Keeping Your Horse In A Pasture 

 Horses by nature are animals that live outdoors in all different types of conditions and can get along quite well in a pasture if they are given water, food, and a shelter so that they have some type of shelter if the weather is bad.

Since horses are herd animals, a horse should never be allowed to live in a pasture alone. Horses need companions in order to be properly socialized.

If you are keeping your horse in a pasture then you must have some type of run-in shelter that is easy for the horses to get in and out of and provides shelter from the elements.

The structure should be closed on three sides and open on one side to allow easy access. Pre-made run-in shelters can be nice to have because often, you can take the shelter down and move it if you want to give the horses more protection from the weather or the sun.

There must be enough room in the shelter to accommodate all the horses that will be kept in that particular shelter. There are pre-made run-in shelters that you can buy and put together or you can build your own. Run-in shelters don’t have to be fancy but they do need to be strong enough to withstand the elements.

If you are going to keep your horse in a pasture you must also provide a large tub that is always full of clean drinking water and it’s a good idea to provide hay twice a day as well. Using a hay net tied into a tree or onto a fence post is a good way to keep the hay from getting dirty and trampled into the ground. Using a hay net will also keep small critters from stealing the hay or making a nest in the hay.

If you are keeping your horse in a pasture then you have to make sure that regular pasture maintenance is done. Pasture fences need to be checked and repaired regularly. There are different types of fencing that you can use for a horse pasture but most experts recommend that you use solid wood post and rail fencing on all horse pastures. Post and rail fences are the safest for horses.

Barbed wire or electric fences are not usually recommended but if you must use barbed wire or mesh wire fencing you should take brightly colored strips of plastic or neon colored tape and tie a length of the plastic or tape all along the fence line at regular intervals so that the horses can see where the fence is. Most horses have a difficult time seeing wire and if you use wire fencing your horse could end up not seeing the fence and charging right through the fence and getting hurt.

If you do use barbed wire or wire mesh fencing you should always have a pair of wire cutters stashed somewhere close to the gate of the pasture just in case a horse or another animal were ever to get caught in the wire. You’d lose a lot of valuable time if you had to run back to the barn for wire cutters so just hide a pair outside near the gate in case you ever need them. Better to be safe than sorry when it comes to barbed wire and your horse.