It’s a Herd Life - Moving Day!

 At the farm I have the luxury of being able to run my horses in herds most of the time. We have 1000 acres but our dairy herd comes first. So, how it works here, is that the horses move around the farm as a herd through the races (farm tracks that connect different paddocks). Sometimes they follow the cows, but mostly they get the paddocks that are too steep, too weedy, or too small for the herd most of the time. They stay in their paddock until they have done a “good job” cleaning it up and then they get to go to a new one.

I have 28 on The Farm at the moment. I had 70 for a few years but that was a bit too much. Some are “in use” as trekking and lesson horses. Some are getting “started” and learning things. Some are babies and waiting and growing. Some are learning new things for my personal growth. Some are being “fixed up”, and may be sold, only if they are going to be able to head off someplace else and enjoy their lives there. Some have been part of my team for years and have given confidence, love, and life and horse skills to thousands of people and are now in retirement or semi-retirement. At times I sell my beautiful older horses to very particular homes, if I think that they will do better in a more “pampered” environment, and be able to be more healthy.

There are many benefits of this system for the horses. One is that they get lots of ‘real life’ herd socialization, which I feel is really important. There is also lots of varied terrain and food, the weeds, trees, and grasses in the paddocks are all important to horses’ mental and physical health. Benefits for us include, the pleasure of watching them interacting  with themselves in the herd, and the privilege of being able to be amongst them, important to them, and accepted by them. I get a real buzz, still, going out to ‘grab’ a few for a job and having them come willingly with me, even though they know they are going to ‘work.’ Lucky, lucky me!

    It is a bit of an art knowing how long to leave them in a paddock before you move them. Move them too soon and the “fatties” all blow up. Make them wait too long and the ‘skinnies” start to gradually lose their condition. It is a balance for all of the horses, and some need more watching than others. We take  small groups out and graze them in smaller, more “handy” paddocks to keep them close if they are going to be worked the next few days, or if they are either getting too fat, or too thin.

    In terms of the specifics of moving, we set the gates up and call them, so that the horses run through from one paddock to the next, and sometimes use a gate system with electric fence tape, that can easily be interchanged to hopefully get them from one place to another without losing too many!. I like It can be really fun watching them move through, and if they have run out of grass they move quite easily. I don't believe in chasing or “herding” them. We suggest and encourage, but if they are going the right way we just leave them alone and follow along.