Blackwells Horse Agistment

14/07/2024

If anyone is looking to get any photos done ,
From my own personal experience , the photos are brilliant . Contact Berni Saunders Horse Photography Photography 📷 Group

02/05/2024

Did someone say CARROT 🥕

01/05/2024

Sometimes there are NO words

24/04/2024

19/01/2024

With the constant weather forecast going crazy , this is now so important to be aware and prepared and ready..
PREVENT is far easier than than trying to CURE, ( yet so very challenging when looking after so many horses).😩

🌿🌱 THE LOW DOWN ON SHORT VS LONG GRASS FOR HORSES🌱🌿

Equine nutrition has progressed in leaps and bounds these past few years. I am pleasantly surprised at how quickly things are moving in the right direction.

That said, I still hear people talk about how they want their horse to lose weight so they put it in a paddock with, ‘nothing in it’. The ‘nothing’ they refer to is usually very short, stressed grass of one or two species, with a decent spread of w**ds popping up for good measure.

Understanding the effects of grazing on short grass versus longer grass is crucial for any horse, but particularly for those with endocrine issues or a history of laminitis (usually caused by endocrine issues).

Somewhat ironically, these horses are often the ones who are purposely put on short, overgrazed grasses with the objective of keeping weight off.

🌱There are many reasons why short grasses cause issues:

⚫️ Short grass is constantly trying to grow. Therefore it will store its sugars and starches (Non-Structural Carbohydrates or NSCs) to prepare for improved growing conditions. Growing conditions won’t improve as your horse will continually keep eating it down, but the sugars will stay there.
⚫️ Because NCSs are predominantly at the base of the plant, each mouthful has a high NSC:fibre ratio. Typically the sugars are lower, and fibre higher, towards the top of the grasses, so the longer the grass, the less sugar and higher in fibre it is. A high fibre, low sugar diet is what a horse’s gastrointestinal system is designed to eat.
⚫️ The higher the grass’s fibre content, the lower the NSC intake will be.
⚫️ Eating longer grass means the horse has to chew more. This not only slows down their intake, but increases saliva production. Saliva helps to buffer stomach acid and helps to prevent ulcers and other gastrointestinal issues.
⚫️ A healthy (non-metabolic) horse eats until they have a specific amount of fibre in their stomach. Eating grass with a high-sugar and low fibre ratio means a horse consumes a lot of high-sugar grass before it feels satiated. This is why you might see horses with ad-lib hay standing around in the shade more than you will see horses with short grass doing the same. Horses with access to high-fibre hay can go and eat, then rest. Horses that need to eat all day to feel full will rest less.
⚫️ Because a horse’s front teeth (incisors) work so well, they can eat enough to stay fat on grasses that are 3cm - 4cm. Ponies can do the same on grasses that are even shorter (1cm - 2cm).
⚫️ Grasses grown specifically for lawns have their growth points very close to the ground so the plant can cope with being kept constantly short. These grasses have been selected specifically for this. Overgrazing results in only the 'lawn' type grasses surviving - so the result is a monoculture; just one or two species of grass. In addition, lawn type grasses are typically not ideal grasses for your horses to be eating a lot of.
⚫️ Horses are more likely to pick up sand while grazing short grass than they are on longer grass.

🌿 Property owners who want to take care of their paddocks should also keep in mind that:

⚫️ Short grass plants have short root systems that cannot reach far down in the soil for nutrients. A short root system results in much less organic matter in the soil, causing soil compaction and poor drainage (not to mention less carbon sequestration).
⚫️ Short, sparsely grassed areas in a paddock quickly turn to mud in wet weather and become dusty very quickly in dry weather. Both lead to soil erosion.
Short grass plants are not as able to outcompete certain w**ds as longer grasses are.

🌱 How long is short?

Clients need to fill in a form to get a diet consultation and I ask for a description of their pasture as part of the process (both written and photographic). I was once astonished at the difference between what they tell me the grass is like, and what it is actually like.

