Difference btween handwalking and pasturing a horse?

Question

need some documentation to show a group at a zoning appeals meeting. these people no nothing about horses.

Answer 1

Yes, hand walking is taking the horse out with a halter and lead and allowing it to graze while being held by a person the whole time. Pasturing means turning the horse out in a fenced area where the horse can move freely and is not held by a person. What are you trying to argue for at the zoning meeting? What are you looking for documentation  on? As long as the horse is on a a lead or behind a fence, he can't bother your neighbors property. Pasturing is preferable as it allows the horse some freedom and allows natural browsing. But some horses are never turned out. Most racehorses have never been in a pasture after the age of two while they are still racing since pople worry they could injure themselves running around loose in a field.

Answer 2

Pasturing a horse means simply that, turning the horse out to pasture.  A pasture is a large, fenced grassy field.  [Personally, I define a pasture as anything larger than 5 acres.  A field is 2 to 4 acres and a paddock is 1 acre or smaller.]

Handwalking is just that, walking a horse by hand.  Not turning the horse out/loose or putting it on the walker.  

*Good luck with ANY zoning issues concerning horses, most board members don't know the first thing about them unless you are in an equine community!

Answer 3

hand walking or hand grazing a horse means that there's a person attached to the horse.  The person takes the horse out of its stall with a halter (the thing that goes on the horses head) and lead (a long piece of either rope or leather which attach to the halter...  the person holds the lead to control the horse).  Hand walking is if the person takes the horse and walks it around.  Hand grazing is if the person takes the horse out to the grass and stands with the horse as it eats.

To pasture a horse, the person would still take the horse out of its stall with a halter and lead, but then he'd lead the horse to a fenced in field where he'd let the horse free.  then the horse can run or graze and the person can go do whatever...  then the person can bring the horse in later.

The difference is more than just about the person.  Pasturing gives the horse freedom.  The horse gets exercise and can go out with other horses and socialize.  Horses are herd animals.  They enjoy the freedom and they enjoy being out with each other.  The horse can get exercise through riding or handwalking and it can eat hay and grain in its stall or grass if someone hand grazes it...  but it's really not the same as having a pasture for the horse...  there's something missing if the horse doesn't get pastured (or 'turned-out' is the term I'd use).