Sign in or 
Share this
New York
___________________________________________________________________________
Stella, Ally & Jewel in central NY -- JoAnn Johnson's Tangled Manes Track
The questions below are from the Tangledmanes New York track profile on Natural Horse Resource:
1) Do you feel it's necessary to exercise your horses in addition to the movement they get on the track?
(JoAnn) Stella and Ally (the gray and the palomino) keep themselves in great shape with just the track, although Stella especially wants more interaction. She's my husband's green riding horse so that works out very well. Ally is retired and likes it that way, but the track keeps her toned.
Jewel, however, is insulin resistant (IR). She is the main reason we built the track. I just couldn't seem to ride her often enough to keep her metabolism up. Part of the problem is that she's just 13 hands high. The original plan was to drive her, but we've had some glitches with that. The track helps, but as you can see from the pictures, it's not quite enough by itself, either. She doesn't always travel around with the other two. Jewel could really use more exercise. In good weather I do lock everyone out of the run-in dry lot during the day, which keeps her with the others.
So, to answer your question -- no, it's probably not necessary for most horses to get additional exercise apart from the Paddock Paradise track, if it's well set up. Jaime Jackson discusses turning them out in the center field for an hour or so each day for vigorous play. Mine seem to do their playing on the track, though, and take center field turnout as chow time, so I don't always do that.
2) Why did you put the pea gravel on the entrance to the shed/shelter? (mud?)
I put it at the entrance to the run-in shed to cut down on the mud and to help abrade their hooves. It seemed to massage away the extraneous exfoliating sole and bar material.
3) What's the benefit of having the pea gravel inside the shelter, as opposed to some other type of footing or bedding?
(JoAnn) The pea gravel didn't work well there for us because of insufficient drainage. There are actually rubber mats on the ground over which I had spread the pea gravel. Although they were on a slope, the floor under the gravel stayed damp and built up an odor, so I cleared out the gravel from inside the shelter. I would use it again in a shed with good drainage because it's so good for their hooves. I found that the bare mats are fine, though, and easy to keep clean. The horses lay down outside the shelter. I had previously tried shavings, then pelleted bedding, but again with insufficient drainage the bedding just held moisture & odor. Without bedding, almost all the urine rolls down the sloped mats and out of the shed.
4) In foul weather do you still feed them on the track?
(JoAnn) This is complicated. Your weather is bound to be rather different from mine! My horses are actually completely off the defined track for most of the winter. They become unwilling to move through the snow after it's about a foot deep, and I don't have machinery to clear the track for them. What I do instead is to hang their small-mesh hay nets on a post out in the middle of the field, or toss one out onto the snow, and they make their own packed snow paths out to the hay. Although this doesn't cause them to cover quite as much ground as they do on the summer track, they seem to get almost as much exercise by going through the resistance of the snow. There have been just a handful of days that the wind was blowing too much, or there was freezing rain to keep the hay from being served out in the field. On those days, I just hang it in three spots inside the shed, and on a post about ten feet from the shed. You can see from the picture below how they eat their other feed in the winter. I do it that way because the feeders too easily get lost in the snow if I try to feed them on their 'snow track.' In the summer, the hay cube stations are put out around the track and are almost always used.
Stella, Ally & Jewel in central NY -- JoAnn Johnson's Tangled Manes Track
| This was our final New York layout, 2008. The PP turnout track was half a mile long. Dry lot access could be closed off to keep the horses moving along the track, or opened to allow camping. The grass was tenacious and took over two years to wear away under their hooves on the track. We intentionally accelerated that process by keeping them on the track in spring and fall "mud season." We used the inner field for turnout, and for riding and driving. During the winter snow accumulation, we provided hay at #8 and #9, encouraging them to tamp down at least a small winter "track." It would have required a powerful tractor and snowthrower to keep the outer track clear. In the summer of 2009, we moved to Alabama. | JoAnn's Paddock Paradise track surrounding five acres, on a muddy autumn day; Oct. 2008. Ally, Stella, Jewel. |
 Early summer 2008. Stella, Jewel & Ally pass a blue tarp which was on the track to kill the grass. There is a huge green tarp in the background. Although this did work (without chemicals or a tractor), it took too long to be able to rotate the tarps to new sections. | Terrain map (from Google Maps) Shows that our house by the road was atop a gentle slope. My Paddock Paradise was located in the center of this map. It started at the road and extended about half way to the creek, enclosing about five acres. |
 Center field in winter. Jewel eats from a small-mesh hay bag while Stella naps, and.... |  |
 |  |
 Jewel, looking surprised as I mow the center field on this side of the inner fence. | Time for beet pulp & TCL - hurry up! |
 |  About three feedings worth of hay in Miller's small-mesh hay nets |
 |  Experimental mud decking. Strong enough for the horses to walk on if they chose, but of course they didn't. There was plenty of room for them to pass on either side of the deck. I was using it to walk over the muddy ring draining zone to load the hay tree. I think the best mud solution is to lay a few inches of gravel over geofabric along the course of the track. Gravel also helps condition bare hooves. |
 |  By St. Patrick's Day the fence was nearly free of ice. |
| Our earlier track layout around 3 acres (2007). | Lazy Graze of Summer: Ally, Stella, & Jewel enjoy some grazing time in the center field surrounded by their track. |
 |  Ally and Jewel at sunset. |
The questions below are from the Tangledmanes New York track profile on Natural Horse Resource:
1) Do you feel it's necessary to exercise your horses in addition to the movement they get on the track?