A lot of owners describe grass that’s around 3cms long as, ‘heaps of really good grass’. Because of this misunderstanding of what good grass is, they then don’t offer any additional hay. I end up having a lot of discussions with clients about grass. Sometimes we chat more about pasture and hay than the diet itself which is understandable as grass is complicated!

Short grass is generally shorter than 5cm (2.5 inches). However you need to look at the average height across your pasture as you will (hopefully!) have several species of grass available to your horses. There may also be areas they use as toilets which they won’t eat unless they’re almost starving. While 5cms is pretty short, in reality, on many horse properties, the grasses are as short as 1 or 2 cm.

Many horse owners think a paddock full of grass that is 5 cm long would be regarded as too long. At 5 cm, the plant is just about reaching the stage where it has 2 to 3 leaves, and it can now start to make a rapid recovery, using its stored sugars/starches for growth; at less than 5 cm it becomes stressed.


🌿 Why is longer grass better for horses?

⚫️ Longer grasses are healthier and typically not stressed (so they have less NSCs).
Taller pasture plants have a higher fibre-to-sugar ratio than short grass. As mentioned above, this is ideal for a healthy gastrointestinal tract.
⚫️ Longer grass typically allows for more biodiversity (i.e. less monoculture).
⚫️ Longer grasses have a longer and thicker root system. This results in more healthy nutrients being brought up from deeper layers in the soil.
⚫️ Longer/thicker roots equal better soil protection which means less mud or dust. Obviously this is good for the ground and for your horse (less mud is better for a slew of reasons), but it also means plants may be able to be grazed in wetter conditions for a longer period of time.
⚫️ Longer grass shades out and outcompetes many w**d species.
⚫️ When the roots are longer the plant can ‘trades' some sugars for other nutrients such as amino acids. When the grass is short and stressed, it hangs onto excess sugars.
⚫️ The horse has to eat from the top; this means they need to eat the higher fibre, lower sugar part before it can get to the higher sugar part of the plant (at the bottom of the plant).
⚫️ The horse has to chew more, creating saliva to buffer stomach acid.
⚫️ Horses walk more when grazing longer, more diverse pastures as they seek out different plants.
⚫️ Longer grasses mean horses are essentially also browsing, not just grazing, this variety of eating postures is good for them biomechanically.
⚫️ Horses pick up their feet more if they live in paddocks with longer grasses, this is also good for them biomechanically.

🌿 Why is longer grass better for your property?

⚫️ Longer grasses shade the soil in hot, dry conditions. This keeps it cooler and reduces evaporation. This, plus the increase in soil organic matter, helps hold water in the soil for longer. This means your grass can keep growing even when it hasn’t rained in a while.
⚫️ Longer grasses provide a habitat for insects, small mammals/reptiles, and ground-nesting birds.
⚫️ With their longer/thicker root systems, taller grasses sequester more carbon than short grasses and even faster than trees! This is improved when the plants are repeatedly grazed and then allowed to regrow (as part of a rotational grazing system), as it effectively pumps carbon into the soil.
⚫️ Taller pasture plants keep the soil warmer in cold weather.


🌿 How long is long?

In a rotational grazing system of land management, the grass is regarded as tall enough to resume grazing when it is approximately 15cm, or just before it goes to seed. When the grass plants have been grazed down to an average height of 5 cm, horses should be removed and the grass given the chance to rest and recuperate.

Won’t free access to long grass make my horse fat/ter?

This answer to this question requires a whole other very long article and is dependent on many other factors. However, provided you do it sensibly, then in my experience, no.

Of course you can’t just let your horse have free access to endless lush, early spring grass, especially if you have high sugar grass species such as rye. If however, you have grasses that are lower in sugars such as fog, and/or you wait until it’s a little drier then your horse is less likely to gain weight, AND it’s a whole lot better for your horse’s gut AND also for the pasture itself.

