Greener pastures

To ride or not to ride that is a silly question. Truly that is a goofy question. The mailmen's motto is my motto for riding, literally, lol. Now, on to my opinion of stables. This is based off of my opinion only. No fun facts today(although I'm thinking of doing the Warmblood horse tomorrow)

Wyn farm is a lovely establishment nestled on forty acres of land in the country. The owner and manager are two friendly women with a shared love for horses and ranch life. To the front are large pastures with room to run. Towards the back are some pastures with room to walk. The outdoor arena is nestled between the indoor arena and the first barn. A stream actually flows along side the the farm and a corn field is behind it. I've seen deer and turkeys out back while riding along with sandhill cranes. A small dog, Rupert, and two cats, Liam and Quinn, serve as security and cuteness overload.

Recently Julie and I moved the three horses, Jac, Rose and Cody, to her new house on five acres of land. All three are very happy and relaxed and munching on their fresh grass with some running in between. The food Jac was on made him very highstrung not to mention he needed to run and exert all his anxiety. Cody endured the same for a while until he was switched off, helping him to relax. Rosie girl was fine outside of the fact she was irritated her dam, Duchess was gone, and a few mishaps with her food assembly.

I have a major pet peeve against animals of any species residing anywhere with excessive mud and no room to really, truly move. Our dog pen causes me great stress as its usually a mud pit after winter - winter due to melting snow and rain. I usually go out there to dig up all mud and remove It and spread straw over top so they don't have to just stand and lay in mud all day every day. Unfortunately my allergies prevent me from being able to do this anymore. Same goes for horses. I'll never forget seeing a Friesian standing in mud, covered in mud, in a small pasture. I dont think I quit ranting about that for a week... and it was in Texas! I've always read you rotate pastures to avoid 1) too much mud due to constant trampling of the ground, urination and rain in one area. 2)rotate pastures so the grass doesn't get trampled to nothing. I've never owned a stable or land, but my Uncle breeds horses and I've read tons of books that constantly repeat those two facts.

The pastures at Wyn were small and filled with mud. In their defense snow and lots of rain worked against them. At the same time, seeing them in all that mud, just standing, caused my pet peeve sensor to go nuts. Horses in the wild move around and rotate from Area to Area. They'd forage in winter, foal in spring, breed spring - summer and just generally exist. Horses were built to move. To run. Their lungs are huge and muscles and legs big and strong for running. A horse that can't move around and run end get out and just go is a highstrung, unpredictable horse thats rather miserable. It isn't the stables responsibility to exercise your horse. Its the riders and owners job. Bigger, cleaner pastures would be nice, but you work with what you've got. Jac is a Thoroughbred and by definition TBs tend to be more energetic and highstrung than QH's or other breeds. He wanted to move. To go. When he had bigger pasture he could run and move and buck and get out all his crazies.

I've never liked the idea of boarding at a stable. I don't know the care takers,their habits or what they're doing. I have a particular way I like things done with any of my belongings and animals. I'm the most trusting person in the world and I wouldn't trust anyone with my horses but me. I'm not saying that boarding is bad and terrible and that Wyn sucked. In my opinion, I would never board at any stable ever. I want to care for my horses my way, ride without interruption,not worry about pasture sizes or arenas being too full. As my mother says, I'm a Michigander with a Texan mentality. Texans mantra is 'It's my way or the highway' and I can appreciate that.

Wyn is gone now. I enjoyed talking with Mary and Jordan and seeing their horses(especially their new horse, he's a darling sweetheart), and riding with Erin, but the three musketeers are on to greener pastures... Literally.

Have a happy Easter and a happy ride! :)

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Comment by Paula Stevens on April 2, 2015 at 2:54pm: I always planned on my pasture being all grass with no chance if mud. I planned on making sure there was a lot of foliage(trees, brushed, plants) growing to absorb all the rain, no hills or dips, gravel and smooth, flat(like stepping) stones as well to help avoid mud. I won't have a ton of horses, but I'll still rotate them constantly to preserve grass and ground. I only want sand in an indoor and/or outdoor arena. Manure will be picked up OFTEN. I plan on living in Texas and they don't get snow hardly ever. It's not that I don't like mud, I don't like mud where my animals reside and I don't like mud on my animals.

Comment by Jackie Cochran on April 2, 2015 at 2:01pm: Mud is a fact of life with horses, unless you are unlucky enough to be in a severe drought or you live in a desert.

Small pastures come from the fact that big acreage is EXPENSIVE to buy, EXPENSIVE to fence, and often hard to find in today's subdivided world, plus the larger the spread the higher the property taxes.

My land has one area that was cleared. That piece of land has what is known as a "perched water table" and does not drain well downward. Guess what I had plenty of, you got it, mud. I do have an advantage, most areas around me have red clay which turns into deep, clinging mud that can suck off riding boots and horse shoes. My land does not have red clay, it has silt from sandstone, so the mud, while it could get deep at times, did not suck off my riding boots if I was careful.

There are NO easy answers for horsekeeping. Yes, you can buy land that is sand and drains well, but then you have to worry (big time) about sand colic. You can buy a large pasture, and if there is a large amount of rain the low lying areas get mud (or temporary ponds), and the ground around pasture gates and where the horses are watered and fed, can end up as mud pits. If the horse paces at the fence line, mud can result too. If it rains a lot in the winter when the vegetation is not growing it will get even muddier!

Putting a lot of gravel in the muddy places, like the pasture gate area, can help. If the mud bothers you probably one of the best things you could do is to volunteer to clean up every piece of manure in the pastures weekly for the duration of the rainy season. Unfortunately that can really eat into your riding time, but it will cut down on the mud, reduce the parasite population, and make the mud less likely to harm the horse (especially thrush.)

I prefer mud to drought. In a drought, after all the vegetation is eaten/trodden down, the land starts blowing away in the wind. Bad for the lungs, bad for the eyes, and really bad for the pastures!