Sharing grazing with sheep

[CormoranStrikeIsBloodyLovely]

Does anybody use sheep to help keep the grazing down for ponies prone to laminitis?

Would you mind sharing your experiences? Was it effective in keeping the grass down or do the ponies just eat the new grass anyway so although the grass looks short, it is still very lush?

I am moving yards soon and will be sharing a field with the farmer’s sheep.
4 native ponies, 6 acres and lots of sheep!

I will have stables too.

Have they seen sheep? Some will kill sheep… others are terrified of them. I’ve used sheep but never had them in the field at the same time

Mixed grazing can be beneficial as sheep will eat things that horses won't eg buttercups. My friend grazes her horses with sheep for this reason but you have to be more wary of ticks etc so she will often alternate the grazing. I can't remember if there is a worm impact with mixed grazing (off to look it up in DS Pony Club manual 😆).
Very short grass is higher in sugar but there is less of it for the horses to eat. Long 'standing hay' grass is lower sugar but horses will eat a lot more of it so could end up fatter. The key is to reduce their time off grass depending on length of grass, soak hay and increase exercise.

We have that here. One of horses likes to kick the sheep and chases them. So he's not safe around them. So they are in separate paddocks. Horses in first and then the sheep move in to tidy up the paddock once the horses go. The sheep need a really good energiser and fencing as they escape from regular fencing

It is actually really beneficial from a worm point of view to graze sheep with horses, sheep effectively 'clean' the paddock, as no horse worm species survive in sheep (and vice versa). The larvae ingested by the sheep die so stopping their life cycle.
It is different from a behaviour point of view, I also know of a thoroughbred who killed sheep.
As I recall, the growth plate of the grass is at the base, so where the sugar gets concentrated, which is why super short grass is not great for natives as they are constantly eating the high sugar part, exactly as twisty said, better to have the longer standing grass or 'foggage' as I've heard it called before.

Thank you. The sugar level is what I am worried about, the grass is too short for muzzles so I will ensure they are in during the day and keep a close eye on them.

The farmer can move the sheep out if there appears to be issues, all are laid back sorts so I am hoping they get on ok with the sheep but it will be a careful introduction.

At my last yard the farmer had sheep in with one of our ponies on fenced off reduced grazing (so he was in a portion of the sheep field). The sheep ate through the electric fencing tape 😳 never seen anything like it. They literally chewed through the wired tape, they were obsessed with it! Aside from that, no real issues otherwise. I had a welsh mare who would tell the odd one off but not seriously, just the bitch face and snap. They generally just ignored each other entirely.

The move has happened and ponies are totally ignoring the sheep and are settled in their new paddock.. Thanks to all for advice, I’m keeping a very close on their weight and bringing them in during the day to be off the grass.