Wanted to demonstrate how quick it is to fill up metal-flip-up feeders from Nag Bags
25 seconds! We have around 28 bags to fill on the track so every second counts!
Often, businesses are unaware that they are incurring labour costs, so the ability to find time savings in labour is a blessing for small businesses.
For those interested, we have an affiliate code for a $15 discount: PATHEQUESTRIAN
25 seconds hay bag fill up!
25 hay bag fill
"You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make them drink"... or can you?
With Positive Reinforcement training, you can teach your horse to drink on cue! This skill isn't just a fun trick—it has real-world benefits, including:
⚠️ Overcoming anxiety around water sources: A technical failure with one of our heaters caused our horses to feel a slight current when drinking from a trough. This made them anxious and nervous to even approach it. The horses trained to drink on cue overcame their anxiety quickly and were willing to drink when asked. Horses without this training needed much more encouragement and are still cautious around the trough.
🌡️ Hydration during travel: Long trips can stress horses, making them hesitant to drink in unfamiliar environments. A trained cue helps ensure they stay hydrated on the road.
🌞 Support in extreme weather: Encouraging water intake in hot weather or after exercise helps prevent dehydration or colic risks.
🛑 Medical needs (Under Vet Suggestion) : Whether it’s dissolving medications in water or ensuring hydration during illness, this skill is practical and valuable.
Training your horse to drink on cue with Positive Reinforcement is simple, stress-free, and builds trust. It's a tool that could make a big difference in challenging situations.
It's amazing to see the power of choice in our horses every day. Each morning, after their grain, our hybrid horses can decide to head back outside or stay inside until they’re ready to go out. Surprisingly, they often choose to linger indoors—especially Coal, who’s become a bit of a regular at choosing stall time on cooler days.
If you'd asked me a year ago if horses would actively choose stall time, I'd have been skeptical. Watching their clear communication about what they want has been both surprising and inspiring. It’s a privilege to give them that voice and to learn from it every day.
Honey Leading 🍯
Honey leading outside of the field, away from her sister. From unhaltered and nervous to calm responsive and relaxed.
Big day for Harriet and Honey!
Honey had her growth successfully removed (fingers crossed on the biopsy 🤞). Both girls got all their vaccines and were incredible for all their needles and oral medications! 🥹
Here is a quick snippet of Harriet getting her second vaccine of the day!
A big thank you to McKee-Pownall Equine Services and Dr. Marisa Markey for their continued support in setting these wonderful mares up for success. Collaborating with veterinarians who zealously advocate for their patients' welfare (and fear-free training!) is such a rare privilege, and I appreciate them trusting us enough to recommend us taking on Harriet and Honey.
All our hard work and training has paid off 🎉
We had an increased interest in our facility after one of our boarders posted a very positive review of her experience with us, thank you Julia!
Balancing Whispers in Caledon offers a unique boarding experience by combining track living, to keep our horses happy and healthy, with comfort for their humans: an indoor and outdoor arena with fibre footing, wash stalls with hot water, washroom, laundry facilities and foremost a very quiet environment to enjoy yourself.
But what is track living?
It means horses are outside, 24/7 on a 2,5 km sand track created over 15 acres to get the horses to live as biologically appropriate as possible. In other words: eat constantly, move and socialise with other horses.
Our services and hence pricing differ greatly from the average outdoor board. Here is why:
• We do not feed round bales that make horses park. Every morning new squares are put out in our 20+ nets and feeders, making the horses move and ensuring there is always hay somewhere on the track.
• Our slow feeders are strategically placed to ensure horses move and they can chose to eat in groups or alone. Wet hay is removed. Feeders are checked and cleaned.
• We feed grass hay with low starch and sugar, testing every new batch that comes in. So we know the metabolic, overweight or laminitic ones are safe to eat ad lib.
• There are 5 shelters with sawdust to chose from to get out of the rain, and plenty shady spots under trees.
