I am frequently contacted by owners ­enquiring about the feasibility of growing a mixed pasture of grasses and herbs in their horses’ paddocks. It’s a very nice idea, as it will increase nutritional variety and it is true that horses have been known to seek out specific medicinal herbs when they need them, but unfortunately it can be quite a tricky feat to accomplish in the southern African climate that ranges from extremely dry to very humid.

Overseas it’s quite a different story, as herbs will grow perfectly happily in amongst their native grasses. I have heard that in Germany the standard baled hay commercially ­available is automatically a mixture of volunteer native grasses and field herbs such as Calendula, Dandelion, Fennel and Mint, which is so ­totally unlike here as monoculture hays are the norm, particularly in the Western Cape where veld hay is not available at all.

But getting back to the subject of the herb paddock, a major problem most people find when they try to grow mixed herb/indigenous grass pastures in South Africa, is that our grasses (and the non-indigenous but extremely widespread invasive Kikuyu grass) will grow extremely voraciously when there is sufficient water available (which the herbs will need in order to grow in our country’s mostly dry ­climate), and then the grasses tend to grow right over the top of any other plants and ­completely crowd them out, so its very hard to keep the right balance of herb and grass for any period of time.

If you are planning to do a smaller area and keep it entirely grass-free, it would give the herbs a much better growing opportunity, but there are two major drawbacks to this option: firstly, just a couple of horses can do a lot of damage to a patch of herbs in a small area in a very short amount of time (due to trampling and pulling whole herbs out, roots and all).

Secondly, if the horses are left in for too long there could be some risk ­involved in that some horses may then choose to ­overfeed on the herbs.

One idea would be to establish a quality grass paddock surrounded with a 1-2 m wide grass-free herb bed, either inside the paddock, or to plant the herbs on the outside of a post and rail fence, so that the horses can still have free access to the herbs, but will not trample them.

In the herb beds I would suggest growing herbs such as Comfrey, Liquorice, Dandelion, Chamomile, Golden Rod, Echinacea, Vervain, Red Clover, Parsley, Mint, Marshmallow, ­Calendula, Fennel and Nettle, all of which are great for maintaining healthy horses and also grow well in our climate. Make sure that you plant the English Comfrey (Symphytum ­officinale) and NOT the potentially toxic and much hairier Russian Comfrey.

The Dandelion must be the medicinal ­Taraxacum officinale variety, not our South ­African subspecies that are toxic and can cause a stringhalt type lameness if eaten in large quantities. Our local weed variety of nettle (Urtica urens) is fully interchangeable with the British type (Urtica dioica), and the horses will usually gobble them up if you cut the plants and leave them to wilt in the sun for a couple of hours (in order to neutralise the stinging hairs) before offering to them.

You could also put in a couple plants each of Yarrow, Thyme, Rosemary, Lavendar, Wormwood and Sage. These herbs are quite powerful, containing volatile oils like thujone and thymol, which have anti-inflammatory, antibiotic and antiparasitic properties, but which horses would only very rarely choose to eat limited quantities of as and when necessary. Too much of these herbs for too long can cause toxicity issues, but it's highly unlikely that horses would ever willingly over-eat on any of them.

Two herbs that are incredibly safe and ­extremely healthy for horses to nibble on and can be grown around the border of paddocks as a hedge for natural shelter, are Hawthorn (botanical name Crataegus oxycantha) and the Dog Rose (Rosa canina), which grows ­particularly successfully in a clay or ­partial-clay soil. Horses particularly like eating the Rose’s red fruits, called hips.

Once or twice a year spread the cut herbs thinly over the grass in the paddock so that they dry out in the sun, as horses often prefer the taste of dried herbs to fresh herbs.

Key to the diagram

Hedge plants

Plant the hedge alternating between the Dog Rose (Rosa canina) and Hawthorn (Crataegus oxycanthus). Other Crataegus species also have the same medicinal properties and are safe, but some are more palatable than others.

Full sun plants (grouping)

Chamomile – Matricaria recutita (7-11, or sow freely)
Lavender – Lavendula angustifolia (3)
Parsley – Petroselinum crispum (5-9, or sow freely)
Rosemary – Rosmarinus officinalis (3)
Wormwood – Artemisia absinthum (3)
Thyme – Thymus vulgare (3)
Valerian – Valeriana officinalis (3-5)
Echinacea – Echinace purpurea, E. pallida, E. angustifolia (5-7, or sow freely)
Fenugreek – Trigonella foenum-graecum (sow freely)
Alfalfa – Medicago sativum (sow freely)
Oats – Avena sativa (sow freely)
Calendula – Calendula officinalis (9-11, or sow freely)
Dandelion – Taraxacum officinale (sow freely)
Marshmallow – Althea officinalis (3-5)
Yarrow – Achillea millefolium (3-5)
Fennel – Foeniculum vulgare (5-7)
Golden Rod – Solidago canadensis, S. occidentalis, S. gigantean (3-5)
Hops – Humulus lupulus (3-on trellis support)
Eyebright – Euphrasia officinalis (this is a semi-parasitic plant, so sow seeds around a suitable host plant)
Plantain – Plantago major (5-7, or sow freely)
Raspberry – Rubus idaeus (3)
Red clover – Trifolium pratense (sow freely)
Vervain – Verbena officinalis (5-7)

Semi-shade plants

Chamomile – Matricaria recutita (7-11, or sow freely)
Mint – Mentha piperita (only 1 – it will spread widely!)
Fennel – Foeniculum vulgare (5-7, or sow freely)
Gotu kola – Centenella asiatica (5-7, or sow freely)
Valerian – Valeriana officinalis (3-5)
Marshmallow – Althea officinalis (3-5)
Comfrey – Symphytum officinale (5-7)

Shade plants

Comfrey – Symphytum officinale (5-7)
Lemon Balm – Melissa officinalis (5-7)
Mint – Mentha piperita (only 1 – it will spread widely!)

Paddock grass

Horses really enjoy our healthy and indigenous Cynodon and Buffalo grasses, and they are very hardwearing. Kentucky Fescue is a good grass to overseed with in late summer/autumn as it continues to grow through winter.

It’s also healthy for horses, but it is a clumping grass, so if your grass paddocks are also doubled up as schooling arenas, it is not recommended.

The purpose for this garden layout is to have interlinking paddocks with the same arrangement, hence the hedge planted in the middle.

If only one herb paddock was needed, then the hedge can be planted right against the outside boundary (then the shorter type herbs planted on the outside would not be required), and then the hedge borders would only need to be 4m wide.