Calm Healthy Horses UK

29/10/2026

Are “normal” skin problems really that ‘normal’?

Last week, Alyson Sharpe (PB Paddock Paradise Livery) and I presented a webinar: “How does grass affect your horse’s skin?”
It was a challenging subject. Some pasture-related skin conditions have recognised explanations, including photosensitisation associated with particular plants or impaired liver function.

But those explanations do not really account for the broader pattern Alyson and I have observed: horses whose skin problems improve substantially after changing their grazing, diet and management.

I remember dealing with ferocious “mud fever” when there was no mud, particularly in late autumn, with cool nights, dewy mornings and sunny days, and again in early February.
Summer meant fly rugs, sprays, gels and endless protection. Rubbing, itching and scabby patches became things to manage. “Cannon crud”, greasy foreheads, greasy material clinging to ear hair, and runny eyes leaving sore skin underneath were all fairly normal things to be addressing as part of general grooming of your horse.

Plus, more serious conditions, mallenders and sallenders added to the daily workload with my heavy weight cob.

It was easy to regard these problems as part of keeping horses. Clean it, cream it, cover it and carry on. Which at the time was what I was doing and feeling pretty good about it.

What changed was how much less skin management my horses needed after moving to my grass free track with late cut meadow hay and a balanced daily feed.

Ultimately my horses issues progressed further than skin issues before I realised what needed to change so now I believe that these skin issues were simply red flags and if I had known better I could have done better sooner than I actually did.

“What is it about grass that causes these problems?” Alyson asked.
My honest answer, I cannot give a scientifically verified explanation for everything we have observed. However, in my view inappropriate forage / pasture creates disturbances to the gut and challenges the immune system. These factors create various responses, hence the grass affected checklist, but skin conditions which are often overlooked and treated topically are signs that diet and management are not working as they should for your horse.

It’s important to note that when my horses lived at grass, they received bucket feeds including a vitamin and mineral supplement, and yet they still struggled. It was changing their whole management, removing grass and feeding hay with a well balanced bucket that brought lasting improvements that the topical care, fly rugs and other paraphernalia did not achieve.
Looking back, those recurring problems were reasons to reassess the system, not simply find another product or cover to put on their skin.
I began the webinar with some photographs showing what good looks like to me.
Here is my 23 year old Glen at a show last weekend, keeping his friend Andrew company. Andrew enjoys the same approach to feeding and management as Glen.
Glen came straight from my muddy track: a simple brush, his mane plaited, and off we went. No bath, coat polish or last-minute lotions and potions.
Both horses looked bright, shiny and comfortable, and thoroughly enjoyed their day out.

21/10/2026

So much to look forward to reading in Happy Trackin' Magazine - Im lucky to be invited to fill a regular slot in each edition, The Power of the Mini Track - keeping your horses on small spaces, living the track life and getting the management and diet right for your horses ! The subscription is worth every penny so get yourself signed up and join the Happy Trackin' community 😁

I began Happy Trackin' without any real experience or clue as to what I was doing. I had studied media for a year in college in 2016 where I learnt the very basics of photoshop and shortly after, I began running the social media, website, admin and blog for my family’s commercial track livery. I had no experience in relation to running a magazine at all, only a great love for natural horse care.

I started Happy Trackin’ because I felt I had a calling in life to help other beings. Specifically, those without voices. Working with and seeing rehabilitating or healing horses living on our track systems was something I absorbed and cherished every day, but with my own health limitations, I felt my part in all this, no matter how small, needed another approach.

I have always wanted to write and create from a young age, and when I saw an opportunity that no one else had taken a hold of yet, I took it. I had the opportunity to take a life goal and an unwavering, ever-growing passion of mine and fuse the two together. It wasn’t my idea though, my Mum takes credit for that.
When I announced on social media that I was launching a magazine centred around track systems and natural horse care, the feedback was nothing but supportive and exciting. Then, the pressure grew and I was terrified to release my first issue. I still remember having dreams the night before of everything going terribly wrong.

The website went live and my first issue became available to the public. I was very proud of it because like I said, I had no clue what I was doing. Every issue since, I have learnt and adapted and hopefully, that is reflected with each new release.

