News and new stuff

 

equiculture

developing responsible horse ownership

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

New additions to web site or new links to articles

(Added July 2010) An article that I wrote a few months ago for Horses and People Magazine (Qld Australia) www.horsesandpeople.com.au about what can happen to horses that have access to dams. Dangers of Dams

(Added July 2010) For a free download of Katy Watts and Chris Pollitt’s (Australian) new booklet Equine Laminitis - Managing pasture to reduce the risk go to www.rirdc.infoservices.com.au go the the bottom of the last paragraph for the link to the free PDF (2.7 MB).

(Added July 2010) A good article on Equine Metabolic Syndrome from Kentucky Equine Research Horse Nutrition Newsletter can be viewed here EMS. You can subscribe to their free informative newsletter on their site www.ker.com

(Added July 2010) A brief article from one of our subscribers about the Gatton Heavy Horse Field day

(Added July 2010) The “Big Ideas for Small Farms” newsletter which is aimed at assisting small land holders to maintain good farm biosecurity on their properties is a good read - contact nigel.boyce@deedi.qld.gov.au to be added to the distribution list.

(Added June 2010) Link to a Hendra Virus site www.hendraawareness.com please support the online petition for funding, and spread the word about the petition.

(Added June 2010) Link to a site in Ireland called Holistic Hoof and Horsecare www.holistic-hoof-and-horsecare.com This site has lots of good information about hooves and horse care.

(Added May 2010) Link to a great website (USA based) www.sustainablestables.com Sustainable Stables is an organization of equestrian and environmental professionals dedicated to sustainable, environmentally-sensitive horsekeeping. Well worth a look!

(Added May 2010) Link to The British Grassland Society www.britishgrassland.com

(Added May 2010) Link to World Horse Welfare (formally ILPH) www.worldhorsewelfare.org

(Added May 2010) Would you like to know about TREC - the fastest growing horse competition in the UK? Have a look at  www.bhs.org.uk/Riding/BHS_TREC.aspx

(Added April 2010) Campaign for compulsory registration, microchipping and passports for horses. Facebook page click here

(Added April 2010) Quest Equine Welfare Network

(Added March 2010) For the horse husbands out there an article from Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear fame about the joys of a horse in the family My kingdom for a horse hitman

(Added March 2010) Website www.group-housing-horses.net - if you are interested in scientific research about the group housing of horses - read this.

(Added March 2010) An article on Snake Bite and Horses by Dr David Bartholomeusz – Senior Veterinarian at Veresdale Equine Veterinary Services (VEVS) www.vevs.com.au

 

(Added March 2010) Check out the Horses Land Water website www.horseslandwater.com for dates of courses on land management There are some good ones coming up for residents of South Australia.

(Added March 2010) Horse Talk TV is now filming series two which will go to air in July. See the website www.horsetalktv.com.au for updates launch date, stations and times to view Horse Talk TV.

(Added March 2010) Website on Hendra virus - essential reading for anyone in Australia www.hendravirus.org

(Added March 2010) Article on Treeless Saddles - By Jane Myers as featured in Equine Excellence Magazine

(Added Feb 2010) Article CUDDLY KOALAS, BEAUTIFUL BRUMBIES, EXOTIC OLIVES: Fighting for Media Selection in the Attention Economy. In interesting article if you enjoy controversy and food for thought.

(Added Feb 2010) Article De - Revolutionibus  Some thoughts on ‘Natural Horsemanship.’ The author Lucy Rees was my Equine Behaviour Lecturer at University. She is an important Equine behaviour author and teacher. She wrote one of the foremost Equine Behaviour books  - The Horses’s Mind.  

(Added Feb 2010) Dying by Inches an excellent article on the rise of equine starvation cases written by CuChullaine O’Reilly FRGS and distributed by the Long Riders' Guild Academic Foundation

(Added Jan 2010) International Wild Equid Conference 21-26th June 2010 Northern Territory - Australia

(Added Jan 2010)  - Balanced Equine Nutrition - Understanding a hay or pasture test article

(Added Jan 2010) Independent Seat article - Jane Myers, published in Hoofbeats Magazine

(Added Jan 2010) Australia - The world's greatest horse-loving nation? ÓJane Duckworth - article

(Added Jan 2010) New fact sheet on Bats Trees and Horses available from QHC (Australia)

(Added Jan 2010) A great new horse welfare initiative 1000_voices and DO YOU NEED TO BREED?

