Paradise track for minis

[Specialk]

This is my first year having minis in their permanent paddock. I got my first mini during the fall so we setup a temporary pen while building the large one. I now have three minis...ummm, not sure how that happened

Two of the minis are overweight. I've been feeding with slow feeder nets this winter. The paddock is probably 1.5-2 acres. I will planting pasture seed in it this spring. Last year I had to use grazing muzzles and limiting grass time.

Planning to try setting up a paradise track. The pen is a large rectangle with a smaller rectangle attached where the barn sits. The barn is in the middle of the small rectangle. The horses can access all sides of the barn. It works great for wind breaking and shade that way.

I'm planning to make a track around the whole inside perimeter of the large rectangle using electric fence. Then I will plant the inside of the pen with grass. The horses will have maximum distance of their pen to exercise running the track. It will keep them off the grass until it grows and then I will give them access to a strip across the rectangle to graze. This will limit their grass and allow me to rotate. I need to make a diagram.

What do you all think? Is anyone else using a track for their minis?

 

[Max's Mom]

Sounds great! I had planned to bring my horse and a friend's to my home and do a paddock paradise system in my yard for them. Then plan for keeping them here fell through, so Max is still boarded, but I really do love the concept of the paddock paradise.

 

[paintponylvr]

I've enjoyed seeing the Paddock Paradise track ideas. I think it's great and can't wait to see what you devise for obstacles or whatever you plan to put in your perimeter track.

We are doing something like that - a bit modified as we have multiple smaller paddocks w/i a large (7 acres) perimeter. We are planning on putting in permanent obstacles large enough for big horses as well as the Shetlands/Minis - to allow us to have riding and driving folk come over to utilize it. Currently our 8 Jr mares are running the whole perimeter with the round pen; the shedrow; 2 parked trailers; 3 movable chicken coop/pens; the water station and in another spot the actual water pump/well for the whole property; a smaller pen w/ pony in it; the Sr mares pasture w/ 7 mares & 2 foals; the boys pasture w/ a jr stallion, a Sr stallion & 5 geldings. Each interior paddock will have either trees or a shed/barn for shelter when all is complete - right now we just try to make sure there is lots of round bales before each storm hits - allowing ponies to find protection from wind and somewhat from precip. Our interior fencing is 30' off of the perimeter fencing - to allow large vehicles, large driven horses and ridden horses to be worked w/i the track area. A large horse could easily be loped in 35' circles in the corners and a shetland or mini w/ cart could practice circles as well.

 

[susanne]

We're considering this -- a lower case version, as I hate when someone starts marketing a common sense idea. My reason is that, from October through June, the front of our main corral becomes soup. We own just under four acres on a hillside, with house, corrals, shelters, and gardens on a level "shelf" comprising one acre at the bottom of the property. The remainder is planted with fir trees and is essentially wild. The hillside naturally drains downhill, and while we've excavated for drainage, the front of our big corral gets chopped and muddy. A number of deer trails meander up the hill, and while there are areas too steep for safety, a fenced path would be reasonably easy to create and would give them great exercise and varied footing.

We had already planned on creating a driving track around the flat area and mildly sloped driveway, so we could probably incorporate this in their turnout track, although the forested hill is too steep for drivig. One thing that would be difficult would be feeding along the path, as the official concept suggests, as there would be no shortcuts to facilitate hay distribution...it would be fabulous exercise, however! I'm thinking of closing off the track at night, as I'm not sure I want them that far from the house at night, and making it accessible independently from each corral, so that different horses can use it at separate times.

I'd love to hear more about how this works for you -- the positives and the negatives -- and from anyone else who has done this.

 

[poniesrule]

We have just a 3 acre area, about 1/2 is a pasture that we just did electric fence to make a track around the outside perimeter of that pasture. Very cost effective & we used the poly wire, so it looks nice too. Where we are it's super flat with no hills or obstacles of any kind. Fortunately we have some farmers who are clearing out some dead trees & are willing to haul in some so we can make jumps/things to step over. That's the goal this year. We are also hoping to get some dirt, gravel, and sand hauled in to help with our drainage issues. If we are able to accomplish everything we have planned we will have some gravel and sand areas for them to roll and lounge in as well as a small hand-dug drainage ditch for them to walk through. I feed around the outside perimeter twice a day & the water tank is as far away as it can get. We tried the hay pillows, and they worked but I believe are best suited for a stall because my horses would toss them all over the place. We do have 2 home made slow feeder bunks that we use more in the summer, they are stationed at the far corners. The horses & donkeys (1 POA, 3 AMHR, 4 mini donks) HAVE to move if they want food! The jack has lost about 25-30 lbs since starting this last spring! He was very fat on the verge of obese. While it can be a pain when the weather's crummy to feed around, we really like it. If the wind is blowing too hard, we tend to feed in the feeders close to the barn, but they always have the option to move. The track is usually grazed down to dirt, but we haven't had any trouble yet with erosion. There's a lot of things they're too picky to eat apparently! The inside pasture is utilized in the summer as rotation pasture, we are able to limit turnout very easily through the steel gate at one end, & in the fall & winter as riding/driving area. A 4-wheeler & harrow is used to break up manure that's spread about, but we are able to clean up the toilet piles (they're all pretty tidy) easily every day. It's way easier to keep clean for some reason. We run everyone who isn't needing conditioning or special diets together, they have plenty of space to escape or to snuggle depending on the mood. We're fortunate to have separate pens as well in case we do need to separate, like during foaling. I'll try to add a picture. Google maps & the generic paint program on my computer is what we used when we were trying to decide what to do. I highly recommend it! Even though a lot of things were different, it gave us somewhere to start. We're using the image I'm sharing to help with our dirt work & obstacle planning. As for my little rustic map, the blue is water, the black are the gates, white is fence line. Red arrow shows how the critters have to go to get out of the water access.

 

[Lepeppylass]

What a great idea with Google earth and paint! Totally going to go do this now with our pasture & front lawn/ pasture area!

 

[secuono]

I'll be making one for my 2 minis and the gelding. But we have two steep hill areas they will go over, a dry top area and then a level but sometimes wet low area.

I'll be using the inside for the hogs' pen, diy hay and occasional grazing.

They chew through hay nets and minis waste loose hay like psychopaths, so I need to make some kind of metal hay mangers for them around the track to refill as needed...

 

[poniesrule]

Secuono you're so right! The horses waste loose hay terribly. The mini donks on the other hand make sure EVERY stem is cleaned up! The slow feeder we made has a metal grate in it that is heavy enough it goes down as the hay is eaten. I'll have to see if I have a good picture of it. If not, I'll dig it out of the snow bank & get one for you.

 

[Specialk]

I have freedom feeder hay nets, so far no one has chewed through them.

 

[secuono]

Here's some pics of my track.