A dry lot or Track is a 100% grass free zone. If you need to move your horse off his/her pasture, then creating a ‘dry lot or track system’ is one way to do so.
This may be a large yard, round pen or area which can double as an arena. It might be a long strip beside the hedge or the trees.
Or it might take the form of a perimeter ‘track’ around the paddock.
Initially you can fence off the area with electric tape.
Places with good drainage lend themselves to being made into a dry lot. Otherwise it is very worthwhile (and economical in the long run) to invest some resources into making a ‘proper’ dry lot which won’t go muddy in the rain and where the grass doesn’t keep poking through necessitating regular spraying which becomes a pain in the neck and a dent in the wallet!
The best dry lots have an all-weather surface at least on some of the area, horse safe fences and shade or shelter.
Your dry lot is your safe place to keep your horse or pony at times of the year when the grass isn’t suitable. Please note that I am not saying horses cannot eat grass at all! Only when it isn’t suitable, as in early spring, autumn and other times depending on the season and the weather. Sometimes your horse will need to spend only part of the day in their dry lot, other times they might be in there full time, other times of the year they may be out on the grass full time. You will get to know what suits your horse on your grass in your area.
Those who have large acreages of older unfertilized grasses, for their horses to graze are the exception and likely won’t need to build a dry lot. Those who live on dairy farms are most likely to need a dry lot.
When are Tracks and Dry lots not suitable?
- For breeding horses, mares and foals.
- For large numbers of big horses that require more room to move.
- When terrain is hilly or steep.
What is the purpose of a dry lot?
- It is a safe option for your horse to go when the grass is not suitable. Such as Spring, Autumn, frosty mornings or after drought breaking rain!
- Having a ‘grass-free’ area available enables you to customise your horse’s access to grass as needed.
What is essential for a track or dry lot?
- It should incorporate choices for the horse such as shade, shelter, water and hay stations. Ideally the feed and water should be located as far away from each other as possible to encourage movement.
- The horses must have access to ad-lib hay – either in small hole nets placed in a few locations to slow down consumption. Double netting can slow down greedy horses even further if needed.
- Safe fencing – because you are confining away from the sweet green grass, they will try to push boundaries. Electric fencing is a good option.
- Make sure there are no dead-ends on tracks. If the track doesn’t make a complete circle, then you need to have a large area for them to turn around rather than coming to an abrupt stop at the end.
- Round off all corners on a track.
- Remove all hazards, so that the horses don’t run into anything if they are racing around.
- Tracks shouldn’t be the same width all the way around. There needs to be larger areas where they have room to mill around or to roll and play, or if they run off due to a scare.
- Tracks should be at least 5 -6 metres wide at their narrowest points depending on how many horses will be on them and how big the horses are.
Setting up a track
- You can start by making a temporary or portable fence for the inside and a solid, permanent fence on the outside. This allows the track to be more affordable.
- Depending on your land, the track can incorporate streams or creeks, rocky terrain, hills, woods and open areas. Each feature has its own benefits. Creeks provide a natural drinking source and moisten your horse’s hooves, rocky terrain strengthens their feet and trees act as excellent scratching posts and shade.
- Even if your property doesn’t have these natural elements you can artificially add them. Logs, large rocks, sand pits and dirt mounds can all placed along your track. You can also build a three-sided shelter to provide protection from the sun, rain, snow and wind.
- Your track should have hay stations strategically placed throughout, as well. This will encourage your horse to keep moving from one location to the next. Furthermore, fresh drinking water should be along the track.
Keeping a Dry Lot or Track 100% Grass Free
- For people who have horses/ponies or donkeys prone to or recovering from laminitis it is imperative that their living area is and stays 100% GRASS FREE!
- This can be easier said than done in many parts of Australia. Especially where rain events are occurring on a regular basis.
- Anywhere you have fed out the hay you will see the green appearing from the seeds that are germinating, not to mention the grass and weeds that tend to sprout up along fence-lines.
- It is a mistake to think that ‘a little bit’ won’t matter but you would be surprised, it really does matter for individuals whose metabolism is on the brink of a relapse.
- Do what you need to do to prevent ANY nibbling on green shoots that are poking their nose out of the ground, and since doing gymnastic moves to get at grass under or through fences can really get in the way of the recovery process pay attention to those areas too.