 

 

Our news blog

June/July 2010

Jane - The main story for this blog is our visit to Appleby Horse Fair. This is a traditional gypsy fair held every June in the Lake District (Cumbria) in England. It is one of those events that everyone should visit once in a lifetime if they get a chance. Gypsies/travellers travel from all over Europe for this event and it is a photographers dream venue. Professional and amateur photographers alike risk life and limb to get good shots of the colourful and exciting goings on. The fair was such an interesting day out and Stuart took so many great photos we thought we would create a separate page for them so for a report on the fair and images click here APPLEBY HORSE FAIR. There are a lot of images so we have reduced the file sizes to allow any subscribers with dial up to be able to view them.

Another thing that I wanted to write about is the state of the horse properties over here. It has been quite a surprise to see that horse properties - at least in the areas we have been so far - look pretty much the same as many in Australia re weeds, bare soil etc. It seems that the craze for separating horses and thus creating land degradation because horses walk the fence lines or stand around bored has caught on here too. I visited an old friend Jeannette at the riding school where I used to work and keep my horse many years ago to see how things are going there (www.throstlenestridingschool.com). It was so refreshing to see that things have not changed much. The horses work for a living and are cared for really well, the land is also managed well. The horses live as a herd (of course) and the paddocks are managed as they should be - rested and rotated when needed. Laminitis is not a problem even though the grass is ‘good’ because the horses utilise the energy.

In fact it was here that the initial knowledge about land management was instilled in me as a child. When I first attended the stables it was still a working dairy farm as well as a riding school. Over time it evolved into just a riding school (small dairy farms were phased out in Britain at that time) but the land was managed just the same as it was when it was a farm. These days people are likely to initially keep (agist/board/livery) their horses on properties that may not manage their land so well (as it is common practice to separate horses into small paddocks/yards on these places). If and when these people get their own land they have not had a good example set and therefore are likely to replicate poor management practices.   

Apart from that we have just been spending time catching up with old friends and relatives and doing lots of walking and cycling. Not having a horse to ride is meaning that I am having to look to other ways to keep fit and get out in the fresh air. In fact we have walked and cycled more in the last couple of months than we have in the last sixteen years (since leaving the UK). Britain has always been a fantastic place for walking. Many paths in Britain have been rights-of-way for hundreds of years. More recently cycling paths have become an important improvement to the landscape. However it is not all fun, we are also working on a range of ebooks that we are hoping to launch in a few months. We will keep you posted!

In a couple of weeks we will be setting off to Europe, first to Germany, then to attend the ISES conference (International Society for Equitation Science) in Sweden in early August. Pictures and report will be posted in the next blog. Also next time I hope to put up the series of three articles that I have recently done for Hoofbeats magazine about riding (about bodyparts, position and balance).

Latest additions to the site this time include some interesting articles, a link to a free download for a book about laminitis and some info on Gatton Heavy Horse Field day kindly supplied by one of our readers, plus some other great links  - see the new additions section at the top of this page.

Stuart - I dont know where all the time goes, the last few weeks have been hectic getting everything together for our European trip and working on several ebooks. I will post pictures of our new ‘home’ when it is completed - we will be leaving for Germany on the 18th July. In between all this we did our duties and took the parents on a three week ‘holiday’ to a couple of spots around England. For those who know England we went to York and the Lake District. York was nice with the Castle and Minster and flat enough for us both to be able to cycle around. Jane and I slept in a tent, one night it rained (cold) so hard we almost floated out in the morning. We took the tent back to where we bought if from! The site that we stayed on in the lake district was a large, brash commercial site - never again. One thing worth commenting on though is how this site and probably all sites in the UK (and Europe) are very relaxed about dogs compared to Australia. You would not be able to take a dog with you to a similar type of site in Australia. Dogs are even allowed in the accommodation - no problem at all.

Believe it or not the UK is in the middle of a drought, with water restrictions on the cards. People over here are talking about what a fantastic summer they are having (dry and hot) but the temperature is only a couple of degrees warmer that SE Qld in winter - some days I have to think twice about whether I should put shorts on or jeans, and the fleece is never too far away!

Very depressing over the World Cup, nothing to cheer about for either Australia or England, cricket has been a mixed bag too.

Bye for now and until next time - Jane and Stuart

April/May 2010

Jane - The Managing Horses on Small Properties seminars in Victoria and Canberra were awesome with fantastic attendances. Melbourne Water hosted some of our seminars in Victoria as they are keen supporters of what we provide. Its just fantastic that we are able to address horse welfare and environmental issues all at the same time. We are now beginning to meet people who have been doing some of the things that we advocate on the seminars for some time (such as the central point system) and are loving the benefits (and so are their horses and their property - even non horsey partners love it because the system saves so much time and money). It is also great to pick up a few trips and ideas from people we meet along the way, we will be adding some of these new ideas to our talks and sharing them with you on this website. It was a poignant few weeks knowing that they would be the last seminars we would deliver for a while as we will be away from Australia for the next six months.

