Stakers Gill Stud Track Livery

13/08/2024

23/06/2024

17/06/2024

Happy horse's, happy herd 🦄

04/06/2024

Snoozes 💤

02/06/2024

The herd enjoying the lovely weather this morning

01/05/2024

Some of our lovely herd.

01/05/2024

Here at AVL we believe it's extremely important to make sure your horses daily vitamins and minerals are met, without the feed containing high sugar and starch or any fillers/ binding agents and other nasties.

We started feeding Forageplus 7 years ago after alot of research into the right balancer, and the struggles of finding something that wasn't full of rubbish!

This is the average daily dose that each of our horses receive (Pictured). Only 100g

Their balancers are formulated based on data gathered from the main vitamins and minerals that are deficient in forage in the UK (with other countries now being introduced). The winter balancer, pictured, is based on any dry forage in the UK, such a hay or haylage. You can also have a custom made balancer depending on the results from your forage analysis to meet what's missing.

Horses cannot get enough vitamins and minerals from forage alone.

So just this scoop, dampened down in some chaff with added micronised linseed and salt is the base of all our feeds. We can then add supplements or conditioning feeds to tailor to the individual.

Remember that although your horse may seem 'fine' nutritional deficiencies only shown after some time. Think of children raised on an insufficient diet, and how as an adult this affects their life in many ways from poor bone density, poor skin, hair and nails, poor immunity and early onset medical conditions.

The same goes for our horses!

If you want to try, don't forget to use our discount code ABBOTTSVIEW10 to get 10% off.

After 5 years of using their products we became affiliated with FP. Rest assured we only recommend products we actually use and think are worth it.

Forageplus

25/04/2024

YOU MAY NOT NEED TO FEED CHAFF!

Chaffs/chops are not so important for horses on 100% forage diets with vitamin and mineral supplements, due to their already adequate intake of fibrous roughage, which fulfills their need for fibre, and to chew.

The main reason for feeding chaffs in the feed bucket - as well as increasing fibre intake - is to encourage thorough chewing of concentrate feed or other pelleted feed, and therefore reducing the risk of choke.

The other reason for feeding chaff is to increase chewing to support stomach health via swallowing of saliva - relevant if forage intake is restricted for some reason.

(Higher energy chaffs like alfalfa/grass/compound fibres are only relevant if enough is fed e.g. a double handful may not make a significant difference)

If a horse or pony is thriving on a forage-only diet then all they need is a multi-vitamin and mineral supplement, and that can be mixed with a base feed they find palatable (which is relevant for their needs). That could be a mash or mix, or a chaff.

Horses with diastema (where their chewing teeth are not tightly squeezed together) should not be fed chopped forages which can get stuck between teeth and cause decay.

So if you don't feed a chaff but your horse or pony has plenty of fibre, a well-balanced diet, and doesn't bolt down their bucket feed, then don't worry.

Feel free to share
🐴🍏

04/02/2024

Tombstone round bale feeder, ideal for horses and horned cattle. Hot dipped galvanised finish. Breaks down into 3 parts. good condition.

Trickle net topper, fits over the bale in the feeder.

Can split. Haynet topper £100.

04/02/2024

The cruelest thing, for me, is giving horses a taste of this life and then taking it away.

Bringing horses to me who have huge behavioural and physical issues all caused by traditional management. The horses who weave, windsuck, pace, kick the door, have ulcers, prone to colic, are explosive or shut down, have laminits, are obese, have deformed hooves, or are just generally miserable.

Those horses who get brought to me and I watch all those behaviours and health issues fade away. I watch them become part of the herd, making friendships and bonds, become calm and relaxed and show none of those behaviours that I have been told they exhibit. The ability to make their own choices, eat when the like, play when the like, sleep when they like, move as much as needed, and be free from solitary confinement.

To then have it all taken away because the owner wants better facilities. Wants them closer to home. Wants to be able to ride everyday. Wants the indoor school, the XC facilities, etc etc but forgets that often in order to have those things, they have to go back to being stabled. Individual turnout. And all those behaviours and health issues that I saw leave, will return.

I watch members of my herd mourn the loss of their herd mates. I have to distance myself from worrying about how the horse that has left is going to cope.

Time and time again I have people tell me their horse will be here for life, and then they decide to move them.

It's the hardest part of running a livery. And I get it, I really do. I know that life gets on the way.