• Manure is removed from the track on a weekly basis, to keep their living space healthy and clean. We do not harrow it into the ground. Our track remains sandy with minimal mud.
• During the growing season, the track gets harrowed to make sure that the horses that are grass affected do not gorge on that rich Caledon grass.
• We don't just look at your horse from afar: we handle every horse each morning, we look them over, pick feet, fly spray or blanket. But even after that, there are always eyes on the horses, and as a r
Did a "mini" clinic this weekend for some amazing humans and we made leaps and bounds with these fillies!
When she arrived last week, Honey (pink halter) was unhandled, unhaltered and very apprehensive of strangers. She has come out of her shell and is loving her training sessions and human scratches!
Harriet (black halter) had some basic handling skills but really struggled with wanting to be on top of the humans (if she could wear my skin she would). We worked on creating spatial boundaries and helped her learn a safer position to be handled in.
These girls have only been here a week and I enjoy working with them so much. I cannot wait to see them blossom ❤️
Teach and Practice Husbandry Skills Before You Need Them
Pale has always been notoriously difficult with vets. When I first started working with him, he was terrible with almost all aspects of husbandry. He hated the vets and was downright dangerous with needles. After a lot of training, we’ve reached the point where we can do consent-based injections.
I make it a priority to ensure all my horses are well-trained for husbandry care. This is something we practice regularly, long before it’s actually needed. I never want to be in a position where I’m trying to teach eye care, or how to handle needles and syringes, when there’s a time constraint or when the horse is already in distress. We focus on these skills before any issues arise.
At least once a month, each of my horses has a husbandry care session to practice:
• Eye handling and drops
• Syringe training
• Needle training
• Checking teeth
• Temperature checking
• Touch in sensitive areas (which differ for each horse)
If we encounter any issues or hesitation, I focus on that specific area until we achieve clean loops.
Before the vet arrived for Pale, we practiced our injection routine, which we’ve done many times before—but never while he was in pain and unable to see out of one eye. When the vet arrived, we used the same routine. It wasn’t perfect, but it was safe. Thankfully, because we’ve done a lot of eye care practice, his treatments for his corneal ulcer have been a breeze, and we didn’t even need to remove him from the field. I can’t imagine trying to teach these skills while he was uncomfortable.
Having these skills in advance has made vet care safe and treatments easy.
All horses should have these skills, and if they don’t, practicing them should be a training priority.
Sandwich road adventures
Sandwich and her mom are thriving at their new farm! Look at how bold and brave she is on the road alone!
Love seeing horses succeed when they leave my program, while we miss her immensely it’s so wonderful to see them adventuring and doing well.
Some hoof print ASMR
Pale loves his fork scratches 🤣
Slowly starting herd introductions (over the fence)
Herd intro’s are better slow and steady!
When a new horse arrives on the property we get them set up in a dirt field (completely separate from the track but still in eyesight).
Once they are settled on the property we place them on part of the track so they get used to track life without having to worry about the social aspect.
Once they are used to the track we open one gate to allow the horses to interact with a fence between them. It’s usually about 2 weeks before the horses can even touch noses (longer depending on what quarantine is needed).
Today was the first day the herd could touch noses with the new Icelandic girls. Asher absolutely adores them (video 1), Peekaboo is having some big feelings (notice how I don’t say BAD) that have nothing to do with his size or his colour, he’s a young horse expressing himself. You can also see in the videos that peekaboo is resource guarding me pretty intensely so that didn’t help (Video 2)
After a couple hours of interactions they are all eating reasonably well over the fence together (final video).
Letting them get acquainted slowly is ideal and helps the transition. It also helps when horses have good social skills - look how unphased the girls are with peekaboo. Seyla very gently tells Boo off when he tries to nip her. Until the entire herd is socializing well over the fence we don’t advance!
Stay tuned for how these intros progress ☺️
*I should also note there are many hay sources, one is literally one post down on the herd side*