We are now in the UK. It is still chilly most days but we are having a great time. In the sixteen years that we have lived in Australia we have only been back to the UK a couple of times so it is amazing to see the changes as well as the things that have stayed the same (the weather hasn't changed, the supermarkets have improved out of sight!). We are originally from the north of England and that is where we are currently while we get a vehicle sorted out so that we are free to travel. Gypsy cobs are literally everywhere, even tethered at the side of the road (with foals running loose). The very famous Appleby Fair is in June (if you are interested Google Appleby Fair for lots of links) and many are gradually making their way there. We will be going and I will let you know how it goes.

On the 6th May we attended a Managing Grazing for Horses seminar at the World Horse Welfare centre (formally ILPH) (Hall Farm, Snetterton, Norfolk). What a place! A huge farm just for the rescue and rehabilitation of horses. There are many such places in the UK. The large population of the UK gives more scope for such places to develop but at the same time means that there is a great need for such places. The World Horse Welfare organisation does sterling work both in the UK and overseas in the third world and developing nations (see www.worldhorsewelfare.org).

There was a tour of the farm paddocks as part of the day. Interestingly most of the horses live outside all year round - without rugs! Samantha Lewis (Deputy Head of UK Welfare Support and WHW) was telling a story about how a girl who came to work at the centre from Finland recently was surprised at how many rugs horses in the UK wear compared to in Finland. Imagine if she was to visit Australia! It did bring it home to me as I remembered how surprised I was when I first arrived in Australia at how many rugs horses wore. Some of the overweight horses at Hall Farm - in addition to not wearing rugs - are clipped in the winter (a trace clip - leaving the back covered) so that they can still be worked and so that they actually get cold and shiver off some fat! The winter paddocks have large field shelters but as Sue Hodgkins (Hall Farm centre manager) explained, the horses tend to not use them and they are gradually replacing them with windbreaks (see the picture on the left).

A huge problem in the UK is fat horses and laminitis. In the UK grass tends to be abundant and the grasses tend to be ‘improved’. Added to this the soil is usually very good and the rainfall high. There is also a huge range of bagged (supplementary) feeds for every conceivable type of horse resulting in a lot of competition between feed companies (and marketing). It is very easy for new horse owners to get sucked in to feeding their horse too much. Many of the rescue horses received at the World Horse Welfare centre (in Norfolk) are overweight rather than underweight. As it was pointed out in a talk by Samantha Lewis about weight and horses and managing their intake, underweight horses usually make a good recovery and go on to lead useful lives whereas many overweight horses often end up with permanent problems with laminitis and other obesity related disorders, which may even lead to the horse needing to be uthanised.

The British Grassland Society (www.britishgrassland.com) grass seminar was also very interesting. There were some very good speakers including Jane van Lennep doing a great talk/demo about horses and fibre - Jane uses props such as garden hose and vacuum hose to demonstrate parts of the horses digestive system and how it works, and Dr Elizabeth O’Beirne-Ranelagh (Author of Managing Grass for Horses) who was talking about different grasses for horses. The day was sponsored by Oliver Seeds and Dow AgroSciences. Seed sellers in the UK are just as keen to get ‘into’ the horse industry as they are in Australia but it is so difficult for seed sellers as the horse industry generally requires the opposite of what beef, dairy and sheep industries do and these industries are what they have traditionally been working with. It is great to see them at such seminars as they will in time begin to provide what the horse industry needs - generally hardwearing, low energy grasses that are easy to manage and safe for horses.  

Additions to the site since our last update in March are - Would you like to know about TREC - It's all the rage in Europe, and is considered the fastest growing equine sport in the UK - and perhaps the world! Have a look at www.bhs.org.uk/Riding/BHS_TREC.aspx also have a look at the Campaign for compulsory registration, microchipping and passports for horses (Australia) Facebook page click here. Another interesting web page to look at is the Quest Equine Welfare Network page. I found a really interesting website (USA based) www.sustainablestables.com. Sustainable Stables is an organization of equestrian and environmental professionals dedicated to sustainable, environmentally-sensitive horsekeeping. Well worth a look!

