[smee2012]

I'm after some advice regarding making improvements to our pasture. We originally seeded it (from arable land) with an equine mix, as the intention was/is to get ponies in the near future. We bought our sheep originally to keep the grass down and use their little 'golden hooves' to improve the grass a bit.

We are now at the point, after two years of dreadful weather, of wanting to improve the pasture and are wondering how to do this. I'm looking at a herbal ley mix - this one: https://www.cotswoldseeds.com/product/herbal-overseeding-mixture which will cost us £100 to sow on both paddocks but my hubby is thinking we could just overseed with pure clover. Potentially, we could buy one box (an acre's worth) of the herbal ley mix and then add more clover to it.

What's best to do?    Obviously it needs to be suitable for my woolly girls and their lambs but it also needs to be suitable for horses, as we are only a year or so off getting them. They are highly likely to be native breeds (probably Welsh Mountain ponies) so don't need the pasture to be rich. Any other recommendations we haven't thought of?

[Bramblecot]

I thought clover was too rich for most ponies , but my knowledge is very limited.  Maybe try asking on the horse section?  We have found Cotswold Seeds to be very helpful and have used their mixtures to oversow (by hand) our ryegrass/clover ley.

[Rosemary]

Clover's no good for ponies especially natives. Horses are incompatible with almost any other livestock regarding grazing, if you want good production from your other livestock. If they're just pets, then an equine mix will be fine.

[smee2012]

Oh that's a pain!   
Maybe I'll overseed the two paddocks with different herbal mixes then, lots of clover for the sheep and none for the ponies, and just keep them separate. We were intending to use electric fencing to strip graze each paddock anyway so there'll be plenty of rotation, even though we only have two acres!
I would say that maybe we'll get rid of the sheep eventually but I'd hate to be parted from my girls now! Sheep are rather addictive 

[Rosemary]

The sheep will do fine on pony grass. If you don't rotate the paddocks with both species you lose the advantages of sheep tidying up the mess horses make and in reducing each others worm burden.

[Marches Farmer]

If it's not too poached you'll be surprised how well the grass will look again by May.  I brought our pregnant sheep into the shed on the basis that the rest would give the grass time to recover and there'll be some grazing ready for the lambs at turnout.  The mud has rotted off most of the thatch at the bottom but new shoots are already appearing.

[Rosemary]

March's my panic month when I am convinced that the grass will never grow  But, funny, it always does.

[Blacksheep]

The sheep should be fine with a horse mix, we always find our lambs seem to best on pasture that has been grazed by the horses and do graze our horses with the ewes and lambs once the lambs are a bit older. The sheep are good at grazing the horse dung areas, and will keep any invacing docks under control.  You can always supplement the ewes feed at times they need higher protein, ie leading up to lambing and early lactation. You could also lamb early in the year if you want the new lambs to be grazing well by the time the grass gets really growing to help keep it under control for the ponies.   Alternatively if the main priority is to manage the land for ponies you would not necessarily need to breed the sheep and they could just be mowers and would then also be better on a lower nutrition plane too.
For managing native ponies and protecting the grass on a small acreage you could ideally create a small surfaced or yard area where they could be brought off the ground during the wettist weather, and for a few hours a day during the peak grass growing season if you are struggling to keep their weight under control. They could then still self exercise a lttle as compared to being in a stable.