Woolley Moor Equestrian

28/03/2025

Assisted DIY Livery now available on the track system. Includes use of all the facilities, ad-lib wrapped hay and unlimited straw bedding.
Barn muck out, poo picking, water refills and haying up done on a shared rota basis allowing DIY clients to come up as little as once per day 6 days a week. £55 per week

🐎 New spaces available 🐎

Herd / track livery, here at Woolley Moor Equestrian, will be ready to take in new guests looked after by myself Sarah Foster.

Full livery that gives your horse true 365 day a year turnout in all weathers following the principles of forage freedom and friends to display natural happy horse behaviours.

🐴 floodlit 20m x 25m barn with ad lib hay, generous straw beds, mucked out and swept clean daily with fresh clean mains water.
🐴 Equine ‘park’, large paddock with trees dotted about, ad-lib dust free wrapped hay in feeders and trickle nets with mud control mats
🐴 woodchip lounging area for rolling and sunbathing
🐴 15m x 25m hard standing (eventually will be covered with sand deep enough to roll in) on the shady side of the barn to get out of hot summer sun and flies
🐴summer track system winding round 20 acres of hilly woodlands with rotating access to woodland paddocks.
🐴 20m x 60m floodlit, well maintained fibre surfaced sandschool with a selection of wooden and plastic showjumps and beautiful countryside views
🐴comprehensive parasite control plan with regular paddock cleaning/poo picking
🐴use of 3.65m x 3.65m galvanised and composite boarding stables when needed
🐴 ideal set up for first time horse owners and lots of professional and experienced support if you are looking for your very first horse
🐴discounted lessons available from two BHS accredited professional coaches, Sarah Foster BHS stage 3 event coach and Katy Malone BHS stage 4 dressage coach. Qualified, experienced professionals who are first aid trained, DBS checked and up to date on CPD.
🐴Katy Malone - Livery & Coaching BHS APC, Stage 4 Senior Yard Manager, Stage 4 Senior Teach, UKCC L2, BHS Welfare Adviser, BD Trainee Judge
🐴 locked secure tack room, feed room, storage drawers.
🐴scenic quiet lane hacking with some off road tracks and bridleways
🐴 easy access of the A39 4 miles North of Kilkhampton and just 20 minutes from Bideford.
🐴fully insured
🐴all horses in the herd are barefoot, we can help transition yours to barefoot here
🐴 ideal environment for horses prone to or recovering from laminitis or other metabolic disorders
🐴part livery from £110 per week, Assisted DIY including hay and bedding £55 per week
🐴 lots of support and encouragement if you are looking for a more natural approach to keeping your horse.
🐴 new horses introduced gradually and safely into the herd with use of pens and separate paddocks

please get in touch for full price list, to discuss requirements or to arrange a visit.

Messenger: Sarah Foster
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 07411775852

🐴traditional stables and grass paddock livery is still available onsite run by Katy

28/03/2025

At the moment we are still developing our track system but this is the potential it has!

The black square is our existing 20m x 25m open plan barn where the herd shelter from bad weather and have deep straw beds to lie in.

The yellow square is a existing hard standing 25m x 15m with deep wood chip so it can be used as a dry, mud free lounging and rolling area, its also on the north side of the barn so provides constant shade from the hot summer sun.

The green area is The Horse Park, this area is dotted with trees, well drained and slightly sloping, this will be open all year round.

The red line is the path of the track system, this will be open from march a loop at a time until fencing is completed by the end of the summer. Long term we plan to surface the track allowing for it to remain open all year round.

The purple areas are woodland paddocks that can be used in rotation to offer some grass and tress to nibble.

We also have a 60m x 20m fibre surfaced riding arena, well maintained and excellent drainage.

Coming soon 20m sand surfaced round pen for lunging and groundwork.

This is a real dream come true for us and we are very excited to share this with horse owners who want to make their dreams of keeping their horses as close to natural as possible come true too.

Part livery is £110 p/w includes ad-lib wrapped hay and straw bedding, 7 day a week essential care routine. Suitable for owners who don’t want to or don’t have time to do yard chores.

We have also decided to offer Assisted DIY livery including ad-lib wrapped hay and unlimited straw beds £55 p/w. This means that you only need to come up once a day 6 days a week if you want to and all shared chores (barn muck out, track and paddock poo picking, water refills and haying up) will be done on a rota basis.

21/03/2025

Some horses have more signs than others! I’m looking at you Thomas! My thoroughbred Tom, has a high play drive and not everyone else wants to play, as a result he has a few nip marks. Horses like Fox and Jerry have no marks at all because they mind their own business.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1AU7ioCfD4/?mibextid=WC7FNe

Horses that live outdoors will display signs of having freedoms.