If your horse has had their grazing restricted to overgrazed, short grasses for a long time (particularly if they also haven’t had access to hay) then you need to make a slow transition to longer grasses. If you suddenly give them access to long, lush grass then they are very likely to gorge and then they will gain weight.

🌱 What about horses on agistment?

Having a horse on agistment makes things more difficult, but not impossible. Ask your agistment owner if you can rig up some temporary fencing (i.e. pigtails and tape) within your paddock to rest part of it, or set up a track system so you can have longer grasses. Setting up a track next to your existing permanent fencing also encourages more incidental movement and means you can restrict grazing at the height of spring and then allow your horse onto the longer grasses when it’s safe to do so. I suggest approaching them from a ‘paddock/pasture preservation’ point of view and use all the above reasons as to why it will be better for their land, as well as for your horse.

*credit to the Equiculture website which was used as a resource for this article

12/01/2024

The Only thing better than a horse….. is TWO Horses, especially one that just follows you everywhere 🤦‍♀️😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

23/12/2023

20/11/2023

18/11/2023

If you’re unsure what your horse should be eating , seek expert guidance
Erika Gough you are BRILLIANT in what you do 🙏

🙌😍 Love getting this feedback and photo from one of my endurance clients 😍🙌

"Hi Erika, thought I would give you an update on how the horses are going on their diets. I’m super happy with how they're going and looking!
They've both done two 80km rides on the diets with all A’s for everything in their logbooks. My mare definitely ate better between loops again

I’ve also had plenty of comments about how shiny they were and have been asked what I am feeding them. I think it’s probably the best my mare has ever looked"

Photo credit to Lynn Ruesseler

05/11/2023

That one Horse that knows his job and makes it all look so easy ❤️ we love you Mister
Well done Mia and massive respect to Rochelle 🙏

21/10/2023

When he realises the tyre is Empty 😂😂

28/08/2023

22/08/2023

17/07/2023

Great post , WORTH reading

🤑🤑 FEEDING ON A BUDGET 🤑🤑

If there’s one thing we can all agree on, it’s that times are tough. Interest rates, inflation, fuel and so. You don’t need me to tell you, we’re all feeling it!

So what can we scrimp on when it comes to our horses, and what are non-negotiables?

Things we can consider stopping/reducing:

PRE-MIXES
😎 Given pre-mixed feed prices have skyrocketed, why not ditch the pre-mixes? Most horses don’t need fancy feeds with long lists of ingredients. A lot of these pre-mixes start with ‘cereal grains’, or ‘barley’ and can be replaced with something simpler, like lucerne hay, lupins, copra or some other whole ingredient.

😎 If your horse does need a pre-mix, or you need to feed one for simplicity's sake, why not turn the bag over and read the ingredients. Some brands are more expensive than other brands, simply because one brand is perceived as being more premium than another, however the list of ingredients are almost the same.

😎 If you look at plain lupins (cracked/crushed), compared to four brands of processed lupin products, processed lupin products are between $10 and $20 extra per bag. If your horse needs extra calories and you’re feeding between 1kg and 2kg of these per day then over a year this is a pretty big difference. If you have multiple horses this can work out to thousands of dollars each year!

😎 There are some feed brands out there that contain very simple ingredients, they’re basically a hay pellet. They may contain a small amount of lupins or faba beans, but they’re essentially a hay-based pellet. These feeds can be brilliant, or a waste of money depending on your situation.

😍 If you are feeding multiple horses together, slow eaters or foals, hay-based pellets can be wonderful.

😍 If you have a herd in which one horse needs 1.5kg of lucerne hay per day and another needs 500gms of lucerne hay, then feeding a lucerne hay-based pellet can be wonderful as you can meter out how much to feed each horse. It’s easier to measure and add to a bucket, whereas hay is messier, takes longer to eat and is harder to measure.

