http://www.brookbyequestrianpark.com/

Brookby Equestrian Park, 11 Fitzpatrick Road, Brookby, Auckland (2024)

18/11/2024

23/10/2024

Such a fun day competing for Karaka School at the Franklin Group Ag Day.
Such an amazing way to finish off her time at Karaka with a win for the school in the group parade.

21/10/2024

Hay, I’m back!

02/07/2024

Millie 4yo Mare by Galaxy Spring Fever at her first outing ✨

14/06/2024

I can't believe we've had so much interest in our new equine syntropic silvopasture system! So many people have asked for species lists so here we go. Everything is either non-toxic and in most cases very health-giving to horses. It looks decidedly unspectacular this time of year (almost the shortest day) but should spring into life in a couple of months!

Bearing in mind this is the bottom of the hill and will be the wettest of the rows.
Keystone species are poplars (still marked with orange pigstails as I haven't got my poles yet) and fodder willow (Salix schwerinii). I am planting Kawa and Veronese poplars. The Veronese haven't done well for us before, I'm going to give them another try in this bottom row and plant Kawa higher up the hills, which has already proven itself here. If the Veronese fail I can just take cuttings of the Kawa to replace them. Other deciduous trees include wild pears, chinese dogwood, and mulberries. Evergreens are tree lucerne, manuka, and pittosporum spp.

If we look at it in terms of layers, or strata, the pears will be the emergent layer. As regards a syntropic system I have cheated a bit (or you can call it good design) when it comes to the other trees. I have really packed them in tightly and will use many of them for 'chop and drop' but rather than planning a specific outcome of layers for the future, I intend to pick and choose depending on how the different species do, and how much the horses like them. I don't really care if in one spot i prune a pittosporum for several years and then cut it out and in another I let it grow big and cut out something else. The poplars and fodder willow are most important, they can be browsed or cut and dried for 'tree hay' and will be pollarded and coppiced respectively, so will ebb and flow between tree and mid layer. They can also be chipped for ramial wood chip for mulching. The tree lucerne is also excellent browse, fodder and biomass (and great for bees in winter).

In the herbaceous layer we have globe artichokes, jerusalem artichokes, rugosa roses, wild fennel, hollyhocks, and I'm going to give arrowroot a go though it will probably be too dry even at the bottom here. I'll add in sunflowers later in spring. I'm expecting some thistle and mallow seed to be present in the mulch, they'll be welcome too. All these except the roses will provide great biomass for soil building, and opportunities to 'pulse' the system. On the sunny ends of the rows I'll plant rosemary and koromiko.

In the base layer we have lime balm, evergreen comfrey, russian comfrey, lemon sorrel, salad burnet, alexanders and i might try some wild strawberries. I've put evergreen herbs at the base of deciduous trees and vice versa. The russian comfrey provides lots of material for mulching/pulsing too.

Hopefully I've covered all bases and built in enough redundancy - in a wet year the tree lucerne and pittos will probably fail, in a dry year the mulberries and manuka will probably fail. We may lose the tree lucerne to heavy frost (but can always replant in late spring). Such is life.

Other rows progressing up the hill will include hazel, hawthorn, linden, olive, chestnut, pomegranate, fig, honey locust, gingko, ash and liquidambar, as well as poplar and willow, natives and all the herbal layer. The tree lucerne will do much better higher up too, but it's such a useful tree it was worth a shot at the bottom.

Love to hear any thoughts about your experience of these plants with horses, and anything else you think I've missed!