Being With Horses

26/09/2024

Beyond a doubt... spring has sprung 😄 ..and the old girl is shedding away 😊

02/09/2024

🐴🐴🐴 HERD GRAZING AVAILABLE 🐴🐴🐴

The location is a save and peaceful private property in Waimauku. We are close to Riverhead Forest, Woodhill Forest and Muriwai Beach, which are fantastic for riding.

There are 5 existing horses in the herd and room for 1 more.

The horses are on a track when it’s dry enough. We strip graze the inside, giving them a good balance of grass, as well as feeding out hay. We all buy some hay and take turns feeding it out. This adds fibre and low sugar roughage to the horses diet for optimal gut and overall health.

There is a variety of different paddocks, keeping it interesting for the horses. Every paddock has trees for shelter and shade 🌳🌲🌳

Your horse must be good with tape.

You need to be happy to do some poo picking on the track and in the barn, help with shifting tape for the strip grazing and take turns cleaning the water troughs.

It’s all barefoot horses and we would like a barefoot horse to join, as the risk of injury if they do kick one another, is much lower.

There is a large barn, which is great on those rainy or windy days, when you want to get out of the weather to trim, need shelter for anything else or even in summer to groom in the shade of the barn. When the weather is bad we sometimes put the whole herd into the barn for a day or a night to give them a break.

We have a training paddock that has lots of cool things to play with, such as a see saw and pedestal as well as drums, poles and cones to make patterns and creative obstacles to keep exercising at home fun and interesting.

There is space in a dry inside workshop area, right next to the barn, for keeping your feeds as well as tack.

And there is a hose to hose down muddy feet in winter or wash off sweat in summer 💦

I give lessons in Horsemanship and riding, so there is the option of lessons on location. Have a look on my page

The grazing fee is $50 per horse per week.

If this sounds like you or you have any more questions please get in touch at 0278623254 or on facebook 😊

20/05/2024

Fun in the sun a couple of weeks back
🌊🌞 🌊
Rod Red

09/04/2024

Annually the Kaimanawa herd is reduced to 300 by aerial mustering. KLF is committed to supporting the successful placement of excess horses.

15/03/2024

Before backing your young horse, please read -

I wrote the first version of this post many many years ago now, every spring I tweak it, update it and reshare as owners are beginning to think about starting their youngsters. It has been stolen thousands of times, usually without the image, which irritates me as Naomi’s image was my inspiration to write this piece and I feel the words lose a lot without it, so please share rather than steal.

There are strange tables around that lead the reader to think horses age more quickly when they are young and slower as they get older. There is no evidence to support this. Why would the horse be the only animal in the world that ages in a non-linear manner? It doesn’t even make sense. It is an excuse for impatient owners to justify working their immature horses.

Sitting on a horse before they are mature is risking kissing spine, especially if the horse is not conditioned slowly. Sending a horse away as a 3 year old to go from unbacked to ridden daily in 6-8 weeks is a recipe for disaster. Riding in circles on 3 year olds damages the hocks. Jumping large jumps on 4 year olds is asking for stifle injuries. Pounding the roads pulling traps with 2 year olds damages every joint in their legs. Any joints asked to take excess pressure before maturity increases the risk of irreparable damage. Perhaps a young horse puts down more long bone in response to work, but a child heals quicker than an adult, it’s no excuse to cause them damage. An adult is still fully capable of adapting to the work load, just slower, without the collateral damage to the rest of the body.

For every horse that is backed at 3 and lives a long working life until they are 30, I can show you thousands, tens of thousands that are euthanised before they hit their teens because their bodies are broken. The exception makes the rule.

Now for the post -

A horse ages roughly 3 times faster than a human.

So a 90 year old human is a 30 year old horse. Both very old, usually arthritic, don’t have many of their original teeth left, and very likely retired and enjoying the finer things in life.

A 25 year old horse is a 75 year old human. Some are still happily working but some prefer retirement and an easier life. Often depending on just how hard a life they’ve lived.

A 20 year old horse is a 60 year old human. At that point where the body doesn’t work like it use to but the brain is all there and wants to be active.

A 13 year old horse is a 39 year old human. Middle aged, prime of their life where their knowledge and physical ability are about equal.

So let’s get down to the babies and work our way up.

A 1-1.5 year old horse is getting their first adult tooth, this happens at 6 years old in a human child.

A 3 year old horse is a 9 year old child. A child. Not ready for work by a long stretch. We have moved past sending children down the mines.

A 4 year old horse is a 12 year old child. Often will do odd jobs for pocket money, maybe a paper round, mowing lawns etc. Basically a 4 year old horse can start a bit of light work experience to learn the ropes.

A 5 year old horse is a 15 year old teenager. Think they know it all, cocky, and ready to up their work and responsibilities. Still quite weak and not fully developed so shouldn’t be at their physical limit but can start building strength.

A 5.5 year old horse has just cut their final adult tooth, this happens at 17 years of age in a human.

