Paddock Paradise

Paddock Paradise

All my Appaloosa horses are barefoot and having made the transition to sound, rock crushing hooves live in a Paddock Paradise to maintain them, healthily, that way.

This means they also benefit from the dynamics of a natural herd environment, hierarchy and improved physical fitness. Travelling 20 to 30 kilometers a day as nature intended and happy about it!

To create their paddock paradise there are various surfaces from soft, sandy (and muddy in winter!) to hard gravel. I have constructed areas with logs and rocks that they must pass around or over, just as they would find in their path out in the wild. Shelter is provided by trees and some simple manmade structures and various watering ´holes´ mean that I can change which have a supply daily, or weekly, so that the horses travel to find their water. The same with food. Although they benefit from add-lib hay and alfalfa 24 hours a day, I place it in different areas of their paddock paradise. So, again as nature intended, they can ´graze´ the 16 hours a day that they need.

Simple to create, a lot of land isn´t necessary. We long since discovered it is impossible to cultivate grass land for our horses here in the harsh sun of Andalucía so have turned all our land into circuits for the horses. In countries where you can cultivate fodder for your horses you can do the same thing around the border of your property, leaving the center still free for cultivation. Better 1000 m2 of interesting circuit than 5000m2 of boring square paddock!

The photos speak for themselves. My horses love their paddock playground and they do travel. Day and night. I´ve checked personally!

If you have a horse recovering from a leg (hip, shoulder) injury, there is nothing better than my paddock paradise for this. I know from personal experience that most torn ligaments/tendon injuries take far longer to heel when a horse is confined to a box, often not making the full recovery you would like. Being able to move, when they please, puts your equine friend on the road to recovery far quicker and with far less possibility of complications.

Very new to me, but I´m a fast learner (!) is the sport of endurance . I soon learnt that my horses maintain better health, better respiratory systems and come back to fitness so much quicker when they live in their paddock circuit. Making the challenge of endurance not such a daunting prospect. Half the battle is already won!

Read about my trials (and not so many errors) as I started out in endurance. Knowing the hours, possibly days, I lost as I poured over literature, the internet and picked peoples brains to learn all I could about Endurance I share with you here all I have learnt. Being swamped by all the different equipment available, diets recommended (for the horse!) and training schedules - before I´d even got on my horse, I will tell you what has worked for me, and what hasn´t!

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