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[RC] re: paddock / pasture paradise - Michelle Aquilino

Kevin, thanks for handling the questions until I got the digest with them in it ;-)
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Karen, I definitely understand some of your concerns (and thanks for your link).? In my situation, I just have my one horse.? The second horse will either be strictly a buddy for her or a self-care board situation (to be a buddy for her).? Either of which, selection will be key.? I want them to get along, so wouldn't consider one where a "bullying" situation seemed to be arising.? My horse is also turned out 24/7 (though sometimes in the sacrifice area as opposed to the pasture, but it's still a couple acres large), but I don't imagine she moves as much as it sounds like yours does, though I'd be curious to find out, ha ha.? Without the proper motivation, she is rather lazy ;-)? Both (strictly)?electric and wire fences make me nervous, so I might be looking for other options in that area, and would hope to avoid the t-posts.? But of course, we do what we can with the money we are able to scrounge up :-/
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I would think the paddock paradise would be particularly intriguing to people similar to me.? Not as much time to condition, but want their horse to be as ready as they can be for endurance rides.? One of the things I really like about the idea is that their body and feet can be getting conditioned (to an extent) to different types of footing every day, while I'm working.? Aside from where you feed and water, it's difficult to "encourage" your horse to regularly go through different footing in a pasture setup...
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In addition, it has opened up my mind to other possibilities when looking for land to buy.? Before, with just the "pasture" image in my mind, I knew I needed to find a property that had a large expanse of open land, unless I wanted to go through the time of clearing out a large portion of the property.? That's hard to find here in VA, so it's nice to have other possibilities in your mind as to how you can set up your horse's turnout area.

-- "Don't breed or buy while shelter animals die"