Paddocks or Fields – My Virtual Equine Farm

Helmet Awareness

Action Point: Ensure that there is helmet awareness around the farm, and that everyone is using it.

Rationale: It is important that not only our horses are safe on the property, but also our riders. Demonstrating proper helmet wear, safety and necessity will decrease the chances of riders getting hurt on our property. There are a number of reasons for why riders should be wearing helmets, and Ill make sure that there is a sign put up where we keep the helmets so that everyone can see why.

https://www.troxelhelmets.com/blogs/troxel/76914947-top-10-reasons-to-wear-a-helmet

Isolated Horse Pen

Action Point: Design a Quarantine paddock for new horses coming onto the property, and design a disease questionnaire that is handed out before the horse comes to the farm.

Rationalle: We have horses coming and going every summer whether it be for exercising, training or boarders.
Ruff (2011) suggests sending out a list of barn rules and expectations to the owners before the horse comes to the property. Additionally, creating a “disease questionnaire” is important because it can get some answers to some important questions. Some of these questions may be ‘Has the horse visited any shows lately’.
The isolation paddock should be safe for the horse and have enough Hay or pasture to keep the horse happy and well looked after for at least 3 weeks before they are added to any current herd on the property.

Source:
Ruff, S (2011). Creating a Horse Quarantine
https://thehorse.com/119857/creating-a-horse-quarantine/

Introduction to Pasture Mates

Action Point: Observe personalities of horses and create groups based on these. Learn the personalities of new horses and place them in proper fields based on these traits.

Rationale: Developing the perfect Equine Group for turnout will ensure a healthy hierarchy. We don’t want boarders horses getting beaten up. Some interesting ideas were found in the equus magazine. They suggested created gender specific fields. This will ensure that there isn’t any group hostility to outsiders, and no gelding fighting over heightened mare hormones (Rogers, 2006). We can turn the new horse into an adjoining paddock so that his new mates will have the chance to meet for a couple days before joining the group. This will ensure that they get their initial greetings out, without hurting one another (Rogers, 2006).

Resource:
Rogers, A (2006) Introducing a New Horse to the Herd.
https://equusmagazine.com/behavior/newhorse_032006-8162

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