Paddock maintenance
Everything your paddock actually needs
The complete picture — what paddock maintenance involves, when each job matters, how it's priced, and how to get someone reliable doing it for you.
Paddock maintenance
The complete picture — what paddock maintenance involves, when each job matters, how it's priced, and how to get someone reliable doing it for you.
Paddock maintenance is the ongoing work that keeps a horse paddock healthy, safe, and grazing-ready year-round. It covers everything from cutting and harrowing through to weed control, fertiliser, and ground repair — done at the right time, in the right order, with the right kit.
Most paddocks need attention three or four times a year. Get the timing right and the field stays in condition with relatively little effort. Get it wrong — or skip a season — and the work needed to recover the field is several times what regular maintenance would have cost.
Year round
Paddock work is timing-led. Here's what each season usually wants — though the right schedule depends on your stocking density, soil type, and how the previous year went.
Wake the field up. Get on top of weeds before they bolt.
Keep the grass productive. Knock back what the horses won't.
Set the field up for winter and the spring after.
Heavy ground work and structural jobs while grass isn't growing.
All services
Whether you need one-off help with a specific problem or year-round maintenance, the full menu is below. Each links to a page with detail, kit used, and how it's priced.
Cutting & mowing
The bread-and-butter cut. Knocks back ungrazed patches and weeds before they seed.
See more →Cutting & mowing
For rougher ground or heavier vegetation than a topper handles cleanly.
See more →Cutting & mowing
Cuts and collects in one pass — no piles to rake or move afterwards.
See more →Cutting & mowing
Tidier, lower cut for high-presentation paddocks and amenity grass.
See more →Ground care
Lifts thatch, spreads muck, levels hoof prints. The single most useful spring job.
See more →Ground care
Firms ground after frost and improves seed-to-soil contact after overseeding.
See more →Ground care
For full renovation — breaks ground up before reseeding a tired field.
See more →Ground care
Cuts drainage channels under the surface — fixes wet fields without trenching.
See more →Ground care
Buries surface stones rather than picking them — fast on stony ground.
See more →Ground care
Boundary tidying, ditch reinstatement, removing scrub or hedge encroachment.
See more →Treatment & upkeep
Ragwort, docks, thistles, nettles — selective spraying or spot treatment.
See more →Treatment & upkeep
Tractor-mounted boom spraying for larger areas. PA1/PA2 certified.
See more →Treatment & upkeep
Granular application, calibrated rates, timed to the field's actual need.
See more →Treatment & upkeep
Refreshes thinning paddocks without full renovation. Direct-drilled or broadcast.
See more →Treatment & upkeep
Mechanical sweeping to keep parasite burden and nutrient hot-spots down.
See more →What does it cost?
There's no fixed price for paddock maintenance because no two paddocks are the same. A fair quote depends on the size, the condition, the access, and what specifically wants doing. Here's roughly how it shakes out.
Most jobs I can quote over the phone from a description of the field. For trickier ones — heavy renovation, drainage, jobs with awkward access — I'll come and walk it with you, no charge.
Year-round contract
If you'd rather not think about timing or remember to call when the ragwort comes up, an annual contract puts the whole thing on autopilot. I plan the year, do the work at the right moments, and keep your field in condition without the back-and-forth.
Common questions
For a horse paddock that's grazed normally, three to four visits a year is standard — typically a spring service (harrowing, rolling, weed control), a summer topping, and an autumn job (overseeding, fertiliser, sometimes a second topping). Heavily stocked fields or paddocks coming back from neglect need more.
The mistake I see most often is owners only calling when the field looks visibly bad. By that point the work is bigger and more expensive. Regular small jobs are far cheaper than recovery work.
Both. Most of my work is one-off — somebody rings about a specific job, I do it, they ring again next season. Contracts are for owners who'd rather not think about timing at all. Either is fine.
No fixed minimum, but very small fields (under an acre or so) work better as part of a route — i.e. if I'm already in the area for someone else. Let me know where you are and what's needed and I'll be straight about whether the trip makes sense.
Yes. Heavy flailing, ragwort clearance, and renovation work are bread-and-butter jobs. Bringing a neglected paddock back usually takes a season or two — start with knocking it down, follow with weed control, then build the sward back with overseeding and the right fertiliser. Worth the work.
Hampshire mainly, with regular work in Wiltshire, West Sussex, Surrey, Berkshire, and Dorset. Anywhere further afield is by arrangement — ask, and we'll work out whether it makes sense.
Drop me a line — phone, message, or the form. I'll usually come back to you within hours.
Get a quote →