How to do it
So, can anyone implement the track system and, if so, how do you go about it?
A track system is hugely adaptable and can work in many different situations. Our yard is specifically set up to accommodate this system so we can commit to layout, design and enrichment, but it can be simplified if you’re on rented land, or at a livery yard. My first track was just a simple loop around a one-acre field edge, but the difference it made to my horse was obvious within a few months. It cost me a couple of hundred pounds for fencing and an energiser. The important thing about this system is that it can be replicated to a greater or lesser extent wherever you keep your horse.
Key points
If you’d like to have a go at setting up your own track, the following pointers should help. I always recommend making the width of the track twice the length of your biggest horse. That way, two horses coming in opposite directions can either safely pass each other, or one can turn around. Any smaller and you risk injury or damaging your fencing; any greater and you may find it doesn’t encourage enough movement, or it essentially becomes strip grazing.
It’s important to create larger areas where horses can stop to eat or rest and not feel the restriction of the fence close by.
The track essentially encourages horses to move, so the narrower the track is, the less likely they are to stop for long. The horses will flow around the track better if there are no dead ends, so a continuous loop is much better to start with. If you have no
option but to have a dead end, make it larger and almost like a roundabout to encourage horses to keep going.
The easiest way to start is to create a track around the boundary of a field, but there’s really no restriction as to design. To make a longer track, use the middle of the field. In the wetter seasons it’s usually a case of trial and error — some people find that their land is well-draining enough to not become poached; others may re-route some parts to avoid muddy areas. There are also non-permanent methods of stopping mud, such as mud control mats.
If you’re in a situation where mud is an issue, it may be that you track for the times of year when the horses are most at risk of laminitis and use the middle in the winter. It’s not a good idea to keep horses in deep mud for months on end.
Now that you have a basic track set up, it’s important to spread out essential items.
Try to keep hay, shelter and water in separate areas so the horses will move on to find what they’re looking for. If you keep all of your resources together, your horse will camp and movement will reduce. People are often tempted to put hay in their shelters, but then there’s no incentive for the horse to move away from the house. You can also add other enrichment, like mineral blocks and scratching posts, to encourage movement.
Middle ground
The unused space in the middle has a number of uses. Some horses will return to grazing the long, stalky grass there over the winter. Some owners use it for occasional turnout to give horses some variety. It can also be used to grow hay and offset some of the cost of the extra hay used with this system. At Graveney, we’ve returned the middle of our system to a wildflower meadow as biodiversity and soil health is important too. There isn’t a hard and fast rule. The track system was the brainchild of Jaime Jackson who set up a paddock paradise in a very arid area of the US where he didn’t have the complications of mud. In Europe we have very different challenges and I appreciate that surfacing a track is not always possible. The aim is to benefit our horses, so adapting the system is all part and parcel. As long as your horses are benefiting, it’s working for you.