​I wouldn’t exactly call it a ‘herd’, but running my high level event horses together was initially a pretty big leap of faith. Luckily, the benefits have proven to be well worth the white knuckles and hair-greying of the initial meeting!
 
We didn’t just chuck them all out together of course, but it is still nerve-racking when keeping horses separately has become so naturalized over the years - despite it being so much more natural for them to live together.
 
Horses are extremely tactile creatures. They are always together, playing, bumping each other, quietly driving each other around the paddock and gaining confidence from each other. I just love watching the dynamics of my small herd of performance horses as they move around the paddock.

It’s a question every responsible horse owner asks themselves frequently – am I doing it right? We know that we keep our horses in situations that are at odds with their evolution. They are designed to graze, live in herds, move large distances each day and they certainly didn’t evolve to have relationships with two legged animals. So – how do we try to overcome the deficits?

We’ve got to keep them in ways that mirror their evolution as closely as possible. Close to other horses, with space to move and plenty of access to roughage. Sounds easy, right? Not.
 
So let’s look at feeding for a minute. Horses are designed to consume large amount of roughage over a long period of time. We can get technical about percentages, timeframes and vitamin and mineral balancing but when it comes to horses it is best to keep it fairly simple.
 
Horses need access to hay, chaff or pasture almost 24/7. They need a lot less protein, carbs, sugar and fancy foods than you would expect – despite the fact that it is fun making up yummy looking feeds for your equine partner!
 
Find a feed that is low in starch, high in fibre, and preferably not grain based. If it’s a muesli it is probably coated with molasses = high sugar, not ideal for the waistline, nor the equine digestive system.
 
Slow them down in as many ways possible – see our Slow Feeders the Easy Way for a simple way to make slow feeding hay easy.