This photos shows a handful of bite marks on my beloved Sani. All of them were driven by play at the mouth of our 2 year old AQHA c**t Oki. Shoulder and face bite game is universal!

Sani has very well developed social skills. I have watched him in no less than 10 different herds, ranging in size from 1 other horse, to 30+ horses. And some of those herds included a rotation of individuals, not all of them were stable.

I have watched him step out of trouble. I have watched him step into trouble. Never has he been seriously hurt by another horse.

But bumps and scrapes? A sign of a life well played.

Many of us are nervous to turn our horses out. Because we are anxious about them getting hurt. So am I. What I have spent, time and money, in the last year on foams, edging protectors, mats, pads and fences to safekeep the horses is nobodies business.

But a pristine horse living alone is not living.

If you would like to do something -today- that requires only emotional courage from you, that can take your horses happiness and well-being from a 2 to a 10... turn them out with other horses.

And remember, if you need guidance on herd integration, I would love to assist. I have free materials on herd socialisation on YT and deep nerdy dives in the Video Library- soon to be the EH School.

Letting your horse live means normalising the cuts, bumps, bruises, bites, scrapes and scraps that are normal for healthy well socialised horses that enjoy each other and are not afraid of each other. I promise that it's worth it!

21/03/2025

Tidying up the tracks. At the moment our track system does have grass on it, I know that traditionally track systems are supposed to be grass free, but here we plan to let the horses completely trash all the grass on the tracks and then let them rotate through the woodland paddocks to give them areas where the ground is firm and recovers in between use. This is as much to protect the ground from erosion as it is to provide enriching turnout for the horses.

In time we will remove topsoil on the tracks and replace with a firm base such as crushed limestone.

As demand requires we will provide totally grass free areas for obese or laminitic clients.

19/03/2025

Interesting article in the H&H regarding equine welfare in the UK still falling short.

Key points were a lack of knowledge in people responsible for caring for horses and also still a considerable lack of turnout.

It’s not easy with rising costs and everyone is feeling it.

At WME we are working really hard towards providing an ideal environment for our beloved horses to live in. We’re not finished yet, we still have a lot of work to do but the following is going to be our end result

🐴 20m x 25 m barn with only 5 stables a tack room and hay store, leaving the whole rest of the barn open for the herd to move freely in. Deep generous straw beds to encourage lying down and quality sleep. In the winter the barn doors can be closed overnight protecting horses from storms and high winds.

🐴 15x25 metre hard standing right next to the barn covered in a deep generous layer of natural Woodchip. This provides a large mud free area where the horse herd can roll, play and sleep if they wish too. Being next to the barn this are provides much needed shade from fierce summer sun.

🐴 a half acre ‘horse park’. This area is dotted with trees and the herd use it 365 days a year. It is gently sloping for drainage and the topsoil is quite thin with a supportive subsoil meaning the mud in the winter is rarely deeper than fetlock level. Hay is fed out here 365 days a year as there is no grass.

🐴 electric fenced in tracks taking the herd around 20 acres of hilly woodland and meadow paddocks that will be used in rotation to maintain ground health.

🐴 locally grown, dust free, wrapped meadow hay is fed as lib, all around the track system and in the barn.

🐴 in time, the herd of livery horses will have free access to move from the barn, the wood chip are and the woodland tracks 24 hours a day 365 days a year.

🐴 access to herbs and minerals will be provided in the form of dried herbs mixed with water, living herbs grown around the whole area and various mineral lick in the barn and close to the several water supply points.

Freedom to move, freedom to interact with other horses and good quality species appropriate diet is at the heart of what we are doing here.

As for experience and knowledgeable caretakers, Woolley Moor Track livery is owned and run by myself Sarah Foster. As a child I was obsessed with horses from earlier than I can remember. I think I was about 6 or 7 years old when the magazine ’Horse Sense’ was released and I diligently collected and read cover to cover every single issue soaking up all the information I could.

As soon as I was allowed to venture out on my own I spent every spare moment at https://www.bleakholt.org a local animal sanctuary where I helped take care of almost 40 horses and ponies as a volunteer. Gaining valuable hands on experience with the employed staff there.

I owned my own pony from the age of 8 and she actually lived in our back garden and I was made totally responsible by my parents for her daily care, although my mum didn’t care for horses she had incredibly high standards and my dad was a disciplinarian who backed her up! So I learned to be a dependable carer.

After leaving school I took a year out and spent it in Holland working on an inner city riding school in s’Hertogenbosch.

I then studied a national diploma in Equine science, horse care and business management at Myerscough College. Whilst there I did all my work experience, spent all my weekends and holidays working for Rosemary Kilroe, a very successful dressage rider and livery yard owner.

After college I moved to East Sussex and was a working pupil on eventing yard with Penny Sangster, eventually being promoted to head girl and went out competing unaffiliated on lots of clients horses for about 3 years during this time I achieved my BHS Stage 3 complete riding and horsemanship.