You forget how cold Britain can be even in spring, I haven’t worn so many clothes in years, never mind jeans and socks!!, still we are now beginning to become acclimatised. It has been good to catch up with family and old friends again, but we now have to get down to some work, the first of which is sort out transport. What a headache, we have looked at every possible permutation of car, van, camper, trailer.(mainly because I want to take my motorbike with us to Europe), but I think we are finally getting there. We will be leaving in a few days for a trip around England (a bit of work, but also taking my parents on a bit of a holiday), one of the first stops will be Appleby Horse fair, we will let you know how it goes, in the meantime enjoy some of the photos we have taken so far - a donkey eating a hawthorn hedge and the magnificent mane on a gypsy cob, his forelock is so long it has worn off at the bottom in straight line from when he is grazing.

March 2010

Jane - Another busy month as usual. We did a workshop for the Redlands area (near Brisbane) and went on a very interesting property visit after the workshop. At this property racehorses (in work) lived in groups in paddocks along with ex racehorses undergoing recycling (to dressage horses) and spelling racehorses. It was wonderful to see them all happy and content grazing together. Not only are these valuable horses, but they come and go yet still get on (mares and geldings together! See picture below). Another paddock contained yearlings. The racehorses are stabled in large airy shelter yards at night so that their high energy requirements can be met with supplementary feed.

I wish more people could understand the fact that horses need horses and should be kept in groups. You would not keep a child away from other children and expect them to grow up sane and it is just the same with horses. Just like with children play can be rough but it is an essential part of life. In my experience fences cause many more injuries than horses cause to each other. Trouble is - when horses are first turned out together this is when the most active or even aggressive behaviour is seen - which causes owners to panic and separate them again. Most of the time if they are just left to get on with it they sort it out and get along fine. The way we look after horses actually promotes aggression which is rarely seen in the wild. Remember that in the wild they are not fed on buckets of feed - grass is either everywhere or nowhere. Supplementary feeding with high energy feeds can cause aggression so horses should be separated for this. Have a look at a website I have just linked www.group-housing-horses.net

We then went to Tasmania for a week to do some talks at Equus Inspirations followed by a seat clinic at a friends riding school (Sharon Brennan - www.horseridingtasmania.com). We managed to get some sight seeing in too and visited Port Arthur. Tassie is certainly very beautiful and we will go again.

Before leaving QLD and while we were away huge amounts of rain resulted in floods. Horses and other animals often do badly in floods - sometimes being washed away completely. This is actually a common occurrence in many parts of Australia. The Queensland Horse council has some very useful facts sheets on their website including floods/fire and horses so make sure you have a look www.qldhorsecouncil.com. Our booklet Small Horse Properties - A management guide describes a system that can keep groups of horses safer during flood (while at the same time vastly reducing wear and tear in your paddocks) - see our shop.

In between travelling I also judged the photo show for Quest. The results can now been seen on the quest website Quest Horse Welfare photo show. Well done to all participants. Some of the photos were outstanding.

At the weekend I am flying to Melbourne for a Horse Safety Australia meeting. I always look forward to these yearly meetings as they are informative and fun. Horse Safety Australia (www.horsesafetyaustralia.com.au) is an organisation that is committed to improving the safety record of horse activities in Australia. Horse Safety Australia has been the leader in setting standards for the industry. Have a look at the website if you are interested in becoming qualified as a riding instructor or trail guide or want information about safety issues.

Within days of getting back from the meeting we are on the road again as we move out of where we have been staying in Byron Bay (19th March) and prepare to travel overland to Melbourne in early April for some workshops and then Canberra for some more workshops and some talks at the Canberra Horse Expo EquineX www.equinex.org. We love Canberra as it was the first place we stayed when we emigrated to Australia 15 years ago. After Canberra we will be leaving for Europe for about six months.

Stuart We really enjoyed Tassie, it looks like the love child of Scotland and mainland Australia, and any town which has Cascade Brewery and Cadbury Chocolate tours as two of its major attractions gets our vote!! Most of the time the weather was good, but when those southerlies blew, it was definitely Scottish. We plan on returning at some point on our travels, next time taking the bikes and seeing more of the island. Currently we are preparing for the next leg of our trip, leaving Byron by late March. We still haven’t sorted out our travel and accommodation plans yet, but that’s what makes it exciting. We have still a couple of things to sell mainly vehicles so if you want a really nice car (2008 Ford Mondeo TDCi) look here. We are also selling a horse truck, we were originally going to take the horses with us, but Jane quite rightly decided that the horses would prefer a break rather than being dragged around the country - to view the (inexpensive) truck look here

Bye for now and until next time - Jane and Stuart

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Our news blog Jan -Feb 2010