😍 If you’re feeding a weanling for example (like I am) and they eat lucerne hay very slowly, then feeding a hay-based pellet with something they really like (such as lupins for example) can be an easier way to get extra ‘roughage’ into them so you can let them back in with their nanny who will steal their feed if fed together. The lack of wastage and less time spent waiting for your horse to eat is more cost and time efficient as an owner. **Note of course that the weanling and nanny still need ad-lib access to pasture hay.

😉 However, IF you’re feeding one horse in a paddock by themselves, then feeding a biscuit of lucerne hay (which weighs about 2kgs) and a mineral supplement will almost always be a cheaper option 1.5-2kgs of a hay-based pellet.

😉 A hay-based pellet also makes an excellent supplement carrier for horses that don’t need to be hard fed.

SO MANY SUPPLEMENTS

😱 Some people’s feed sheds seriously scare me. The amount of supplements some people feed makes my head hurt. I’m not saying stop feeding the things that work and make a positive difference to your horse’s health and wellbeing. I'm saying it’s probably time we started to think long and hard about whether ALL your horse’s need ALL those supplements. Did you start feeding a supplement to all of your horses that you only bought for one of them,‘ just in case’?

😱 Or how about that time that our horse was sick/sore/lame/anxious so we tried four things at once as we were so desperate to fix it. Your horse got better so you still feed all four things even though you have no idea which one (if any) actually worked.
This might also be the time to reconsider that supplement you have been feeding that doesn’t actually list its ingredients. You tried it because Karen from Pony Club said it worked on her daughter’s horse, but you don’t actually know what it does or how it works.

🧐 Why don’t you cut back on the gut supplement you’ve been feeding ongoing for the past three years and see if there are negative effects?

🧐 Some supplements don’t need to be fed all year around. I feed extra magnesium to one of my horses when the grass is at a particular stage of its growth. I feed other supplements when required, and then stop feeding them when I don’t. Why don’t you do some research into when a certain supplement can be stopped and when you should start it again?

Things we really can't stop feeding:

HAY (you knew I was going to say that, didn't you?!)

🌱 Like it or not, horses need hay. I don’t like it because hay is expensive and some of mine eat more than they *technically* need to! But periods of time without roughage is detrimental to their health. Use hay nets, double net your hay, find a way for it to last longer and be wasted less, but you can’t scrimp on feeding hay.

💰 You may be able to save on the type of hay you feed though. I have five horses here and they all get different hay. If I fed the same hay I feed the weanling to a easy-keeping gelding, he would eat two bales of it a day even in 2cm holed hay nets (that’s no exaggeration). So I buy less palatable hay for him, so he eats less. I let some of my horses have constant access to grass and keep others off grass, that way I don’t need to feed quite so much hay, but they still have constant access to roughage.

💊 Minerals - I have only seen one hay analysis EVER that contained enough copper and zinc. If your horse is on a pasture and/or hay based diet then it almost certainly needs a mineral supplement. In fact, even if it’s on a premixed feed it probably needs a mineral supplement. Look at the label and make sure it’s a good quality one (such as Performance Plus) that contains what your horse needs and not more or less. It shouldn’t contain added iron or potassium, and it should contain decent quantities of copper, zinc, selenium and iodine. If your horse is on a hay-based diet then it should also contain vitamins E and A. I’ve seen some mineral supplements with over 40 added ingredients - in almost all instances this is excessive and unnecessary. More isn’t always more (although usually more expensive)!

🧂 Salt - it’s so cheap and often necessary. A few weeks ago it was -2 degrees here and the water troughs were frozen over. I wouldn’t want to drink water that cold and my horses don’t either. So even though they are certainly not sweating and in very little work, I am still adding more salt to their feeds to encourage them to drink and stay hydrated.

