Humble Acres - Naturally Inspired Horsekeeping

28/02/2024

🌱⏳🌻
Just over a year of re-wilding with Millie Moon 🌕🪩
Made possible by:
🌾 Natural lifestyle (Freedom, Friends, Forage)
🍎 Gut support
🦷 Dental balance
👣 Frequent Hoofcare
⚖️ Gentle groundwork
🪷 Resilience
⚔️ Integrity
🗝️ Liberation

🐛Trust the Process 🦋

04/07/2023

24/06/2023

Our basic backyard track has absolutely transformed our land, and we're still just getting started! 😁🫶

20/06/2023

Looking back, it's hard to believe that this is the same space 😳 2021-2023 trust the process! ☀️🌾🌿☘️🌱

31/05/2023

The motivation 🥹🦋

30/05/2023

How it started (November), and how it's going 🪄✨🦋

01/05/2023

Spring Millie update 🪄💫🦋

🌾"The day you plant the seed is not the day you harvest the flower."🌻

We spent all winter letting natural horsekeeping bring its healing magic, and building our foundational connection. Now the real fun begins!

20/04/2023

April showers bring May grass and leaves, and allllllll the spring projects/repairs/revisions 😁👏🌿🌾☘️🌻☀️

08/04/2023

Happy herd out and about on our simple track 🌿☀️

21/03/2023

18/03/2023

Shifting Millie's musculoskeletal imbalances and compensations in static posture January-March through naturally inspired horse keeping practices 🦋

18/03/2023

14/03/2023

🎠❄️Snow Day ❄️🎠
Hopefully our last big storm for the season😅🤞 We are taking full advantage to help these itchy ponies shed out and clean their natural coats! Constant forage and movement keeps them plenty warm. They LOVE to hoon around together between naps and foraging in the barn. Freedom of choice keeps their bodies working most efficiently and comfortably!

28/02/2023

3 minutes of track zoomies in the freezing rain🌨️🌪️🎠
Movement is crucial to body function no matter the weather! As a herd they forage and move together, followed by a quick snooze and a big drink. The herd provides regulation.

21/02/2023

Did you know that forage is a prebiotic?
Forage products like hay and beet pulp provide habitat for probiotics to maintain a healthy microbiome and efficient digestive function. Forage is mostly digested in the hind gut. Restricted forage, paired with a diet rich in starch/sugar (grain) is a recipe for imbalance, dysfunction, and discomfort from ulceration and inflammation.

Self-regulated horses will consume on average only 1 pound of forage per hour for optimal digestive function. Horses with restricted hay and grain meals tend to bolt their feed leading to digestive dysfunction.
Forage variety provides the full benefit of soft grasses and leaves (digested in the foregut) to roughage (fermented in the hindgut) which is why I offer a netted mix of both first and second cut. Beet pulp is a safe, low starch/sugar carrier for supplements.

What you feed matters. The WAY you feed matters. Your horses' feeding behavior matters.
Morning food for thought 🤓☕

"The horse’s stomach is relatively small compared to his size, and although digestion begins here, food isn’t meant to stay in the stomach for long.
After exiting the stomach, food enters the small intestine where most nutrients are absorbed. Any food material not digested in the small intestine moves on to the hind gut (the cecum and large intestine), where microbial fermentation takes place. Feed matter can remain here for many hours as the bacteria that naturally populate the hind gut ferment and break down the plant fiber, extracting the most possible nutrition from the diet.
Problems can arise when the horse eats too fast, doesn’t chew his feed properly, or is fed too much at one time. Any of these scenarios may create excessive fermentation and gas, which do not result in healthy digestive function.
As a rule of thumb, it takes 24 hours for food to pass completely through the horse’s digestive system. The feed only takes about 1-1/2 hours to move through the upper intestine; the rest of the time it’s moving through the hind gut,” explains Gary Potter, PhD, PAS, ACAN

16/02/2023

(im)patiently awaiting spring thaw and dry ground
(im)perfect scenes from around our track

"Start where you are, with what you have. Just start."