I know we have horses to enjoy them. But is that really fair when 'enjoying them' has negative impacts on how they live? Do we have the right to make those decisions? I'm pretty fed up of watching horses transform at my livery, make friendships and settle only to have it all taken away.

It's why I could never offer rehab livery, to only watch the horse return to the environment that caused the problems in the first place.

If your long term plan is to move your horse back to traditional livery, I think it's fairer to never give them a taste of this life in the first place. Letting them experience this life that mimics how they are supposed to live, meets their physical and mental needs, only to take it away for your own wants, is just cruel, and I'm fed up of watching it happen.

Horses owe us nothing. And deserve for us to seriously consider the impacts of our decisions on their lives.

*EDIT* I must admit as I can now, I wrote this after I was lied to by a particular livery who told me her horse was here for the 'foreseeable' due to all the issues she'd be having with him on traditional management. He was so happy here. Then she moved him after only 6 months and announced on Facebook that she had only had him here while she finished her studies and now could bring him back home. That was news to me and my staff and other clients who had seen this horse transform.

Those moments tend to trigger a good bit of writing in me so I go for it, obviously without any names etc. It's happened a few times when people's circumstances have changed and that I understand, but this time was different.

If people were honest it would be a different story, and I know life gets in the way, but this particular instance was just downright deceitful.

He was also particularly difficult to introduce into the herd and I would not have bothered with all the effort and disruption to my herd had I known her plan!!

He's now in a tiny paddock with just one other pony and stabled overnight. It breaks my heart. He was such a herd horse.

02/02/2024

Snoozy ponies

01/01/2024

*** ENCYSTED REDWORM ***

I first posted this in 2019, but after reading a LOT of worrying comments recently about how people don’t worm their horses at all, as they do worm egg counts, I thought it was time to do a little encysted redworm refresher, with some updates!

1. Redworm can kill your horse.

2. You need to worm for encysted redworm AFTER they encyst, and before they emerge, so NOT in the Autumn! Wait for a good, frosty cold spell.

3. Encysted small redworm are NOT DETECTABLE in worm egg counts.

4. The larvae of small redworm, “encyst” or burrow into the gut wall. These can cause fatal consequences when they re-emerge.

5. Redworm appear as tiny pieces of thread in your horse’s droppings. They are very short and thin, and can be hard to see. They are white if they haven’t yet fed, and red if they have fed.

6. A horse can appear completely normal and healthy whilst carrying a large redworm burden. However, weight loss and diarrhoea may be early indicators; don’t ignore these signs.

7. Most wormers DO NOT target encysted redworm. Only TWO do: Fenbendazole and Moxidectin.

8. Lots of combination wormers contain IVERMectin. This WILL NOT have any effect on encysted redworm. The only wormer that contains MOXIDectin, is EQUEST. The Pramox (blue) version will treat tapeworm at the same time. Don’t use Pramox if you have treated separately for tapeworm, or used a saliva or blood test for tapeworm. Use the normal Equest (green) if this is the case.

9. Redworm are eaten by the horse during grazing. The larvae start to burrow into the gut wall as temperatures drop. Treating for encysted redworm whilst temperatures are warm, is not the optimal time, as the larvae may well not have started to encyst. Treating after a few hard frosts, also reduces the level of reinfection from larvae already on the fields.

10. The larvae stay in the gut wall during the winter, and are then triggered to emerge from the gut wall as the temperatures warm up in the Spring. If the horse has not been treated for redworm during this redworm “hibernation” stage, he/she is at risk of developing CYATHOSTOMINOSIS.

11. Cyathostominosis has a mortality (death) rate of up to 50%. It presents as colitis; profuse diarrhoea and colic. Contact your vet immediately if you see these symptoms in your horse at any time of year, but it is more likely to be due to redworm if this occurs in the Spring.

12. Ensure you have treated for encysted
redworm before temperatures start to increase as Spring arrives, incase of a large encysted redworm burden that may suddenly emerge.

13. There is a blood test for all stages of redworm, including encysted. This detects antibodies, so may be positive if your horse has had a high burden in the past 6 months, even if he currently doesn’t, but worth discussing with your vet. I would not be recommending this route for high risk redworm horses ie horses in herds with no poo picking, or rescue cases.