(JoAnn) Stella and Ally (the gray and the palomino) keep themselves in great shape with just the track, although Stella especially wants more interaction. She's my husband's green riding horse so that works out very well. Ally is retired and likes it that way, but the track keeps her toned.
Jewel, however, is insulin resistant (IR). She is the main reason we built the track. I just couldn't seem to ride her often enough to keep her metabolism up. Part of the problem is that she's just 13 hands high. The original plan was to drive her, but we've had some glitches with that. The track helps, but as you can see from the pictures, it's not quite enough by itself, either. She doesn't always travel around with the other two. Jewel could really use more exercise. In good weather I do lock everyone out of the run-in dry lot during the day, which keeps her with the others.
So, to answer your question -- no, it's probably not necessary for most horses to get additional exercise apart from the Paddock Paradise track, if it's well set up. Jaime Jackson discusses turning them out in the center field for an hour or so each day for vigorous play. Mine seem to do their playing on the track, though, and take center field turnout as chow time, so I don't always do that.
2) Why did you put the pea gravel on the entrance to the shed/shelter? (mud?)
I put it at the entrance to the run-in shed to cut down on the mud and to help abrade their hooves. It seemed to massage away the extraneous exfoliating sole and bar material.
3) What's the benefit of having the pea gravel inside the shelter, as opposed to some other type of footing or bedding?
(JoAnn) The pea gravel didn't work well there for us because of insufficient drainage. There are actually rubber mats on the ground over which I had spread the pea gravel. Although they were on a slope, the floor under the gravel stayed damp and built up an odor, so I cleared out the gravel from inside the shelter. I would use it again in a shed with good drainage because it's so good for their hooves. I found that the bare mats are fine, though, and easy to keep clean. The horses lay down outside the shelter. I had previously tried shavings, then pelleted bedding, but again with insufficient drainage the bedding just held moisture & odor. Without bedding, almost all the urine rolls down the sloped mats and out of the shed.
4) In foul weather do you still feed them on the track?
(JoAnn) This is complicated. Your weather is bound to be rather different from mine! My horses are actually completely off the defined track for most of the winter. They become unwilling to move through the snow after it's about a foot deep, and I don't have machinery to clear the track for them. What I do instead is to hang their small-mesh hay nets on a post out in the middle of the field, or toss one out onto the snow, and they make their own packed snow paths out to the hay. Although this doesn't cause them to cover quite as much ground as they do on the summer track, they seem to get almost as much exercise by going through the resistance of the snow. There have been just a handful of days that the wind was blowing too much, or there was freezing rain to keep the hay from being served out in the field. On those days, I just hang it in three spots inside the shed, and on a post about ten feet from the shed. You can see from the picture below how they eat their other feed in the winter. I do it that way because the feeders too easily get lost in the snow if I try to feed them on their 'snow track.' In the summer, the hay cube stations are put out around the track and are almost always used.
tangledmanes |
Latest page update: made by tangledmanes
, Oct 25 2009, 10:34 AM EDT
(about this update
About This Update
Edited by tangledmanes
723 words added 1 image added view changes - complete history) |
|
Keyword tags:
None
More Info: links to this page
|
| Started By | Thread Subject | Replies | Last Post | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| wilecat | Back on board with PP | 11 | May 4 2011, 10:10 AM EDT by DutchHollow | ||
|
Thread started: Apr 6 2011, 1:39 PM EDT
Watch
I already have plans to put a PP on our 4.5 acres. As we speak my husband is picking up 100 heavy duty Tposts. Our snow is melting here in Saratoga County and I see a bit of green here and there and I noticed that the horses have not picked up their head all morning. Scary thing as 3 out of 4 are fat and 2 have chronic laminitis. I had the foresight to create a PP in the snow. All winter we kept a track free and clear of snow and every morning a pulled a sled over the entire track and spread hay around, changing it up daily. The horses are mine and my husband who is a really good guy just saw this as more money and time, which are a luxury, wasted. I got upset and unsubscribe to everything PP related. Well he is on board after reading the book and I guess to shut me up, cause I can't stop talking about it. I have everything I need to get going just need for the ground to thaw some more.
|
|||||
| wilecat | inspired | 0 | Apr 6 2011, 1:43 PM EDT by wilecat | ||
|
Thread started: Apr 6 2011, 1:43 PM EDT
Watch
Tangle Maned Tracks you and your horses just inspired me some more, just wanted you to know.
|
|||||
| slightsey | thank you! | 4 | Sep 1 2010, 5:45 PM EDT by slightsey | ||
|
Thread started: Aug 19 2010, 12:41 PM EDT
Watch
JoAnne,
Thank you so much for a great section; your photos, YouTubes, comments, etc. are a great help to me, who is seriously thinking of implementing a paddock paradise (some time next year). My biggest concern right now is: does the track get really muddy; would it be feasible to put pea gravel in several areas along the track to keep that in control. Where so I situate my shed ; how time consuming is it to put hay in the furthest areas (I work full time and have my husband and 4 dogs to take care as well!); when do you put your horses in the pastures; (I have no IR horses)? So what have you put in the shed, just mats? Are you running after your horses to make them canter the whole track? I will have 3 acres of pasture. How do I make the place look pretty? I know this is a strange question, but I have a very non horsey husband that I am going to have to persuade this is the best way to set up our property. Thank you in advance for any help/suggestion you can give. Sonia |
||||
Showing 3 of 3 threads for this page
