Create the perfect turnout environment for your horse

In our latest blog The Saddlery Shop is going to be looking at the benefits of a Paddock Paradise system. Also known as a track system, this is a natural way of keeping horses that imitates wild horses and their herd life – it is favoured by many owners of barefoot horses, but has benefits for most equines. 

In the wild, horses move along a route in search of food and water, roaming. Most estimates put this roaming figure at around 20 - 30 miles per day. The constant need to move and find food, while avoiding potential predators, encourages movement; this is exactly what nature intended. Paddock Paradise systems replicate this and help stimulate horses in order to behave and move naturally, according to their instincts. 

The benefits of a Paddock Paradise or track system

• Encourages constant movement and conditioning of hooves
• Allows you to control grazing, so laminitis / sugar sensitivity is kept under control
• Helps prevent boredom 
• Can help to rehabilitate horses after illness/injury

How do we build the perfect Paddock Paradise?

1. The theory is to create a natural habitat that allows our horse to move around. Movement is of course essential for circulation and development of the shock absorbing structures of the hoof.
   
2. The tracks you create should vary in width, but always be wide enough to allow the horses contained within the system space to safely pass each other (opinions vary, but for a small, amiable group of horses, 10ft minimum seems to work well). The longer you can make the track, the better. A circular track will usually work better than a straight one, as it will encourage a more natural movement pattern.
   
3. If resources are limited, or you can’t introduce surfaces into your space, you could just use electric fencing to zigzag back and forth across the field to encourage the movement – this could considerably increase the distance the horse travels in a day.
   
4. Once you have erected your track system, you will ideally need to have a number of different surfaces for your horse to walk on; this is especially important when keeping a barefoot horse. Along the track there should ideally be varying gradients and surfaces and areas of pea gravel, especially around flooded watering area, to give the hooves moisture and stimulation. Rocky areas and sand also contribute to the environment the horses roam within, and benefit the natural wear of the hooves.
   
5. You could make shelter from nearby trees and simple man-made structures. Providing a few watering holes and food sources means you can change them around every so often, so your horse is expected to move in order to find them.
   
6. The introduction of certain obstacles will urge your horse to play instead of standing or just grazing all day. Constructing areas with logs and rocks that they must go around or over helps to create the path they would expect to find in the wild.
   
7. Whatever the horse is provided with, good shelter and a clean water supply is obviously essential, as is somewhere the horse can stand out of the mud to allow his feet to dry.

We’d love to hear any feedback from you about how you manage your track systems in winter - comment on The Saddlery Shop's Facebook page if you have any tips! See link- https://www.facebook.com/TheSaddleryShop