Pastures for Your Retired Horse

Fenced Entirely in Keep Safe Diamond Mesh & No Climb Horse Fencing

Pastures

Retired horses graze on pastures planted in bluegrass, orchard grass, timothy, clover, alfalfa, and endophyte free fescue at Orchard Equine Retirement. We mow, soil test and fertilize and lime our pastures as needed.

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Our retirement horse farm features four pastures, each with a dry or sacrifice lot and a south-facing run in shed. Our pastures contain only areas suitable for grazing -- there are zero hazards, such as wooded areas, gullies, ditches, brush, or downed trees.

The size of our pastures are seven, four, one, and four acres.

Pasture Safety

Our pastures are entirely fenced  and cross fenced in KeepSafe Diamond Mesh Fencing, the same fencing that kept Secretariat safe in his paddock at Claiborne Farm. One pasture utilizes no climb horse fencing. All pasture corners are rounded for your horse's safety.

All our pastures are free of ponds and streams. While aesthetic, ponds and streams can harbor harmful bacteria, nutrients, and other harmful elements from surface water runoff, which risks your horses well-being.

Fresh well water, the same well that supplies the residence, provides water to your horse on-demand in stainless steel Nelson Manufacturing 700 Series automatic waterers.

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Pasture Shelter

We provide your horse with shelter 24/7 through our south-facing run in sheds, which are accessible from each pasture. Salt licks -- salt only (white) and combination mineral & salt (red) -- are located in all the loafing sheds.

The sheds were built in 1988, 1996, 2003, 2009, and 2017.

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Pasture Management

We follow Penn State's Extension Service recommended pasture management practices, providing your retired horse with a safe and nutritious pasture.

Horse pasture management recommends keeping horses off all pastures in wet weather due to compaction and damage caused by horses’ hooves to wet pastures.

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We do not drag the manure piles, which spreads manure from toilet areas into their grazing areas. Our free range chickens are in charge of breaking up the manure piles -- which they love. We also spread composted manure on our pastures, thus not only fertilizing the pasture but also enriching the soil.

Our lifelong concern for the environment has also guided our pasture management, as we’re in voluntary compliance with Department of Environmental Protection regulations.