Now I look back at Issue 1, having recently redesigned aspects of it, and I can appreciate how much I’ve grown but most importantly, the impact that first issue had on myself and others. Whilst it’s not completely the same, I’m truly so excited to have Issue 1 printed. It’s where Happy Trackin’ begun, and so many friendships, relationships and experiences have blossomed from.

Issue 1 is now available from pre-order on my website. If you’d like to get your hands on one, click the link below. Thank you all for your ongoing support, interest and of course, love for natural horse care.

www.happytrackinmagazine.com/product-page/issue-1-print-pre-order

07/09/2026

Even more adventures on the ponies. This time Cloudy was providing me with a new experience thanks to my great friend Claire Whittaker who had this experience on her bucket list and roped me in. Penny Clarke provided us with the saddle and instruction, and I would highly recommend. We were no where near the standard they require for actual turnout but even so you feel absolutely incredible in the outfit on your horse. Its one of those things that makes you feel amazing, so if you have the opportunity JUST DO IT. Penny explained that most reasonably schooled horses don't have an issue with the saddle set up, its more of a rider mind / right leg bender 😅. There is nothing nutritional to say about this post except all the horses involved were on a grass free hay based diet :)

26/08/2026

It's been a very busy couple of weeks: the PB talk on the 15th, followed by a trip to Llanthony for the TREC Championships!

The weekend left me with two thoughts from a nutritional and metabolic perspective:

Competing successfully on a properly balanced, hay-based diet is perfectly possible. Horses do not necessarily need large quantities of grass or cereal-based feed to have the energy, stamina and recovery required for demanding work.

If your horse struggles with excess weight, EMS or related metabolic problems, working towards TREC, and competing when you are both ready, can be incredibly rewarding. The training develops fitness, balance, confidence and partnership while giving both horse and rider a motivating purpose. This is essentially what got me into this sport ;)

I was so proud of my pony. This year’s course was incredible: very steep hills, marvellous views and challenges on every front for both horse and rider.

Unfortunately, my brain let our partnership down towards the end of the POR. I made a silly navigational choice and lost loads of points—but that is TREC!

Next day, the PTV course was 2.3 km long, with 16 obstacles, including a couple of jumps. If, like me, you thought TREC was essentially a pleasant hack followed by a handy-pony course, think again! It tests navigation, judgement, fitness, courage, balance and trust—and that applies equally to horse and rider.

I have also never met so many lovely, slightly crazy people who really know how to enjoy spending time and having adventures with their horses.

What a weekend, what a course—and what a very special pony. ❤️

15/08/2026

Well, what a fantastic day. So many lovely people committed to whats best for the horse - Feeling very lucky to be part of the Paradigm Shift !

And just like that, it's all over.

Thank you SO much to everyone attended today. It was such a lovely atmosphere and we all spent the day connecting to so many amazing, dedicated owners.

We want to say a huge heart felt thank you to the businesses and the lovely people behind them that have endlessly supported us here and have helped make today possible. We don't take you for granted.

Another huge thank you to the repeat attendees, the fellow track liveries from far and wide and the people who show up to support us, just because. You'll never know how much it means to us to have you backing us through the lows and highs.

Lastly, a big thank you to those who volunteered their time today. We appreciate it immensely.

We weren't hopeful this year, as I'm sure you all saw. But, this has by far been the best open day we've had so far and we couldn't have asked for a better bitter-sweet end to them for now.

More thanks and pictures to come tomorrow, but for now, we're celebrating with a pint, thankful for you all and proud of you how far we've come.

Thank you all, from the bottom of our hearts.

P.S - please tag us in your piccies!

10/08/2026

PB Open Day this Saturday - Hope you have your tickets and are ready for a great day out !

27/06/2026

One of the questions we ask on our enquiry form is: "Where your horse has access to pasture, what type of grass is it made up of?"

The answer is usually, don't know but "It's lush, It's short or It's long and stalky."

The reality is that very few horse owners actually know what grasses are growing in their fields. That's not because they aren't observant, it's because grasses are surprisingly difficult to identify until they produce their seed heads. If a paddock is grazed short all year round, it never gets the chance to reveal what species are really there.

Many years ago, I learnt this lesson myself.