A 6 year old horse is an 18 year old human. An adult. Ready to work.

An 8 year old horse has achieved full fusion of their final growth plates. This happens at 24 years of age in a human. This is the age it is safe to push a horse for their optimal performance.

Pushing your youngster too hard too young will result in the failure of many body parts. Joints, spine, tendons, ligaments as well as their brains. Waiting another year or two at the beginning could give your horse an extra 10 years of useful working life. Be patient with your pride and joy!

Written by Vikki Fowler BVetMed BAEDT MRCVS

Graphic credit to Naomi Tavian , check her out on Pinterest

06/03/2024

There are so many great and valuable things you can do with your youngster, way before starting them under saddle...

It builds a wonderful bond between the two of you and allows them to aquire a good range of skills, so don't wait to do stuff with your youngster until you want to ride them.

Here's a couple of pictures of Nahani (yes she's a youngster, still under 2.5 years, just huge 😁) becoming a pro at wearing the soaking boots.

Very handy when the ground has been super dry to hydrate the hooves and also make trimming easier. And of course in case of an injury you can easily soak and treat feet, so lots of good uses.

06/02/2024

Swimming the horses to exercise them is a great alternative in this beautiful hot weather 🌞😊🌞

18/06/2023

Working with Captain who has come a long way 🙂
Even though he's not a young horse I only just started riding him not long ago, so definitely yes, you can teach an old dog new tricks 😉

He's a good boy ❤

09/11/2022

Without further ado, the homefree 2023 calendar is here and ready to pre-order for one week only! Just $25 including postage for a whole year of pretty photos, or a great Christmas present for that adventure lover in your life 🎁

This year is a little different as Leg-Up Trust sadly closed down in September. So instead of fundraising for a different charity, I decided that all profits from this calendar will go directly towards feeding and caring for the remaining therapy horse herd from Leg-Up Trust, who are seeing out their days in the care of the founder Ros. I'm sure you'll all agree this is a good use of the funds raised!

Sprite is in this herd too as I still don't want to put her through the stress of trucking to the deep south where I live now, or sell her. The horses are only semi-retired though, still helping young people two days a week through a new program called Helping Children Thrive. Check it out here: www.helpingchildrenthrive.co.nz

How to order your calendar? Simply message this page with the number of calendars you want and your postal address, and I'll send you the bank account to deposit $$ into. Pre-orders will close next Wednesday the 16th November. Then the calendar goes away to get printed and within 2 weeks after that (early December) it will be winging its way to your letterbox 😊

How much you say? $25 per calendar, including postage anywhere in NZ. If you live rurally but have access to a town address it can be sent to, that would help keep postage costs down and maximum $$ going to the horses. International postage is available too for $5 extra.

Please, whether you buy a calendar or not, share this and further posts about the calendar for me to help beat those pesky algorithms and get the message out far and wide!

Thank you 🙏

16/10/2022

This is possibly the most important picture you’ll see today, or at least your horse might think so!

Tacking up seems like such a small part of our horsey routine but taking an extra few seconds to ensure your saddle is placed sympathetically makes a huge difference to your horses comfort and the outcome of your ride!

A saddle fitters job is to fit a saddle with even weight and pressure distribution that is stable, balanced and comfortable. By putting a well fitted saddle on either too far forward or backwards we lose these essentials.

One of the most common things I see is when saddles are hoiked up just a touch too far, a couple of inches usually. This will throw off the whole look of the saddles fit and can give the illusion of tightness, shoulder restriction, uneven panel contact and poor balance. I have another post coming shortly with tips for ensuring correct placement so be sure to keep an eye out for that one!

When a saddle is placed too far forward the points of the tree sit on the scapula, pinch, restrict movement and lose saddle stability which causes discomfort for the horse… In this scenario, do not use a breastplate to hold the saddle forward on the shoulder. The saddle will be moving/pushed by the shoulder as the horse moves. In most cases the saddle would only move back to its correct position with the points of the tree clearly behind the back of the scapula.

A saddle placed too far back will cause weight to be taken behind the horses saddle bearing area (past the 18th thoracic vertebrae into the lumbar region), instability or “rolling”, discomfort and pressure at the front of the saddle.

When the saddle is correctly fitted and positioned the horse will be able to move freely, work comfortably and the saddle will be both balanced and stable.

If you have any ideas for some more saddle fitting tips, please comment below!

Hope you’ve found this helpful,

Alice 💙

15/09/2022

We are teaching all aspects of horsemanship, which includes holistically caring for horses (diet, grooming, health maintenance, herd life...), educating about horse psychology and what motivates horses, communication on the ground/groundwork and also riding.

We can work and learn with one of my horses or I can come to you and support you in working and learning with your own horse.

I'm happy to help with young horses or help with any challenges like floating and such.

❤ 🐴 ❤

02/08/2021

Petitions are addressed to the House of Representatives and ask that the House do something about a policy or law, or put right a local or private concern.

29/01/2021

30/09/2020