Arrowdell Acres

11/29/2024

The water was up today at the "beach". 🏝️

Shamus loved it, Simon said "not today".

11/29/2024

Black Friday barn ride 🫶

11/26/2024

Over the weekend we welcomed Tori and Simon to the Arrowdell Acres family!

11/22/2024

This 2018 model turns 6 today!

Happy Birthday Pip! Enjoy your carrot "cake".

11/19/2024

Beautiful foggy views while feeding this morning 😍

11/07/2024

Fall trail rides 🍁🍂

10/29/2024

We have come a long way in 1 year 🙌🏻

We are pouring a concrete pad tomorrow morning for the front of the barn.

On the right hand side will be our sawdust pile and two wash racks on the left hand side! 🧼

🚜🚧🏗️

10/27/2024

Arrowdell Acres has availability for 2-3 horses for full care horse board.

We are located in Clover, SC - close to Blacksburg, Kings Mountain, Gastonia, Lake Wylie areas.

Access to miles of trails as we are located across the street from Kings Mountain State Park trailhead (no trailering needed), hay 24/7, specialized care if needed, feeding 2x a day (you provide your own feed and supplements so every horse’s diet caters to their needs), fly spray and masks put on during the summer months, blanketing during winter months and a tack room. All horses must be UTD on vaccinations and have a current negative coggins. Horses are fed in their stalls twice a day, yearly dental visits, spring and fall vaccination schedule, farrier visits every 5 weeks.

We will make sure you are a good fit for us and we are a good fit for you before accepting any new boarders for 2025. PM me for more information or if you would like to come see the facility!

10/18/2024

Nonstructural carbohydrates and frost ❄️🌱

Pastures, nonstructural carbohydrates, and frost 🌱🍂❄️

Because it is that season, I want to discuss horse pastures and nonstructural carbohydrates, specifically as they relate to the beginning and end of a grazing season. Let’s begin by breaking this down by each topic before we add them all together:

Nonstructural carbohydrates, often abbreviated as NSCs, are comprised of water soluble carbohydrates (simple sugars and fructans) and starch. This class of carbohydrates is an important source of energy for the horse and they are digested and absorbed in the foregut, leading to an increase in blood glucose and insulin. As a result, high levels of NSCs in the diet can be an issue for horses with metabolic concerns specifically related to insulin dysregulation such as equine metabolic syndrome (EMS), Cushing’s (PPID), and laminitis/founder. While NSCs can be more consistent and documented in manufactured concentrates, more variation is observed in pasture or hay due to outside factors such as plant maturity, time of day, and weather conditions.

In pasture plants, NSCs are produced via photosynthesis, a process in which sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide generate glucose and oxygen. A separate but complementary process known as respiration is responsible for breaking down the glucose created during photosynthesis and releasing that energy for cellular use. As a result, increased photosynthesis leads to an accumulation of NSCs and increased cellular respiration leads to a decrease of NSCs. There are many weather conditions that can alter the balance between these processes in plants.

So how are these two factors connected to frost and the swing in temperatures observed in the spring and fall when horses are either being introduced to or removed from pasture? Well, when temperatures fall below 40°F, the enzymes involved in cellular respiration become significantly less active. And when temperatures fall below freezing, the enzymes can become denatured, stopping respiration altogether. This means low temperatures can lead to an accumulation of NSCs in the forage which can be problematic for grazing horses.

As a result, it is important to look at the nightly lows, and if these temperatures are sustained for more than a few hours, change your management practices accordingly, especially for glucose-sensitive horses. Furthermore, a hard frost occurs when temperatures drop below 28°F for more than four consecutive hours and will not only result in NSC accumulation but also marks the end of the growing season. While current recommendations allow grazing to resume 7 days following a hard frost, pastures require a minimum height of 3” to 4” going into the winter to support pasture productivity the following grazing season. Since grasses will no longer grow after a hard frost, continuing to graze can put undue stress on the pasture.

Additionally, sudden changes in the diet that would occur from removing horses from pasture abruptly, keeping horses on dried forage for 7 days, and then reintroducing horses to pasture, could lead to digestive upset or other health problems and the process will be time intensive for owners. When shifting the diet, even between different forages, it is critical to plan intentional transitions that allow the gut microbiota to sufficiently adapt. While the transition back to pasture can be accelerated in the fall compared to beginning grazing in the spring, it should still be done with care.

I hope this information is helpful as you make decisions on horse management and grazing this season!

- Dr. DeBoer

10/17/2024

Anyone else prepping for mud season?
🌧️☔️

10/11/2024

Another beautiful night at the farm

10/01/2024

Hurricane Helene

09/22/2024

💙🏆🥇

09/14/2024

The Bethany Santiago Fire Department will be holding its annual Fall BBQ and Bake Sale on October 12, 2024, from 11am to 5:30pm or until they are sold out. We will be accepting bake goods from Friday, October 11th, into that Saturday morning. Cake, cookies, pies, etc are all welcome.

Prices are as follows:
Plate $10
Sandwich $3
BBQ by the pound $12
Slaw/Beans by the pound $3
Hot Dog $2
Buns (16 count) $4
Tea/Lemonade $1

If you would like to make a donation, please make them to the Bethany Santiago Fire Department. The address is
13171 Highway 55 west
York, S.C. 29745

We will also have a table set up selling Bethany Fire Department Sponsor T-shirts and Children T-shirts.
Make sure you check out our Public Education table and get your free material on Smoke Alarms & Co Alarms.

Ask us to make you an address sign or even to be at your next school event, birthday party and much more.

For more information contact us at
803-222-3010

Put it on your calendars and come out to support us!! I’ll see y’all out there!

08/16/2024

School is back in session so we are up before the ponies! 😴💤💤

Good morning sleepy heads! 🐴

06/27/2024

These super hot days require a water mister to keep everyone cool 💦