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[RC] Limited pasture/horse and hoof health/Paddock Paradise - Kristi SchaafPaul wrote: Horses spent millions of years adapting to life outside with free movement. Whenever we try to change them into a confined indoors animal, we have to deal with the effects of that confinement. ______________ It's surprising to me how humans often make things so much harder than they need to. Is it because people continue to do what they learned, without really thinking about the 'why'? Around here, I see so many people build barns with stalls that require mucking, maintenance, bedding, lighting, etc, when the horse would be healthier and happier outside with only a rudimentary shelter. I've never confined my horses indoors (they have a lean-to built into a hill for shelter from wind/driving rain). We're in the upper midwest where temps get down below zero, and I don't believe that my horses would ever choose to be bundled up indoors even then. In fact, I truly think that they're much happier when it's -20 than when it's 90 and buggy. Besides the physical health of constantly moving, there's of course the mental health aspect. A coworker is amazed that I can just 'get on and ride' my horses without lunging them to get the bucks out. She can't seem to wrap her mind around the idea that because they're always moving and unconfined 24/7, they feel no NEED to buck and run like her horse does when he's set free from his confining box. I do envy those of you with acres and acres of land. I'm very thankful for my 5 acres, but wish it was 50 (of that rough hilly rocky land I mentioned in a previous post). To relate it to endurance - think how much natural conditioning that would allow!! Anyway, that's why I'm so excited about the Paddock Paradise - it's helping use my 5 acres for maximum movement. The snow in the fenced track around the perimeter of my front one acre pasture was completely covered in hoof prints within three days after getting the snow. There's not a single spot that's smooth snow - how many laps did it take three horses to do that? I look at that trampled snow and am thrilled about all the movement it must have taken to do it. Think if I had a track around 10 acres, or 100....ooh...slobbering on the keyboard now... Kristi Life's a journey, so enjoy the ride (and try not to fall off) ____________________________________________________________________________________ Never miss an email again! Yahoo! Toolbar alerts you the instant new Mail arrives. http://tools.search.yahoo.com/toolbar/features/mail/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-= Ridecamp is a service of Endurance Net, http://www.endurance.net. Information, Policy, Disclaimer: http://www.endurance.net/Ridecamp Subscribe/Unsubscribe http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/logon.asp Ride Long and Ride Safe!! =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
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