Common Equine Pasture Forages

Do you know what's growing in your pasture? Are you considering reseeding your pastures and don't know what grasses to choose?

While there are many, many plants that are perfectly fine for horses to graze, it is a good idea to learn to recognize the plants in your pasture. This can help you determine the quality and productivity of your pastures for feeding your horses. Remember, a horse at maintenance or lightly worked can meet its energy and protein needs from high-quality pasture alone (and sometimes exceed their needs!). Therefore, identifying pasture grasses is a step towards better pasture management.

Grasses

The following cool-season perennial grasses are commonly planted in horse pastures. Cool-season means that they grow best in cool conditions (spring and fall), and perennial means they come back year after year.

• Kentucky bluegrass
• Smooth bromegrass
• Tall fescue (note that some varieties are not appropriate for pregnant mares)
• Timothy
• Orchardgrass
• Perennial ryegrass

Penn State Extension created a chart (Table 1) comparing the attributes of each of these forages to help in species selection. A good pasture contains a mixture of several forage species.

There are lots of other grasses that grow in horse pastures. You may encounter some summer annuals like crabgrass, foxtail, barnyardgrass, goosegrass, etc. These die off completely in the fall and only regrow through dropped seeds. They can provide nutrition for your horses during the summer, but the lack of living roots through the winter is not good for soil health. It is preferable to cultivate perennial pasture plants.

Legumes

The following plants are perennial legumes. Legumes are higher in protein, energy, and calcium than grasses at a similar maturity.

• Red clover
• White clover

Other common pasture legumes include alfalfa and birdsfoot trefoil.

Conclusion

With a little practice, identifying pasture forages can be easy. There are numerous books and online resources to learn how, plus Penn State Extension regularly offers Pasture Walk workshops to show you how.