HorseFeathers Farm

02/17/2024

A beautiful sunny Saturday morning in the snow at HorseFeathers Farm with Kurt, the ponies and the Aussies.

02/14/2024

Happy Valentine's Day from my sweet Valentines 💗💗💗

02/08/2024

In light of the numerous public announcements of barn illnesses such as strangles, I wanted to quickly review our policies.

Firstly, I'm so glad that our community is acknowledging any illnesses. Transparency is good for us all.

If your barn has any illnesses or suspected illness, please let me know. Most barns will close the gate on outside coaching for a few weeks to reduce transmission. Some will ask you to refrain from bodywork as well. Check with your barn if something comes up, and let me know so that we can make sure to comply with the barns protocols.

From my side, as an instructor and bodyworker, I take biosecurity seriously.

I spray down my boots before and after each barn. If a bootwash station or may is available, I will happily use it as well.
I change my jacket between barns (I usually have 4-6 in the back of the car). They get sprayed down and washed after use.
I change my gloves between barns.

I wash and sanitize my hands as often as possible, always between barns

If I am at a barn that has a suspected illness, I will change my clothes between barns as well (I keep a bag of spare clothes in the back too).

This is not a perfect protocol, but I try to be practical and careful. If you or your barn need additional security, let me know.

I'm so very glad that we can all work together to make sure that our barns are as safe as possible.

😊
See you soon!
Jorden
Darkside Dressage
Darkside Dressage
HorseFeathers Farm

02/03/2024

Beautiful sunny day.

Shelter gutted out and rebedded

Ponies groomed and tails conditioned (so Shiney)

Ponies naked all afternoon

Hay carted and reset

Barn aired out and fully dusted.

My cheeks look like a tomato... Feb 3, first sunburn of the year??

What an awesome day 😎

02/01/2024

Foggy day, the ponies are enjoying the hay buffet 💗

01/14/2024

Civility between beasts!!!

Soon they will be Inseparable

01/12/2024

Bring in all the ponies before the storm rages... Which of the 4 walks in the quietest and most politely???
Primrose.
Of course the baby horse has the best manners of all.
Weirdos.

01/11/2024

Silly critters playing at night check 💓

01/09/2024

Welcome home Primrose and Mama.

It's so nice to have you here. ❤️

I can't wait to get to know you better 😍

01/01/2024

Happy new year from our family to yours 🥳

New year morning pony spa day is one of my favourite things to start out the year.
What do you do??

12/28/2023

With all the rain we've had lately, I'm so very glad that we put gravel in the front of the main paddock and added a couple of extra tiles for drainage this fall.
The horses are still pretty happy to roll in mud and be grazing out in their winter pasture ... Silly mud balls!!! Lol

12/21/2023

Have a wonderful winter solstice 💖. Happy holidays everyone.

It’s almost Winter Solstice!!! On Friday the days start getting longer before the sun sets!!!

12/19/2023

We've had some questions about our feeding program.
Let me walk you through it 😊

It starts with hay.
We stock a barn full of hay to last a full year at capacity. If we have 4 more horses move in tomorrow, we have enough for everyone.
I like first cut hay, a little over mature. The fiber is good, it tends to be good and dry and the sugars tend to be a bit lower. We can always add more to offset nutrition value of hay, I cannot reduce the hay nutritional value.

The hay feeders get refilled every time they are low.
Outside they have access to grass as long as they can see it, and hay in the feeding stations always.

We test the hay.

I have formal education in livestock nutrition and worked in the industry many years ago. (If you don't have this experience most feed mills have trained nutrition consultants available to help you understand your hay value.)
From the hay analysis, I choose a loose premix ( minerals and vitamins) or a hay ration balancer that best compliments the hay for general horse nutritional needs. This is my base.
Each horse gets reviewed for needs. Body composition, health, workload, sensitivities and preferences... Then we craft their feed program.

Frank and Lego have very similar needs. Full brothers, easy keepers, fat and sassy. Their feed program is, free choice hay, free choice loose mineral premix, free choice salt lick,. Twice daily concentrate feed - half a lb of hay cubes soaked in served warmed, 1 tbsp bit/min premix, 1 tbsp loose salt, pre/probiotics as per manufacturer dosing, 1.5 ounces of oil to aid in fat soluble absorption of nutrients, 5-8 pieces of crunch grain for texture.

Review and reanalyse every other month to make sure they are on track.

When a horse needs more grain and concentrated feed, we make sure that the ratios of micro and macro nutrition align. This means that annually we might change brands. We do this because the hay nutritional value will be different next year.

Start with the hay, build it out.

Probably the most important part of our program is the water. It often gets forgotten.
Concentrates are served wet, to help the horse process the food and reduce choke.
Water troughs are provided with clean water. One cold water and one warm water (heated) in winter. We break up ice and clear the cold one as long as we possibly can in winter to give them the choice.

Always happy to field nutrition questions or give you a tour of the farm.

12/19/2023

Pretty planters for winter ❄️

12/11/2023

Over a week of COVID. Ick.
Finally feeling sorta human again

💗💗💗

11/26/2023

The shelter is all bedded down before the snow comes.
Warm and cold water available, hay bags filled.
Middle pasture opened today. We will close the back field soon for the winter.

It's a great place to be a horse 🐴💗😀

11/25/2023

My "Snoopyvisor" resting after a day on the road teaching 🐾❤️🐴💗

It's the best gig ever!!


Darkside Dressage
Jorden Marie MacLean

11/20/2023

What a beautiful day 😍

Kurt Brown finished the new sign yesterday 💗

The boys enjoyed a sunny grooming and an afternoon in the middle pasture

Gord hung out with his barn cat friends 😻

This is a pretty amazing place to live ❤️.

11/18/2023

Like my posts? 😆

Thank you Kurt for the awesome feature split rail fence!!
Super cute barn parking spot.

11/16/2023

The skies here are magical 🤩.

Photo while walking to my happy place 💗🐴💗

11/08/2023

Thank you to everyone who came to the open house

The grand prize draw was just done, see our story to see Prudence help with the draw!

Thank you to Equipment Ontario for some of our door prizes and to VistaPrint for your amazing service for our fantastic hats

Grand prize winner is Sam Burt
You won a HorseFeathers Farm hat, Equipment Ontario gloves and a free equine or canine bodywork session!

If you missed the open house and still want a tour .. I'm happy to give you one!!!

The rest of the door prize winners will be notified by email

💗🐾🐴🤩

11/04/2023

Family, friends, neighbors, clients and visitors who came to our open house today

THANK YOU

Today was a beautiful, chilly, happy day spent sharing our farm space with you 😁

We appreciate your time and laughter

Thank you for being a part of our barn family ❤️
-jorden and kurt

10/26/2023

Our horse first aid supplies freshly organized 🤩

10/23/2023

A beautiful frosty breakfast at the barn 🌅😍
Happy ponies, happy Stormy dog (breakfast shift snoopyvisor), happy Kit barn kitten, and a happy me!!

10/23/2023

I'm so excited to see you on the 4th at the open barn!!!

It's looking amazing 🤩

10/21/2023

The things we find on a rainy day....

🤣🤣🤣

10/20/2023

Stall mats cut and fit! The rest of the division walls can go in now!!!

Kit kitten helping my Mom what a helpful barn cat 😺