When it’s time to book your horse into a stud facility, whether it’s staying for horse agistment, rehabilitation, retirement, or a long-term stay, you have a responsibility to ensure that your thoroughbred is taken care of.
In addition to being secure and suitable, the facility should be flexible to accommodate your visits and compliment your riding experience. More importantly, your horse’s daily exercise requirement needs to be met as they are grazing athletes and need to move around to remain healthy.
3 Considerations To Ensure Your Horse Is Adequately Exercised
1) Space
Space must be provided for your horse to move around on a daily basis. In the case of a small pasture, is there an arena or a day yard available? In the absence of these facilities, and ideally also in conjunction with them, a structured exercise program should be followed.
2) Pasture Facilities And Paddocks
When kept in small yards or stables, horses should be turned out daily, ideally in a pasture where they can walk for basic exercise. Wild horses move to find food and water within a "home range" out of necessity. Captive animals' home ranges are limited, so a clever strategy is to make pastures biodiverse, fibrous, and low in sugar. It is important to keep the horses stimulated and active, and the terrain should vary from flat to undulating.
Horses benefit greatly from paddock exercise. Exercise should consist of lots of slow, steady movement, along with occasional bursts of speed. Rather than square corners, paddocks should have round corners and solid fences to prevent horses from injuring themselves.
3) Group Pasture
The same way foals are weaned in groups, adult horses thrive when they roam with their peers. Pasture turnout will provide good exercise if horses are put out together. In a diverse pasture, they move as a herd, provided they aren't already obese.
Your Plan Of Action
At Glenrae Thoroughbreds, you’ll find the ultimate multi-facility horse stud providing horse agistment and spelling, breaking and pre-training, yearling and sale preparation, and more. Rest assured, your horse will stay healthy and fit. Contact us today to learn more.
3 Considerations To Ensure Your Horse Is Adequately Exercised
1) Space
Space must be provided for your horse to move around on a daily basis. In the case of a small pasture, is there an arena or a day yard available? In the absence of these facilities, and ideally also in conjunction with them, a structured exercise program should be followed.
2) Pasture Facilities And Paddocks
When kept in small yards or stables, horses should be turned out daily, ideally in a pasture where they can walk for basic exercise. Wild horses move to find food and water within a "home range" out of necessity. Captive animals' home ranges are limited, so a clever strategy is to make pastures biodiverse, fibrous, and low in sugar. It is important to keep the horses stimulated and active, and the terrain should vary from flat to undulating.
Horses benefit greatly from paddock exercise. Exercise should consist of lots of slow, steady movement, along with occasional bursts of speed. Rather than square corners, paddocks should have round corners and solid fences to prevent horses from injuring themselves.
3) Group Pasture
The same way foals are weaned in groups, adult horses thrive when they roam with their peers. Pasture turnout will provide good exercise if horses are put out together. In a diverse pasture, they move as a herd, provided they aren't already obese.
Your Plan Of Action
- Find horse boarding facilities that suit your horses' needs by searching online. Take a look at reviews and comments from other users.
- Conduct an interview and ask questions: Prepare a checklist for each facility you contact. Obtain clarification regarding insurance, specialised services such as daily feeding and exercise regimes, rugging, and any additional costs for services that aren't included in the proposal. Find out about on-site veterinary staff and farrier services.
- Visit the facility in person: Take a tour of the property, meet the caregivers, the management staff, and examine its cleanliness and upkeep. Make sure you see the actual paddock and stable where your horse will be kept. Check out the property's riding trails and ask if there are any public trails nearby. It is also a good time to check their security fences, food and water quality, arena, wash bays, day yards and pasture size.
At Glenrae Thoroughbreds, you’ll find the ultimate multi-facility horse stud providing horse agistment and spelling, breaking and pre-training, yearling and sale preparation, and more. Rest assured, your horse will stay healthy and fit. Contact us today to learn more.
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