Kindred Spirits - Equine Track System

04/01/2024

We are far from 'Instagram perfect' but we put the horses and their needs 1st, which is the most important thing in our eyes 🙂

If you're looking for somewhere for your horse that has very much a horse 1st approach then please contact us as we still have a few spaces available

https://www.facebook.com/share/JcuGFvmPtHP1JmHQ/

ARE ALL TRACK LIVERY YARDS EQUAL?

(Spoiler alert, the answer is no….but that’s really ok….!)

When track system livery yards first started to appear on the horizon, there was very little for us to go on when it came to designing and perfecting our offering.
They became very much a trial and error exercise and through the lens of each individual owner ‘their’ version of the perfect yard slowly started to be birthed.

Much the same as every livery yard since time began, everyone has access to different land and vastly different available funding. This can make a huge difference to the yard you visit from a WOW factor perspective but there is much more benefit from a yard that is set up for the horses first and people second rather than the other way around. That ability doesn’t take endless money (don’t get me wrong, it’s not cheap but we don’t need to showboat), just an appreciation that what we as humans find aesthetically appealing doesn’t equal good welfare. It takes real knowledge and understanding of horses and the ability of a yard owner to place more importance on the equines who will spend 24 hours a day living there than getting the perfect Instagram picture environment for the people. They are the qualities that make a good yard.

Even the initial customer base can impact the direction that a yard takes. Someone who finds themselves faced with many laminitic horses may concentrate more on that aspect. Someone else may have lots of overweight horses who need cunning feeding solutions and extra movement. Another yard may attract owners who want more in the way of facilities because they’re in a more traditional area. This means that not every track livery is automatically set up for and perfect for your horses needs as an individual.

What we do want to achieve though, as an industry, is generally singing from a similar song-sheet. We want the health and welfare of horses to improve as a direct result of the system. There aren’t many people out there who would commit to and stick with building a track system if they didn’t truly believe in the benefits after all(!).

So, how do you choose your track system livery yard?
Talk to the owners, discuss openly what you want to achieve in the short AND long term (this includes from a health perspective and a personal perspective). Lay all of the issues your horse may have out on the table and pick them apart. By doing this, the yard owner can start to visualise a way that they and their yard can help and it means they can put their all into it. If you don’t disclose certain things, they aren’t going to be able to act on them with purpose. It also gives them the opportunity to tell you if they *don’t* think they are the best place for your horse at that time. This honesty and openness forms the basis of a successful yard with the right horses and the right people within it.

Also don’t forget that the relationship YOU have with the yard owner could make or break this scenario. You don’t have to be on the same wavelength in life but when it comes to communication about your horse and understanding the process and provision you HAVE to get that right. There has to be trust and there has to be understanding. Many owners leaving their horse at a livery yard often miles from home are trusting a yard owner to protect and treat that horse as if it were their own. And yard owners need to understand that is no mean feat, it’s gut wrenching in fact. The effort has to be made to allay those fears and if you aren’t getting that vibe, then it’s not the right place for you or your horse. The other reason that you need to be able to place trust in the yard is that they are (in some circumstances) going to have to gently pull you out of your current mindset to really help your horse.

Luckily, as time moves on, the first generation of track liveries are being joined in the ranks by such a wide variety of new tracks. This means that not only are you likely to find somewhere much closer to you but you have so much more choice when it comes to what is really going to work for and suit your horse.

The future for our horses is looking so much brighter!

LJ.

31/12/2023

Happy New Year from us all 🥳

24/12/2023

Merry Christmas everyone. Hope you all have a lovely day tomorrow 🙂

22/12/2023

Today is the Winter Solstice. We made it, the days start getting longer from now 🙂 bring on the summer and hopefully drier weather 🤞🏻

20/12/2023

Feeling Christmasy at Kindred Spirits🎄

19/12/2023

We currently have 3 spaces available on full or part track livery.

What do we offer?

○Unsurfaced, virtually grass free track - ideal for lamis, cushings, cpl, ems etc
○Large concrete yard area
○2 Large shelters with bed
○Adlib hay 24/7, locally sourced (in 2 different hole size nets)
○Adlib loose salt
○Water buffet including salt and clay water plus more
○Logs on track for enrichment
○20x60 sand school
○80 acres of off road hacking inc ½mile surfaced drive
○Onsite toilet
○Automatic waters
○Locked tack room
○Large feed barn
○Daily checks
○Feed given daily (food not included)
○Application of creams & sprays
○Giving medication if required
○Rug and fly mask changes
○Daily poo picking
○Whole yard worming programme (not included in price)

Please contact us for more details 🙂

07/12/2023

Think the rats might have enjoyed Frostys feed last night 🤦🏼‍♀️ the 2 lids and other bowl on top of it were clearly not going to stop them. Im now off to look at metal boxes to keep made up feeds in 😂

06/12/2023

I love watching the horses play 🥰 Frosty and Tiger were in full on play mode for a good ½ hour

05/12/2023

Who needs to break up a straw bale when you have a Willow to do it for you 😂

02/12/2023

One very frosty Olly this morning 🥰

23/11/2023

When you forget to close the hay shed while putting haynets out and Tiger takes full advantage of it 😂

19/11/2023

We have loads of carrots and apples at the min so thought we would cut some up and throw them out on the yard for the horses to have some. Tiger, as usual, was the 1st one there hoovering them all up 😂 not sure anyone else will get much of a look in

14/11/2023

We have spaces available from December. Please message me for more details 🙂

13/11/2023

Sorry we have been pretty quiet on here recently. We have been busy clearing the concrete yard of mud that had accumulated on it to give the horses an extra mud free area. They do also have 2 barns and a sand school that they have access to but any extra mud free area is a bonus 😁 It has been back breaking work but we are finally winning and getting close to it being totally clear, although the horses still choose to spend most of their time out on the muddy track 😂

Here's a few photos of some of the boys that I have taken recently 🥰

10/10/2023

Massive thankyou to Barry Barnard Photography for some amazing photos of some of the herd ❤️

03/10/2023

7 other hay boxes full of hay and these 4 decide to all eat from one of the smallest ones we have 😂

26/09/2023

Massive barn to shelter in on the right, horses standing out in the torrential rain on the left 😂

24/09/2023

Our gorgeous little niece with Frosty, being amazing as he always is ❤️

24/09/2023

On the move this morning

22/09/2023

I have been asked quite a bit who our 'herd leader' is. The truth is, we don't have one.