I took a short term job on a private hunting and polo yard as sole charge groom where I accompanied the owner hunting twice a week for an entire season riding her young horses I had broken in for her family before they went on to be their hunters or polo ponies. During the summer I was polo from and kept all the polo ponies fit.

After my BHS 3 I went to gain my 250 teaching hours at Ditchling Common Stud and achieved my BHS AI qualification.

By this time I now owned my own horse Bertie (Robertrix) and left Ditchling to go and work for Tanya Neville, event rider, in Wiltshire. Here, with Tanya’s help I got Bertie up to BE 100 pre-novice level before selling him.

After that I took a break from the Equestrian world for over 10 years. Now I own WME with my husband George, and in the last 10 years I have studied the art and benefits of keeping horses barefoot in 24/7 herds on track systems. September 2025 I am hoping to be accepted on a Lantra Awards level 5 Diploma in Equine Podiatry so I can officially take care of clients horses hooves on the north Cornwall and Devon border.

If you got this far, well done! And thank you. I am really looking forward to helping create better livery yards for the future and if you are interested in reserving a space for your horse, or just have some questions about what we are doing, please get in touch or arrange a visit to have a look around.

https://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/horse-welfare-crisis-lack-turnout-owner-knowledge-887006

18/03/2025

The view from my upstairs window. If only 8 yr old me knew this would be adult life surrounded by horses and ponies.!

04/03/2025

Just blowing off some steam in the sand school!

03/03/2025

Mudcontrol mats down to help traverse the soggy bit! Run out of mats now though, need to get some more!

27/02/2025

The first two stables are now up! Since we decided to run a herd/track livery, we aren’t having a full barn of stables being built. Instead there are five going in that are for introducing new members to the herd and for shared use giving owners somewhere out of the way to groom and tack up.

18/02/2025

Progress with Bear, it’s intentionally slow for my benefit! I’m sure he’s ready for more but I’m teaching him to take care of me (I hope)!

13/02/2025

Lots of people, including myself, prefer their horses to eat from ground level as it’s much better for their musculoskeletal health. I had however, been using hung haynets for tidiness as I can’t have loose hay on the floor being ruined by a herd of horses. Anyway, I saw this great little hack to cut off the haynet strings completely, replace with a chain link with a screw closure and voila, safe, small holed haynets they can eat out of in a way that mimics natural grazing.

10/02/2025

Omg it is so cold at the moment! But the timing felt right this week to get on with Bear again. I had a stupid fall off him last autumn and it really knocked my confidence but he is so cute.

30/01/2025

🐎 New spaces available 🐎

Herd / track livery, here at Woolley Moor Equestrian, will be ready to take in new guests as of the 22 February, and looked after by myself Sarah Foster.

Full livery that gives your horse true 365 day a year turnout in all weathers following the principles of forage freedom and friends to display natural happy horse behaviours.

🐴 floodlit 20m x 25m barn with ad lib hay, generous straw beds, mucked out and swept clean daily with fresh clean mains water.
🐴 Equine ‘park’, large paddock with trees dotted about, ad-lib dust free wrapped hay in feeders and trickle nets with mud control mats
🐴 woodchip lounging area for rolling and sunbathing
🐴 15m x 25m hard standing (eventually will be covered with sand deep enough to roll in) on the shady side of the barn to get out of hot summer sun and flies
🐴summer track system winding round 20 acres of hilly woodlands with rotating access to woodland paddocks.
🐴 20m x 60m floodlit, well maintained fibre surfaced sandschool with a selection of wooden and plastic showjumps and beautiful countryside views
🐴comprehensive parasite control plan with regular paddock cleaning/poo picking
🐴use of 3.65m x 3.65m galvanised and composite boarding stables when needed
🐴 ideal set up for first time horse owners and lots of professional and experienced support if you are looking for your very first horse
🐴discounted lessons available from two BHS accredited professional coaches, Sarah Foster BHS stage 3 event coach and Katy Malone BHS stage 4 dressage coach. Qualified, experienced professionals who are first aid trained, DBS checked and up to date on CPD.
🐴Katy Malone - Livery & Coaching BHS APC, Stage 4 Senior Yard Manager, Stage 4 Senior Teach, UKCC L2, BHS Welfare Adviser, BD Trainee Judge
🐴 locked secure tack room, feed room, storage drawers.
🐴scenic quiet lane hacking with some off road tracks and bridleways
🐴 easy access of the A39 4 miles North of Kilkhampton and just 20 minutes from Bideford.
🐴fully insured
🐴all horses in the herd are barefoot, we can help transition yours to barefoot here
🐴 ideal environment for horses prone to or recovering from laminitis or other metabolic disorders
🐴part livery from £110 per week, Assisted DIY including hay and bedding £55 per week
🐴 lots of support and encouragement if you are looking for a more natural approach to keeping your horse.
🐴 new horses introduced gradually and safely into the herd with use of pens and separate paddocks

please get in touch for full price list, to discuss requirements or to arrange a visit.

