How much attention does a horse on pasture require.

[bobrammer]

Stupid question, please bear with a newbie. We have 42 acres
in Palmer, TX. That's just south of Dallas. We currently have 7 registered Angus on the place. Rolling terrain with coastal
in the summer and rye in the winter (usually). We were thinking of getting a horse for pleasure riding. If I provided a run-in shed, could we leave her alone on this acreage? We have a 1/2 acre pond and water troughs and supplement feed the cattle with round bales. My big concern is we usually only
go down on the weekends. Would it be cruel to put a horse
on the place? Many thanks. RGR

 

[Running Arrow Bill]

We have horses and cattle on our place. Kept in separate pastures. Horses occasionally rub noses with cattle and vice versa. As long as a single horse can be across fence from cattle they won't feel alone...not a species thing but a "herd" thing. However, wouldn't put horses and cattle in same pasture unless both had been brought up in same pasture---one could chase and/or injure another. We tried putting our TWH stallion in same small pasture several years ago with a small yearling Longhorn bull. The Stallion won--chased bull away and crashed into a fence. Didn't try that again.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

you may not ever see it but you can bet the horses will run em at some time are other most of the time its when your not present the only horse i let with my cattle is my old rope horse he's to arthritic to chase em. i woudnt be concerned to leave a horse for a few days unattended but theft would be one concern.as long as theres a good tight fence,water,hay& shelter and of coarse a mineral or futurity block.

 

[Alan]

How far away are you? Think about what neighbors or a do gooder would say if the horse got hung up in the fence and the owner wasn't around. You seem to be able to get away with that with cattle but not horses.

JMO
Alan

 

[holly heifer]

I too advise not to put the horse with the cattle, unless they were raised together. I have a heifer that was raised with ponies and she is fine with them. The horses will chase the
cattle away from the hay and could run them into the fence. Horses do better if kept outside with ascess to a run in shed. They do not colic or have breathing issues like the stabled ones do! ;-)

 

[TR]

I'm with Alan on this one...I just think that "unsupervised" horses tend to get into trouble. If a neighbor or someone could just drive by or at least look at the horse once a day, that'd be great. Also agree with the others in keeping a horse seperate from the cows. I'v had horses that wouldn't look at a cow if she were on fire, and I've had those that won't give them a moment's peace and ran them all over the place. You just never know, and a little cross fencing is worth the peace of mind knowing that your calves aren't gonna get run into the ground.

 

[rross]

My mares are turned out and often go anywhere from 30-45 days without me looking at them.

 

[rross]

I only have two neighbors, one of them is 20 miles away, the other is 25. Not much chance that they would interfere.

 

[rross]

I guess I better go build some sheds for my horses, and maybe chop the ice in their water on a daily basis. ;-) Those mares probably only go to water every other day or so and thats if its not froze up.

 

[germancowgirl]

A friend of us had her mares on a place about 25 miles away from her home. One of the mares got killed by lightning. She had a filly on her side which died to because her farmhand didn´t look at them for a week or so...
If he had checket on them at least every other day that filly would have had a chance...

 

[sidney411]

My horse is a witch but I've kept the occasional cow/calf that needed watching and for the past 2 weeks the bull has been in the same pasture as her and I haven't had any problems with them as far as I know. They pretty much ignore each other. Every horse and cow is different. You won't know how they will react to each other until you try it.

 

[rross]

A lot of the time I will winter my bulls and saddle horses together. By the time winter is over the bulls have gained a tremendous amount of respect for a horse, and have learned to move away when approached. Makes the bulls alot easier to handle and trail. Any bulls that I purchase that have not been handled horseback, I take them to the corral and lock them up with a horse for a week or so.

 

[tapeworm]

I guess I better go build some sheds for my horses, and maybe chop the ice in their water on a daily basis. ;-) Those mares probably only go to water every other day or so and thats if its not froze up.

Lol By the time another 100years go by a horse wont be worth killin when it comes to stamina and toughing it will they?? I hate to see women..kids...horses..dogs abused but theres no use in pampering any of em either. rross sounds like you probaly own asmany of those horse tarps and buy as much $16 fancy named horse feed as i do. LOL