All the horses in the herd have their own roles and we have found through observations of the herd that not one of them makes all the decisions or can 'dominant' the others. They all spend time together with different herd members at different times.

Horse peoples commitment to believing dominance theory / “Alpha” theory despite the lack of evidence showing it to be a real thing is an incredible thing to watch.

There is currently very little, if any, evidence suggesting that horses have a static herd hierarchy in natural environments and that even IF they did, that said hierarchy would apply to how they view humans.

The man who initially perpetuated alpha theory with research on wolves later rescinded his enter belief system due to said study being impacted by the stressors of the domestic lifestyle in addition to the fact that wolf packs are generally family groups, meaning that the older more experienced wolves did take on leadership roles to educate their younger pups… but not for the purpose of exerting dominance.

Now, horses are not wolves but similar findings have been reported.

Much of what is viewed to be attempts of asserting dominance in domestic horse herds is actually resource guarding.

A horse guarding a PERCEIVED lack of resources, this does not mean that the resource actually has to be lacking

Reduced space, infrequent hay feedings, environmental frustration and general stress can increase the aggression we see in domesticated horses.

In feral herds, horses don’t spend much time engaging in aggressive behaviours because such behaviours are expensive physically and risk injury.

Sure, we see lots of photography and video of this happening but those tend to be the more “exciting” shots and thereby more popular, not necessarily more common.

Even in instances where feral stallions are actually fighting, it isn’t an attempt to be the “alpha.” It is attempt to protect and/or secure resources such as breeding rights to mares, space etc.

In addition to this, young horses, especially male horses, will practice fighting behaviours in play and this can be mistaken for real aggression.

Dominance theory is used by humans to label horse behaviour as “naughty” or “disrespectful” which is then often used to justify use of physical punishment.

The issue with this is that much of the behaviour we label as dominant behaviour from horses towards humans stems from fear, frustration, confusion, pain and general stress.

Escape behaviours are merely a horse trying to evade an undesirable situation, not an attempt to exert dominance.

Horses are natural peace makers and would generally prefer to not put up a fight.

But, so much of horse training in the human lens involves disciplining fear based behaviours, creating more fear and then blaming the horse for responding with stress.

We create the very types of environments that make it more likely to see what we perceive as “dominant” behaviours and then blame the horse for it.

The vast majority of undesirable domestic horse behaviours are directly caused by, or at least contributed to by, human influence.

So, it’s about time we reflect inwardly, get with the times and accept the fact that research doesn’t support the idea of dominance theory.

The level of attachment people experience with this theory despite the lack of evidence I think speaks for how desperate many of us are to justify our use of force in horse training.

It is such an odd hill to die on and the level of ferocity that people who speak out on the myth of dominance theory are met with I think exemplifies the crux of the problem: a desire for complete control at any cost rather than a desire to understand and communicate.

Communication and partnership will get you a lot further with horses than dominance, despite what much of traditional horse training may have taught you.

Here is a good fairly recent study on dominance pertaining to horse training: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0737080617300059

“Highlights
•
It is unlikely that horse–horse social status translates to analogues of human–horse interactions.

•
The concept of leadership as advocated in many training manuals proves to be unreliable in the horse.

•
Horses' responses to training are more likely a result of reinforcement rather than a result of humans attaining high social status and a leadership role.

•
Knowledge of horses' natural behavior and learning capacities are more reliable in explaining training outcomes than the application of dominance and leadership concepts.”

20/09/2023

Fresh water just a few steps away but Tiger decides the puddle is better 😂

19/09/2023

Very windy at the yard today but none of the horses were bothered in the slightest

15/09/2023

Little and large ❤️

13/09/2023

Nearly every day we have to stop ½ way through poo picking to give Olly scratches as he will not leave us alone until we do it 🤣

05/09/2023

Paul and Olly chilling in the shelter while the others are out on the track munching. We have the mister on today but noone is interested in the slightest 🤣

31/08/2023

Beautiful sunrise this morning

20/08/2023

I dont particularly like sharing photos with me in on here but it was such a special moment, I needed to share.

Both Coco and Tiger didn't trust at all when I got them and I have worked so hard to build a bond with them. Today they showed me again how much they really do trust me, both lay down with me at separate times while the other stood snoozing next to us 🥰 I really am so lucky to have the trust of these two boys

20/08/2023

Sleepy ponies this morning 😴

17/08/2023

The herd is still a little up in the air since the new boys went out with them. After a few days of being very over keen, Jack has seemed to slot in quite well but Samson is still very much on the outside. This is really interesting as Jack was only recently gelded so we were a little worried about how he would fit in but weren't worried about Samson at all. As usual with horses they have surprised us and its ended up being Samson that we are having to keep a bit more of an eye on. I have every faith that they will all find their place in time, it just takes some horses slightly longer than others 🙂

09/08/2023

The herd are slowly but surely starting to accept Jack and Samson. It's such a good sign to see them sharing nets 🥰