Messenger: Sarah Foster
Email: [email protected]
Telephone: 07411775852

🐴traditional stables and grass paddock livery is still available onsite run by Katy

08/01/2025

When we say 365 day a year turnout on the herd track system, we mean it! Out in all weathers, this is the first day this winter I’ve given in and put rugs on - these two only though. I have to say I’ll be very surprised if the rugs are still in one piece when I take them off!

19/12/2024

Wow that is a big mountain of wood chip! It will be going on our track system to level out the ground for the mud control mats and to protect the topsoil around our trees. We will be using plenty of it to create lots of dry places for your horses to be out on over winter.

Our track livery offers

🐴 True 365 day a year turnout poo picked with surfaces including wood chip and mud control mats
🐴 Huge very well ventilated, very sheltered barn with big fluffy straw beds mucked out and topped up every day
🐴 Flood lights in the barn
🐴 Excellent low starch/sugar dust free wrapped hay
🐴 Fresh mains water every day
🐴 Freedom to express natural herd behaviours
🐴 Lots of storage space
🐴 60x20 floodlit, regularly harrowed, fibre surfaced arena that never has so much as a puddle in it
🐴 British native woodland trees for foraging and shade
🐴 Fully comprehensive worm egg count program with Westgate labs. included in the livery price
🐴 Twice daily welfare checks, daily hoof care, rug changes, and separating for any feeds or medications required
🐴 Two BHS qualified and registered instructors
🐴 Owner living onsite to do late night checks
🐴 Full support if you are transitioning a horse out of shoes to a barefoot lifestyle
🐴 ideally suited to benefit laminitics and EMS horses and ponies

All for just £110 per week

We are working hard over the next 3 weeks to get ready to accept new clients in the new year, please get in touch to arrange a viewing and ask questions.

10/12/2024

Exciting news….
The first instalment for the track livery is being delivered tomorrow- a full pallet of mud control mats which are guaranteed to take 20 tonne vehicles so fairly hopeful they will cope with horses walking on them.
It should be enough to build the first track and feeding station. The next order coming is the materials for the loafing area and some interest on the initial track.
Lots of work over the next few weeks to get it all up and running - but what else would we be doing with our Xmas holiday 🤣

06/12/2024

NEW TRACK LIVERY COMING!

It’s been a while since we updated our progress after building our beautiful barn, but we have done an awful lot of thinking, soul searching and maths!

Ultimately we have decided to change our business plan, we are no longer going to put a whole set of fancy new stables in the barn.

When we bought 20 acres of British native woodlands 8 years ago it was always with the intention of setting up a “track system”, we weren’t looking for acres of grass grazing.

Time and circumstances outside our control swayed us from this initial plan and we thought trying to make stabled liveries work was the way to go.

Luckily I somehow managed to remember my original dream for this incredible place and now I have an amazing barn to help bring it to life.

So what is a track system livery ?

The idea has been around and in use for some time now, and there are lots of resources on the internet describing track systems, paddock paradises and equicentral systems.

They basically describe a herd living situation where the horses have complete freedom to be indoors or outdoors with permanent access to plenty of good quality forage spread around for social comfort and maximum movement over a variety of surfaces.

Here at Woolley Moor Equestrian the horses will be able to come and go as they please with full access to
*barn - bedded with rubber mats and big straw beds,
* a large sand loafing area where they can dig roll and sleep in the sun,
* a ‘track’ surfaced with a variety of environmentally friendly mud control mats that sit on top of the soil to keep their feet out of the mud and allow them to explore and travel around our woodlands foraging the trees and hedgerows.
* a large trough automatic drinker
* and a variety of areas of different interest such as wood chip or pea gravel.

Over time we will continue to invest in and extend the track system to maximise the use of our woodlands whilst remaining sensitive to the health of our native trees, land and wildlife.

This means your horse will truly be able to live out 24/7 365 days of the year with all of his friends able to demonstrate proper natural horse behaviours and maintain a healthy physical and mental condition.

This type of living is suitable for all horses and we will introduce new horses to the herd gradually monitoring and making sure everyone is happy and safe. It is especially suited to those with metabolic issues or laminitis as access to grass can be properly controlled without reducing exercise and freedom.

Over the next few weeks we will be working hard to ready the facilities to accept our first new residents in january.

Please make enquiries to myself Sarah Foster on 07411775852 or via email [email protected]

Our good friend Katy Malone will still be here providing stable livery in our original stable block.