After creating a grass-free track, I used part of the middle as my riding area. Through the winter the constant riding gradually wore the grass away until it became bare soil. The following spring I stopped riding there and waited for the grass to recover.

When Jenny visited, she looked at it and said, "Why have you got a ryegrass paddock in the middle of your track?"
"It isn't ryegrass," I replied.
She laughed and said, "Look how it shines in the sunlight... that's classic ryegrass." I looked more closely and she was absolutely right.

Originally that area had been the same mixed meadow grasses as the rest of the field. Months of repeated footfall had compacted the soil and changed the growing conditions. The more delicate meadow grasses gradually disappeared and the ryegrass, which copes extremely well with disturbance, trampling and fertile soils, became dominant.

The photographs here show exactly the same thing happening in a friend's field. The whole field is a lovely mixed meadow, typical of the light loamy soils we have here in the West Midlands. But spot the strip where the tractor has delivered hay week after week.

Repeated wheelings along the same route have compacted the soil. The result is almost pure ryegrass, while the surrounding field has remained a diverse meadow.

The seed wasn't changed. The management changed.

Horse paddocks often go through exactly the same process. On small acreages horses repeatedly graze the same plants right down to the base, trample favourite areas, compact the soil and add large amounts of urine, providing a continual return of nitrogen and potassium to the soil. Even if we diligently remove every dropping, we can't remove the urine.

Over time the pasture changes. The grasses least able to cope gradually disappear, while those best suited to repeated grazing, trampling and fertile soils become increasingly dominant.

If those paddocks are then regularly topped and sometimes harrowed, they can still look like a short green version of the original meadow, when in reality the horses have gradually redesigned the pasture into something quite different.

This matters because not all grasses are nutritionally the same. Ryegrass is a perfectly natural part of many British meadows and, as one species within a diverse mixture of grasses and plants, is not a problem in itself.

However, when ryegrass becomes one of the dominant species because years of horse grazing and management have altered the ecology of the field, the nutritional profile of that pasture is likely to change.

One of the biggest misconceptions in horse management is that short green grass is automatically safer because there is less of it. Quantity certainly matters. But so does quality.

A horse isn't just eating less grass. It may be eating different grass.

For horses with metabolic challenges, a history of laminitis, footiness or behavioural sensitivity, a surprisingly small intake of pasture that doesn't suit that individual horse may be enough to trigger problems. This is particularly a challenge for those whose horses are struggling on the edge of metabolic issues and who are doing their utmost to support those horses and ponies but constantly face setbacks, particularly in spring and late summer.

The important point is understanding that 'grass' is not a single thing. The pasture beneath your horse's feet is constantly changing and, for some horses, those changes can make all the difference.

For horses struggling with metabolic issues, moving towards a grass-free track or sacrifice paddock with late-cut meadow hay and a daily nutritionally balanced feed can work wonders. Where this isn't possible, feeding soaked hay alongside managed grazing, time off pasture and providing appropriate nutritional support in the bucket can often make a positive difference.

26/06/2026

I always aim to keep the water trough clean and filled - but I fill from an IBC which I fill from a hose that goes over a road 😅 Sometimes I let the water get low enough for me to clean and refill it in the morning - sometimes I make a little mistake in that balance and this is what happens when I arrive. They can be soo judgemental 🥹

11/06/2026

What a fabulous mini track. For most owners the mini track is an absolute game changer compared to traditional stable / turnout. Movement, forage/ diet, friends and choices - all provided in a small and appropriate area. I also love the interaction you have with your horses while taking care of the track - so many benefits for the horse and human. If you have the opportunity to make something like this do give it a go - you will not regret it 🥰

10/06/2026

Next to a good glass of w**e there is nothing more soothing, assuring, relaxing to make a horse girl feel happy than her barn filled with hay. Total respect and credit to my hay man John, turns up on 24hr notice (came 24hrs early today as it raining tomorrow 😅) brings 8 soild, heavy six string bales of LATE Cut MEADOW HAY, perfectly made and barn stored so I can have my deliveries all year round without worry. Very fairly priced, Ive not been hit increases due to last years hay - and the ultimate joy to watch, 8 mins from arrival to hooking up ready to go, all into my matchstick effort of a shed I built myself with old bits of wood and CHH pallets - bit like reverse Jenga - what a super star 😍