Pasture has the potential to provide
1. The horses nutrition
2. A Safe exercise area
Potentials rarely achieved, often neglected
All information given here is believed to be correct but the author cannot be responsible for any consequences of it's use.
by Denis Lindsell
Horses have a blind spot immediately in-front of the head and therefore rely more heavily
on the senses of smell, feel and taste.
Smell will be the first of these senses to come into play. The horse will avoid grazing
where there is a smell of horses droppings, reducing the possibility of picking up parasitic worm eggs and resulting
in the characteristic rough areas of pastures that are continually grazed. The horse will restrict dunging to certain
areas to leave the remaining areas "clean". These rough areas will however become larger each year.
The sense of smell is also used to identify plant species, enabling horses to be selective
of grass or herb species and also to avoid certain poisonous weeds, i.e. ragwort.
The horse has sensitive hairs on the lips allowing them to determine how close to the
ground they are grazing, and also, the maturity of individual plants.
Taste is closely related to smell, and will help the horse to identify poisonous plants.