Reaping the benefits

I try to follow the ‘boom and bust’ feeding cycle of wild horses. This involves allowing horses to lose weight in the winter so that weight gained during the summer months will not tip the balance into poor health. We do this by making the horses work harder and spend more time looking for forage, just as they naturally would in the wild.

The track system also allows horses to spend time with others, which again has a multitude of benefits. Being with others of their own species meets their need to have a herd for safety, entertainment and camaraderie. This reduces stress which, in turn, means that they tend to be much calmer in their interactions with humans, but also more confident as individuals.

I’m often asked if being in a herd makes horses more likely to be herd-bound, but I actually find that after an initial settling period, the opposite is true. We know from research that chronic stress raises cortisol levels, which can eventually cause illness and behavioural problems, so the more naturally we can keep our horses, the healthier they will be.