If you love horses, there’s a fair chance you also care about nature and the environment. Fresh country air, open spaces, and beautiful scenery go hand in hand with a passion for spending time – in and out of the saddle – with horses.
Yet horses are heavy, hooved animals who as result of domestication, now reside in significantly more confined areas than they once did. The loss of rural land to urban sprawl, and the practical reality of many horse owners needing to keep their horses in or close to towns and cities, has resulted in equine living arrangements and management practices that can be detrimental to soil, pasture and the environment as a whole.
Regardless of where your horse lives and the size of the paddocks it grazes, there are positive actions you can take to limit environmental degradation. It’s possible to graze and manage horses in a way that helps to not just sustain, but also regenerate the environment – and while a truly regenerated ecosystem may not be possible in all scenarios and situations – an awareness and some uptake of regenerative grazing principles will not only limit damage, it will also result in happier, healthier horses. After all, anything that is good for the environment is also good for the animals and humans that inhabit it!
A macro-level understanding of how horses as living creatures – and plants as living organisms – play a role in the cycling of carbon through the earth and atmosphere is a good starting point when considering the environmental implications of equine management practices and decisions. Carbon is the beginning and end of all life; as the earth and its atmosphere form a closed environment, the amount of carbon in the system does not change. However, the balance of where that carbon is located – in the atmosphere or on Earth – is constantly changing.
Over time, human activity has increased the amount of carbon released into the atmosphere, creating an imbalance in the carbon cycle. As the 21st century advances, there is a growing understanding of the need to reduce the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. Reducing carbon emissions is a fundamentally important aspect of this; drawing carbon out of the atmosphere and storing it in the earth is another.
HEALTHY GRASS
There’s a widespread understanding of the important role trees play in storing carbon through the process of photosynthesis. However, on a per acre basis, grass can sequester more carbon than trees due to the dense root system and vegetative mass of grass. As such, promoting healthy and abundant grass in horse paddocks enables horse ownership to be part of the solution when it comes to restoring balance in the carbon cycle, rather than part of the problem!
To grow healthy grass, it’s important to focus first on the health of the soil. Healthy soil is alive; rich in organic matter, it has a balanced pH level, and is aerated and oxygenated. Unfortunately, when a horse paddock is continuously grazed without adequate rest and care, the animals inhabiting it will cause soil compaction and erosion. Compacted soil does not effectively absorb or retain water and results in slowed root growth, meaning it is less productive. An unproductive horse paddock not only results in an increased reliance on alternative feed sources – and therefore a more expensive way of feeding your horse – it also means that there is less leaf available on the grass to act as an agent in sequestering carbon!
When seeking to improve soil health, a good starting point is testing the pH level. Alkaline soils with soil pH above 7.5, and acidic soils with soil pH below 5.0, generally stunt plant growth, as plants can’t take up nutrients effectively within these ranges. If your soil is too acidic or too alkaline, avoid using synthetic minerals and fertilisers to rectify the imbalance. This is a short-term solution that will destroy soil microbes and have a detrimental effect on the soil’s health and productivity. Working with nature – rather than against it – will yield better long-term results. An application of lime can help acidic soils, whereas alkaline soils will benefit from the application of mulch and compost.
GRAZING VS REST
With the soil pH in hand, it’s important to next consider graze periods versus rest periods. Adequate periods of rest are critical for the maintenance and improvement of soil health and therefore also the nutrient density and volume of pasture produced. Even in large paddocks with abundant grass, horses tend to choose certain areas where they overgraze, rest, defecate and urinate, dig holes, or walk up and down, resulting in horse-sick pastures.
Spelling a paddock allows the soil to rest and plants to recover and grow. As horses are selective grazers, they tend to seek out certain grasses and eat these right down to their base. Above the ground, we see the impact this has on the leaves of the desired grass species – they are left almost non-existent – meaning that the grass has limited solar panels remaining to start the process of photosynthesis necessary for both regrowth and carbon sequestration!
How long a paddock needs to adequately recover depends on the time of year and whether it is the growing season or non-growing season, the amount of rainfall received during the rest period, and the condition of the soil and grass when the rest period commenced. Plants have three phases of growth: in Phase 1, the plant is drawing on root reserves to regrow, meaning it is not able to photosynthesise. At this stage, green pick is visible; it will be high in sugar, meaning it is not safe for horses to eat, and doing so will stall the plant’s development. In Phase 2, the plant is able to photosynthesise efficiently, meaning it grows rapidly both above and below the ground. In Phase 3, stems and seeds are evident. This is the plant’s reproductive stage, where growth slows and the forage quality starts to decline.
Resting a paddock when the grass is still in Phase 2, meaning at least a third of the plant foliage remains uneaten and intact, will allow recovery to commence almost immediately. Recovery applies not only to the parts of the grass we can see, but also the roots beneath the soil. A healthy, well-anchored root system is critical for a plant’s health and production. When it comes to deciding the right time to return horses to the paddock, this will depend on the grass species in your paddock, the health of the paddock overall including the soil and the plants, and the time of year. You might wait until the plants have reached Phase 3 before grazing it again; this will allow plants to reseed and they will have a lower sugar content than grass that is still in Phase 2. However, this may not be a practical option, depending on your property size and paddock availability.
MIX IT UP
A rest period is the perfect time to consider seeding paddocks, applying mulch and compost, and addressing any pH imbalances through the application of non-synthetic fertilisers. When choosing which grass species are appropriate for your paddocks, seek local advice as this will vary between regions. However, a mix of grass species and a combination of perennial and annual grasses will yield the best outcomes for your horses and the environment. As you improve your soil, you may be pleasantly surprised to see previously dormant grass species appearing in your pasture; it’s amazing to observe what the seed bank will produce when the conditions are right!
As a horse can produce up to nine tonnes of manure per year, this free organic matter and natural fertiliser should be considered a blessing! In reality, for most horse owners, managing and removing manure from horse paddocks and properties can be a labour intensive and sometimes expensive process. If you are fortunate enough to live in a region where dung beetles survive and thrive, you will be delighted to see these insects at work; burying manure and in the process, improving the soil. If dung beetles are not currently present at your property, it’s worth investigating whether there is a species suited to your region, and arranging a release of a dung beetle colony.
If dung beetles are not an option, or they are only active at certain times of the year in your region, removing manure from paddocks and composting it can be an effective way to turn waste into a source of slow-release soil nutrients for your paddocks and your garden. As manure and other forms of stable waste break down into compost, the microorganisms generate heat, destroy weed seeds, fly larvae, worm eggs, and other disease-causing pathogens – an added advantage of composting for the health of your property and your horses!
When choosing an area for your manure composting piles, make sure it is easily accessible with good drainage; however, avoid a location that it is close to waterways so contamination from run-off does not occur. It generally takes around three months for manure to become effective compost, which can be respread onto spelling paddocks.
While the concepts explained in this article may appeal, implementation can be a challenge if space and paddocks are limited. Not all horse owners are in a position to plan the layout and development of the property where their horse lives, however, for those that are, resources and consultants are available to help create an ecologically friendly, productive and efficient design.
For those seeking to make improvements within the constraints of existing infrastructure, it can be helpful to think outside the box – there are always some improvements and changes that can be made! It could be as simple as dividing paddocks in half using temporary electric fencing, to enable half of each paddock to be spelled at any time. If all paddocks on the property are in use and reducing the horse population is not an option, the use of yards, stables or a small sacrifice paddock can be considered, as can sending horses off the property to alternative agistment for a period of time. When you care about the environment and understand how horses can help or hinder, good ideas that suit your situation will always arise. EQ
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