENOVATE PASTURE ??????

    H

  3. re: Planning for Wintertime Horse Pasture Care

    Thanks for posting this! I’ve kept my horses in much smaller paddocks in the winter and sometimes I’ve felt bad that they are more "confined" versus running on their 20 acre summer pasture. I also like that you commented on how short to let g

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