🌿 Lucerne hay* - I have given lucerne hay an asterisk as this really depends a lot on your hay, grass and horse. Do you know that your hay and pasture contains enough protein to sustain your horse? If not then I encourage you to feed at least a small amount of lucerne hay each day. I have seen a lot of hay analyses lately that don’t contain enough protein and will cause issues over time such as muscle wastage, dull coat, flagging energy, poor hoof growth and so on. Feeding a scoop of lucerne chaff is unlikely to be enough in many cases, you will need to feed 1 or possibly even 2 kilos of lucerne hay to provide enough protein to your horse. This is especially the case if your horse is older, a hard keeper, in a lot of work or lacking condition.

🥕 Extra calories if your horse needs them. If your horse can’t maintain its weight on pasture and or hay alone then you will need to hard feed.However this does not mean you need to feed a premix. You can feed ‘plain’ ingredients, such as cracked lupins, copra, beet pulp, soybean hulls or oats. With the exception of beet pulp, most of these ingredients are cheaper than most premixes on the market at the moment.
**If you feed a ‘supplement carrier’ then you probably don’t need much and if you feed something that swells up then you can probably use less. This is when a hay-based pellet is ideal, I used to feed beet as my supplement carrier, but it’s now so expensive I feed a hay-based pellet instead.

Extra things that will /can save you money:

😩 Never feed your hay on the ground - they end up wasting a lot. Whether it’s trodden on, peed on or blows away, you are wasting money. Use any one of the many hay-saving contraptions available to you, or make your own if you don’t want to spend $$ on them.

🌿 Buy hay in rounds where possible. I don’t have access to round bales of grass hay where I am, but I can get lucerne rounds and I peel some off to feed out to the horses each day. This also means I don’t need to feed them all a full biscuit of lucerne a day (few of them need this much).

🤓 Buy your hay at the start of hay season when it’s going cheap. Go and collect it out of the paddock off the back of the baler if you can. If you have a spare horse shelter, use this as hay storage. Get creative!

😇 Look after your hay person! Good hay people are like good farriers and vets, don’t jeopardise the relationship by paying late or not advising them where they might get bogged.

💳 Put in a big order each time and ask for a discount, some feed stores will give you a couple of dollars off each bag if you buy several at once.

💰 Buy everything in bulk. Even when I factor in postage, there is never a time when a 20kg bag is more than 4 x 5kg bags. Same goes for salt, flaxseed oil and so on
Think about whether all your horses NEED a hard feed. Yes, they all need minerals, but do they all need that little scoop of that and little scoop of this (for taste, cos you love them). Those little scoops each day add up over a year!

😍 I would LOVE to hear the ways you have saved money on feed bills! Comment here so we can all benefit!

10/06/2023

There is more to life than owning a horse , it’s owning TWO horses 🐴 🐴 where it all started 🙏🙏❤️❤️

08/06/2023

One of our own , from racing and now competing at Werribee 3 day event . Such an amazing journey for both horse and rider .…
These two are the best of friends ❤️

04/06/2023

Ralphie looking his absolute finest as he gets older . Thankyou , your expertise in creating a special diet for Ralphie, it has helped him excel in leaps and bounds . As well with your dedication to Ralphies exercise regime , this is the result . There is no I in TEAM, everyone has something to contribute , it can’t be achieved on your own . I LOVE my pony ❤️

31/05/2023

Even the best of them end up in the WATER 💧 😂😂😂😂😂😂Rochelle Adams

26/05/2023

Early Morning antics , always these two 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️😂😂😂😂

22/05/2023

A Symbiotic relationship 😂😂 I’m convinced Horses and Birds have some sort of arrangement

10/05/2023

Great opportunity for a young rider , looking to begin the next level of there riding 🐎🐎
Highfield Equestrian Centre the training and schooling that comes from you guys , to date is absolutely PRICELESS . Both horses and riders.. 🙏🐎🐎

07/05/2023

Well isn’t he just proud of himself 😂. Soldiers first official competition today , and he was absolutely super . Well done zolex 🐴