- Thoroughly covering up the area with sand or sawdust is ideal, make sure your surface extends at least half a metre on the other side of the fence. Use old carpet (very easily cut shapes/strips to suit with a box-cutter), mulch, pine needles – whatever you can lay your hands on to cover up any green.
- You can spread salt on green patches in small areas like yards but this generally isn’t a viable option on larger areas. To be effective it needs to be quite thick, it will look like it has been snowing.
- Fences need to be safe, secure and impenetrable like Fort Knox! Escaping out onto any kind of green grass could be catastrophic for a laminitis prone individual, it could mean the ‘end’!
- It is money well spent to make somewhere that will be suitable now and for the future.
- Avoid netting for fences (unless it is the purpose made Horse Mesh with gaps too small for any size hoof to go through).
Benefits of keeping horses on a Track System
- You can completely control your horse’s diet, which may be necessary for horses that suffer from laminitis, metabolic issues or are severely ‘grass affected’.
- It encourages your horse to exercise, search for their food and travel over different terrain.
- Provides a more stimulating environment for the horses.
- Enables easier grazing management.
- For more information on setting up a track system we suggest reading Jaime Jackson’s book Paddock Paradise, A Guide to Natural Horse Boarding..
- Jaime Jackson is a former farrier who came up with the concept of Paddock Paradise. He began studying feral horses and their behavior in the 1980s. Jackson discovered when horses are encouraged to move around their hooves are naturally hardened and trimmed.
Feeding Horses When on their ‘Dry Lot’ or Track
In order to maintain perfect health and well-being while on a ‘dry lot’ or a track, here are some essential points:
1. Horses require suitable hay (clover-free) 24/7 – slow feeders are a great way to achieve this. For some horses you may need to double bag the hay or swing the nets from trees in order to slow down consumption!
2. If your horse is ‘metabolic’ (cresty neck, pads of fat behind shoulders and on tail head) or obese, soak the hay for an hour prior to feeding.
3. Make sure there is clean fresh water available at all times.
4. Using oaten, straw, timothy or meadow (so long as clover free) chaff as a base, mix up a simple feed every day (ideally split into two).
Dampen it and add their salt with Supreme MVA (in order to ensure they are getting the appropriate nutrition including their selenium and protein requirements).
Using a high spec mineral mix is really important as a lot of economy mixes don’t contain any or sufficient Vitamin E or amino acids which are necessary for times when there is no green grass in the diet.
Remember our domestic horses cannot roam and forage or graze the variety of vegetation that they normally would.
5. Add crushed linseed (flaxseed) for taste and to supply omega 3 fatty acids. Flaxseed oil is good as are the oils that contain 3’s 6’s and 9’s. Vegetable oils like rice-bran and soya-bean contain larger proportions of Omega 6’s and need to be balanced up with oils rich in omega 3’s such as flaxseed.
6. We find copra is good for taste too, we feed the minimal amount that ensures they eat what we need them to eat. Some horses don’t need it, they are happy with crushed linseed for taste.
7. In this hot, humid weather keep all feeds in the coolest place possible, oils should be refrigerated where possible.
8. Beetpulp is an option too, it requires more time to soak up the water. Some horses are fine eating their minerals in chaff/beet others need something more tasty.
9. Protein: horses need a small amount of quality protein, this is why the original Supreme Vitamin & Mineral has been updated to Supreme MVA – it now contains Amino Acids (the building blocks of protein) which takes care of this for you. If the horse is in hard work, whole oats or crushed barley can be added.
If you are feeding copra, pollard, bran or any grains long term, make sure you include XtraCal to balance the low calcium of these feeds. Beet is the opposite, it is higher in calcium and lower in phosphorous so it is always a good idea to feed with a higher phosphorus feed such as copra, pollard, bran or grain.
What if I can’t get my horse off grass completely?
If you can’t create a ‘dry lot or track system’ because you are agisting your horse or if the problem is not too severe and you don’t need to eliminate grass completely, then you can do the following:
- Still feed hay every day. The fibre will keep the hindgut flora healthy and a by-product of this is the production of B vitamins which contribute significantly to a calm healthy horse.
- Eliminate high potassium feeds.
- Feed salt and the correct vitamins and minerals such as Supreme MVA and ShipShape if needed.
- Add appropriate supplements to help imbalances – GrazeEzy, SOS, XtraCal or Alleviate Gold.
Check out our other horse articles or complete our complimentary Horse Questionnaire for recommendations for your horse from our animal naturopath.