14. 5 day Panacur Guard (Fenbendazole) is the only other wormer that can treat the encysted stage of redworm. There was widespread resistance to this wormer, and a huge move towards everyone using Moxidectin for encysted redworm. It is my wormer of choice for very sick or poor horses, due to its milder action over 5 days. However, there is some evidence that it may cause more damage to the gut than Moxidectin, so more research is definitely required!

15. Poo picking daily is perfect pasture management, but does not mean that your horse is worm free! You still need to egg count/blood test for all worms and/or worm.

16. Herbal wormers do not work.

17. Worm egg counts do not detect encysted redworms (or tapeworm/bots/pinworm). I realise I am repeating myself, but this is something that lots of people still do not realise.

18. Do not UNDERDOSE when worming, as this will aid resistance. If in doubt, add 50kg to the weigh tape weight of your horse. Wormers are very safe with regards to toxic doses.

19. The Mole Valley wormers are NOT the same as Equest!!!! I saw this misinformation posted yesterday! They contain Ivermectin, which will NOT treat for encysted redworm.

20. Do NOT overuse Equest. Moxidectin (Equest and Pramox) should only be used ONCE in a 12 month period. So know when to use it!

This is not an exhaustive review of redworm, and I may add to the list if I think of anything else, but I hope this is of some use! Worming regimes and what worm egg counts detect, seems to cause lots of confusion amongst horse owners, and even yard owners.

Blood tests currently used for tapeworm and redworm, measure antibody levels to the worm. The saliva test also measures antibodies. The concern here would be false positives. This means the test coming back as positive when your horse has been clear of the worm in question for months. Antibody levels remain high for months following successful treatment for the worm being tested for. However, a negative obviously means the horse has been clear for a good few months, and would not need worming.

Happy reading!

Please share, as this is really something that all horse owners should know, and still don’t!

No prizes for spotting the hundreds of redworm in this photo!

01/12/2023

DON'T OVER-RUG YOUR HORSE!

As temperatures drop, out comes the craziness of over-rugging! Up to1000g worth of rugs on horses, some of whom are not even clipped. Yes, that's 5 x 200g 😳

Horses do not feel the cold in the same way as we do. They have a wider range of temperature in which they feel comfort (called the 'thermoneutral zone', or the temperature range where the animal does not have to use energy to keep warm). In the human this is 25-35 deg, whereas in the horse, 5-25 deg.

Horses have an internal heater from fibre fermentation in the hindgut, unlike us. They also have an effective haircoat (if unclipped).

Over-rugging can cause significant distress, especially if the owner selects rugs early in the morning when the temperature is several degrees colder than later in the day.
Over-rugging can cause unpleasant itchiness, skin conditions, lethargy, dehydration, increased heart rate, and even colic in extreme cases. It can also contribute to obesity due by reducing energy requirements.

Don't rely on FB posts from other owners, or a 'rug chart'. Feel and assess your individual horse, ensuring that they feel comfortably warm and not hot. Rug only if the horse needs it, rather than because you want to/have been told to/a chart says you should.

Horses are very individual with what, if any rugs they need, and this also depends on the availability of shelter, as well as the weather, and how much they can move about.

As I've said before - if your horse needs a rug, then put a rug of an appropriate thickness/weight to keep them warm not hot, and if they don't need a rug then do not put one on!

Not sure if they need one (or more) or not? Put your hand under their rug over their shoulders, behind their elbow or on top of their back - they should feel a little warm but not hot. Do not use their ears, feet or legs as a guide to rug - they adjust blood flow in their extremities in cold weather.

Older age, illness, conditions like myopathy (e.g. PSSM), a fine coat, clipping, exposed fields with no shelter may all contribute to needing a rug, but do not automatically assume this - your horse should always be your guide!

Please share far and wide 🐴🍏

06/10/2023

We are looking for weekday & weekend yard staff for our track livery yard Nr Horsham,
Hours are am 7.00-10.30/11 & pm 3.30-5.30/6
Experienced and happy to work as a team and individually, normal yard duties, poo picking, haynets, rugs, checking horses over,
PM for more information

05/10/2023

Early evening happy chilled herd

21/09/2023

We are looking for weekday & weekend yard staff for our track livery yard Nr Horsham,
Hours are am 7.00-10.30/11 & pm 3.30-5.30/6
Experienced and happy to work as a team and individually, normal yard duties, poo picking, haynets, rugs, checking horses over,
PM for more information