All About Soil - Part 1 - Facts about soil
In this brand new Equine Permaculture series, we will ‘dig deeper into soils’ and explore what soils are, how soil is formed, the different types of soil and how they sustain life through the soil-food-web.
MB Equine - Property & Pastures
The Ultimate Guide to Choosing the Right Fence
February 2019
From a practical and safety point of view, boundary and internal fencing are the most obvious structures that require attention when laying out your property to meet the needs of your horses (and potentially other animals). When you start exploring what type of fencing you should consider for your property you will find that fences are much like horse supplements... There are hundreds of different options you could choose from! And, just like supplements, some of those fences are totally not suited or required for your horses.
5 Property Improvements for all Budgets
December 2018
Here are five common changes that can be done at any stage on small and larger budgets to improve or redesign your existing horse property... When horses become part of your life and you are lucky enough to own one (or a few), the next best thing is to be able to manage them on you own place, preferably in your backyard! For those of us who rode at riding schools or had our horses agisted when we were growing up, there is nothing more appealing than waking up in the morning and wandering out in your pyjamas to feed your horses or watch them graze, while holding a cuppa.
Earth Care, People Care, Horse Care by Design: Part 1
August 2018
Throughout the past 30 issues of Horses and People Magazine, Dr Mariette van den Berg has been integrating permaculture principles with other sustainable farming practices as they relate to horse property design, layout and pasture management. In this article, we recap on the basic permaculture principles while we link back to the relevant information and many ways they can be applied to an equine setting to benefit horses, people and the land.
Series: All About Soil - Part 3 - DIY Soil tests
03/26/2018
In this Equine Permaculture series, we ‘dig deeper into soils’ and, to date, we have explored what soils are, how soil is formed, the different types of soil and how they sustain life through the soil-food-web. If you missed those articles, you can find them by clicking on Part 1 and Part 2 In the following parts, we focus on the importance of soil tests - in the lab and DIY - interpreting these soil test results, and, finally, in our last part, we will explain how these tests can help your property’s soil and pasture management.
All About Soil - Part 2 - The soil food web
In this Equine Permaculture series, we ‘dig deeper into soils’ and explore what soils are, how soil is formed, the different types of soil and how they sustain life through the soil-food-web.
All About Soil - Part 4 - Lab Soil Tests
In this exclusive Equine Permaculture series, we have been ‘digging deeper into soils’ and explored what soils are, how soil is formed, the different types of soil and how they sustain life through the soil-food-web.
All About Soil - Part 5 - Using soil tests to improve horse pastures
In this All About Soil series, we have been ‘digging deeper into soils’ and explored what soils are, how soil is formed, the different types of soil (Part 1) and how they sustain life through the soil-food-web (Part 2).
Equine Permaculture: Composting!
May 2017
Sometimes, permaculture is as simple as changing the way we look at things. This month we bring you a perfect example: Instead of looking at all that manure your horses produce daily and the hard work you do cleaning it up as ‘waste’, you can see it as your best opportunity to obtain a valuable resource to help you achieve the holy grail of permaculture - building healthy soil to support your horses’ and your land, helping both become more resilient.
New Forage Feeding Recommendations - Part 2 - Quality
May 2017
While many horse owners are quite aware of the importance of providing roughage to our horses - either from pasture and/or conserved forages - there are different aspects to consider when deciding on what conserved forage you should feed to your horses and how much you should provide (e.g. quality versus quantity). This series explains the latest advances and recommendations for feeding conserved forage presented in a recent review paper (Harris et al. 20161), which was initiated by the European Workshop for Equine Nutrition (EWEN) meeting held in Portugal in 2012.
Equine Permaculture: Amazing Dung Beetles
April 2017
This month, we celebrate dung beetles! For horse owners, dung beetles mean mean less cleaning paddocks and poo shovelling, and great soil development, without cost or effort - all things that align with the permaculture principles. Dung beetles also benefit your horse’s health by helping control fly and parasitic worm populations. While this is great news for all horse and cattle owners, these tiny workers need the right conditions to establish and thrive.
Forage Feeding Recommendations: Part 1, Type
April 2017
While many horse owners are aware pasture and conserved forages should be the basis of horse diets (even in performance horses), there are different aspects to consider when deciding what type of conserved forage you should feed your horses and how much you should provide - quality vs. quantity. Over the next three issues of Horses and People, we will bring you the latest advances and recommendations for feeding conserved forage highlighted in a recent review of the scientific findings in equine nutrition.
Series: Pastures for Horses
07/18/2016
Australian native grasses for horse pastures - Part 4
When European settlers first arrived in Australia, grasslands and grassy woodlands covered much of the continent. Many of the explorers referred to grasses as the dominant plants in the landscape.
Foraging behaviour in pastured horses: Is variety the spice of life?
February 2015
Australian researchers investigating the behaviour of domestic horses at pasture have found that, given the opportunity, horses will seek and consume a range of non-pasture species (e.g., parts of trees, woody plants and shrubs). This is the first published data on the behaviour of domesticated horses at pasture and their interaction with the available vegetation.
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