02/02/2023

❇️OLLIES HOOFS❇️
the symptom that fuels my learning and sharing about whole horse wellness.

🔘In 2016 when I took ownership of Ollie-the SCREAMING symptom of “lameness” was laminitis.

🔘Ollies hoofs taught me 3 main lessons:
1️⃣HOOF=FOUNDATION
No hoof, no horse. It’s the foundation of equine health.
2️⃣LAMINITIS=HOOF INFLAMMATION and chronic cases can result in coffin bone loss which affects potential sole depth
3️⃣SOLE DEPTH is required for callus building comfort and depends on coffin bone concavity

👆🏼I didn’t learn ALL of this while he was still with us unfortunately BUT I am lucky enough to keep learning from him NOW and share my discoveries with others.

🔘After a few bouts of laminitis and efforts to prevent it-I acquired hoof X-rays that reassured the sole depth was dangerously thin.

🔘We worked very diligently on his nutritional needs, environmental conditions and hoof care with all the people who knew and loved Ollie to provide “all he needed” to grow that sole!

🔘Over time, his sole depth actually got thinner(see X-rays)which led me to learn one of his most valuable teachings…

✳️LAMINITIS isn’t always grass or metabolic related.
I had ALL the tests ran over and over.
I restricted his grass almost 💯 to just “safe” grazing hours of the day.
I provided him with 24/7 hay access in a herd living on a track.

❇️Then came extensive diagnostics from head to tail to try and find out where this inflammatory problem was originating and what/if I could help him.

🔘After X-rays and ultrasounds, we discovered a deteriorating meniscus of his right hind.
We injected every supporting joint more than once to bring relief to no avail.

🔘I knew that Ollie had been involved in a trailer accident as a 3 year old(15 when he came to me and 20 when I lost him)and sustained injuries from it but never knew the extent….until I found him falling.

🔘He was sleep deprived and falling flat on his right side-every time sending an inflammatory response through his body that would settle down to his hoofs. (Discovered via surveillance cameras)

✳️I’m pretty convinced Ollie had been experiencing this cycle for most of his life-I just took the time to peel the layers back and find out why.

💚My beloved hoof care provider was able to obtain Ollie’s feet when he passed so the we could keep learning.

❇️The coffin bone has no concavity and had quite a bit of bone loss around the edges.

💚This means:
•he would never have been able to grow that sole depth to be comfortable.
•I did all I literally could for him and allowed him to pass with dignity and go on to educate, future vets, fellow pros, new students and be my driving force to never stop.

💚Never stop helping people help horses.

30/01/2023

❄️🌲❄️

23/01/2023

💙❄️🌲 Our New England winter wonderland🌲 ❄️💙

18/01/2023

Pre/post hoof trim foraging posture improvement 🥰

13/01/2023

Millie day 1 - week 7 🦋
She'll be a whole new lady by spring 🥰

12/01/2023

❄️Let it snow❄️

10/01/2023

⛓️MUSCLE CHAINS⛓️

Understanding how muscle chains/pairs work together to support one another is an important part of recognizing equine muscle pain or dysfunction.

We often concentrate solely on THE muscle that seems to be the “issue” but not nearly enough on the surrounding/supporting/compensating muscles!

Below is an explanation you can save to help you look at not only the problem muscle but its (pair).

EXAMPLE:
If your horse is experiencing weak/dysfunctional Glute muscles-their Hamstrings will work overtime. Supporting BOTH with bodywork or conditioning will have better result than only concentrating on one.

09/01/2023

For all the "complicated" mares

Those who shout but remain unheard
Those who carry pain
Those who won't submit or shut down
Those who hold boundaries
The mares whose needs aren't met
Those that struggle with human ideals
The mares that crave their natural existence
The isolated mares who lack physical, mental, and emotional balance

Beneath every undesirable behavior is a need that's not being met.
Take the long way home.