Pasture management for horses involves managing grass quality, quantity, and access to prevent laminitis and obesity while ensuring horses can express natural grazing behaviour — a core component of equine welfare.
Horses denied grazing time show oral stereotypies (crib-biting, wood-chewing), increased aggression, and frustration behaviour. Complete restriction of grazing, while sometimes medically necessary, represents a significant welfare cost that requires compensation through high-fibre substitute forages. Laminitis causes severe, acute laminate pain that is entirely preventable through appropriate grass management. Horses on lush pasture during spring flush develop inflammatory responses in the hoof that cause weeks of pain. Soaking hay, using hay nets, and implementing strip grazing or track systems represents best practice welfare management for grass-sensitive horses.