Britton Farm Livery Stables

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Britton Farm Livery Stables

This BHS approved yard is on our family run farm near Wigham, between Canterbury and Sandwich ,CT3 1
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We are a friendly family run BHS Approved livery yard, situated on our 400 acre farm between Canterbury and Sandwich. We offer a flexiable range of livery services to suit your personal needs. Just call me for more information or visit our web site at brittonfarm.com

13/11/2024

Good morning 🌟
Look at beautiful Jaz ❤️

12/11/2024

*** THE IMPORTANCE OF AD LIB HAY ***

A client asked me today if I was putting hay out in my paddocks yet. Actually, my horses have ad lib hay/haylage out 24/7, 365! Of course if they are overweight, then they are restricted more, but even the overweight ones get some hay at lunchtime as soon as the grass stops growing. I absolutely don’t want horses with empty stomachs, and mine are out 7am-4pm. If there is no grass in the fields, or a very small amount, this means they could be without forage all day.

Concerns with horses being without forage all day (so if your paddocks are very muddy, or during the winter when the grass doesn’t grow) include:
- stomach ulcers
- colic
- fighting with herd mates
- bolting hard feed and choking
- boredom

I absolutely appreciate that many horses and ponies are overweight, but that doesn’t mean they should stand on bare paddocks all day. Longer than around 4 hours out on a bare paddock and ulcers can start to form.

I have found that most of my horses will take two days to eat a full haynet in their paddocks. They have their haynets tied up in their field shelters, so it’s easy to monitor intake. Again, I absolutely appreciate that haying up in fields is difficult at some livery yards; they may not want hay in their fields or some owners may not be willing to pay/wanting their horses to have hay. Again, I’m sharing what I do, which is in a fairly ideal world! My horses are nearly all kept individually (but can touch over fences, before any of the eccentrics start moaning).

Another important positive of ad lib hay/haylage in the fields all year round, is that I can pull a horse in from the field and start riding ten minutes later, without worrying about giving hay or a chaff feed (schooling/jumping on an empty stomach will predispose your horse to ulcers due to the fact horses produce gastric acid 24/7, unlike humans, who only secrete it when they eat).

My horses also always have haylage left in their stables every morning, bar Hattie the NF pony! Although even Hattie now often leaves the last bits in her small holed haynet, so that is doing the trick! Again, if your horse is a good weight, they should have hay left in their stables the next morning. Strangely, for those horses that like to pig out, giving them an enormous amount of hay seems to have the opposite effect, and they tend to slow their eating down.

If you have the luxury of being able to put ad-lib hay/haylage/soaked hay, or even a mix of hay and straw, out in the paddocks, then do it. Don’t forget that the grass stops growing in the winter, and has virtually no nutritional value. Obviously paddocks that have turned to deep mud will always require an alternative forage source.

For those who couldn’t care less about hay, here is a lovely photo I took of George this evening! ❤️

09/11/2024

Today starts a week of all things colic as we step into .

The award winning REACT Now campaign created by The British Horse Society in partnership with the University of Nottingham aims to raise awareness and how to recognise the subtle, early signs of colic and REACT promptly to contact your vet.

Colic can occur at any time of the year in both grass-kept and stabled horses.

Here are the 5 ‘REACT’ signs to look for 👇

😖🐎 Restless or agitated
🍎🥕❌ Eating less or droppings reduced
🤕 Abdominal pain
🤔🔁 Clinical changes
😴😔 Tired or lethargic

Follow the link below for further information on the REACT campaign on The British Horse Society website:
https://www.bhs.org.uk/horse-care-and-welfare/health-care-management/horse-health/equine-diseases/colic-in-horses/

06/11/2024

Misty marsh….

30/10/2024

Sweet little Dolly caught having a snooze after a night out as an escape artist into the big field! Got to love a welshie 🥰

27/10/2024

🐎 It’s nearly Opening Meet time 🐎
This year we have not one, but two! One in each original hunt country. We would love to have your support either mounted or on foot. There will be a traditional meet, followed by a days trail hunting. All jumps are optional.

📍Saturday 2nd and Saturday 9th November at 11am

🖥️ Everyone must book in via the website or with our Secretary. Please don’t leave it until the last minute.

23/10/2024

Alex and Bramble having morning cuddles 🥰

22/10/2024

A couple of recent photos of the beautiful farm. The misty photo was taken from Wenderton looking down towards us this morning and look at that impressive moon taken earlier in the week! We love being sent these pictures! ❤️

21/10/2024

💥REMINDER💥
Clocks go back an hour at 02.00 this Sunday 27th October.

19/10/2024

A lovely moon over the yard tonight 🌟

16/10/2024

Charlotte , Fletcher and Bell modelling the high vis on a stand at HOYS 😎 link to follow later for where to buy!

15/10/2024

A trip to the Fitzwalter Arms Goodnestone 😃

14/10/2024

A very important reminder courtesy of the horse doctors at Miamitown Equine Veterinary Services:

"When securing blankets, make sure that the snaps/clips are facing inward, toward the horse! If they are facing out, they can easily become stuck on something, like the hay net in the picture."

11/10/2024

We’ve had a fantastic day enjoying our horses in the sunshine ☀️

08/10/2024

Welcome to the lovely Leo and Emily.
Picture taken of the handsome horse after he effortlessly climbed the bank to get out the way of the vehicle. 😂
We are very pleased to have you with us on our yard 🥰

Address

Britton Farm Livery Stables, Ickham
Canterbury
CT31SN

Telephone

+447936627522

Website

http://www.brittonfarm.com/

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Videos

Making the most of the stubble fields before they all go 🌟

Now this is seriously sweet… a video of the horses snoozing this morning x

Do you want to rest your paddocks ? Does your horse or pony need more grass ? I will have some spare grazing from next week if you are interested drop me a message.

Today we celebrated horse Echos 4th birthday and Donna’s birthday tomorrow 🥰

One of my liveries posted this on her social media and it made me smile! This is what it’s all about! Seeing you enjoy your horses makes me so happy. 😁 A couple of the liveries went out with the Hacking Harriers group yesterday and came back beaming with the biggest smiles on their faces ❤️🐎