herd size/exercise

[Amanda Perez <amandaperez@ureach.com>]

  Re: the optimal herd size - I really don't think there is an 
answer to this one.  How much time a horse spends moving around 
vs loafing in the shade is probably more of a function of the 
quality of the pasture than how many horses are on it: if the 
grass is plentiful and rich and not over-grazed, the horses 
will not have to range as far to get adequate intake.  If the 
pasture is not as rich and plentiful, the horses will get more 
excercise as they range in seach of forgage.  However I don't 
think manipulating the number of horses in a herd is an 
efficient or practical way to provide optimal exercise for 
horses - if conditioning is what you are after, they need to be 
WORKED - either ridden, ponied or otherwise made to move and 
get their heart rates up: there is not short-cut (though I 
suppose in a pinch you could train some border collies to push 
the herd around every hour or so ;-)  )

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