How are horses good for the environment?

Answer 1

They are graziers, or herbivores, able to eat plants and feed the plants with their droppings. Wild horses have a much bigger area to range as far as grazing areas are concerned, but with domesticated horses in a smaller pasture, they can be hard on your pastures because they tend to graze so close to the ground, often causing overgrazing. Horses tend to be worse overgrazers than cattle because they are able to nip grasses right down to the ground whereas cattle can only nip off the top 2 inches. Proper pasture management is thus crucial when grazing horses, no matter how large your pasture might be: make sure they only graze 3 to 4 inches from the ground, if you are rotational-grazing them. And, keep them off the pasture when there is no growth left or when grasses are trying to recover, giving them hay in a different paddock (preferably a drylot or corral) for them to eat instead. It is also good to either scoop up their feces in the pasture, or use a harrow-rake behind an ATV or small tractor to spread their droppings around more evenly in the pasture, allowing the grasses fuller access to nutrients so they can grow more vigorously.