Riding Arena Construction

7:43 am

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Facility Planning & Design, Guest Author

Choosing the Site

Choosing a suitable site for your Riding Arena is often dictated by the amount of land available to you. If you are short of land you won’t have much choice as to where the arena is built. If you are lucky enough to have a choice there are a variety of factors that should be considered. Some obvious, some not!

1. Access – The majority of people fail to consider the implications of poor access on arena construction. Poor access means suppliers cannot use large delivery vehicles thus dramatically increasing haulage costs as […]

Equestrian Scholarships

2:58 am

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Equine Events, Misc.

Discover Opportunities: Equestrian Scholarships Available

Is your child a horseback rider? Horses and kids are an amazing match, with studies showing that children learn to take responsibility and initiative through horse-care and riding. Equestrian kids tend to have better grades and higher graduation rates than other students. And there are great organizations to support children who ride horseback throughout their school-age and college years, making the journey easier for parents and even providing valuable educational assistance and scholarships.

The Interscholastic Equestrian Federation is one such organization. The Interscholastic Equestrian Federation allows students in grades 6-12 […]

Best Companion Animals for Horses

2:45 am

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Misc.

Companion Animals for Horses

Horses are herd animals, and they are naturally suited to life with at least one companion. Sometimes, though, it just isn’t possible to have another horse for a companion. Pasture space may be at a premium, or you may be dealing with a stallion or otherwise aggressive horse who is nonetheless lonesome for a pal. So what kind of animals can you use as a companion for your horse?

Ponies and Miniature Horses can make great companions when a horse is too valuable/accident-prone to be turned out […]

Stable Tips for a Happy Summer

8:51 am

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Equine Care

Summer Stable Tips for Keeping Your Horses Happy and Healthy

Everyone’s been waiting for summer, and now that it’s here, there’s a good chance we’ll find something about it that makes us anxious for fall. After all, summer has its own unique challenges for our horses, our farm, our tack, and ourselves. So here are some tips to keep your stable happy this summer.

Happy Tack
Leather does not love humid summer days. If mildew and green mold begin to creep into your tack room, it’s time for some climate control […]

Getting Gray Horses Gray Again

8:13 am

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Equine Care, Products

Restore Your Gray Horse’s Shine with Expert Care

Gray horses do not want to be gray. They make this clear to us every time we turn around, seemingly — gray horses want to be brown, green, or black. They let us know their preference by rolling in whatever camouflage they can find, whether it’s fresh spring grass, an alluring pool of mud, or sadly, manure.

Since spring grass, brown mud, and manure are not accepted colors by any breed organization that I can think of, it falls upon we horse owners to get our horses cleaned up […]

Deterring Tail-Chewing in Horses

12:28 am

3 Comments

Equine Care, Products

One thing most horse-people have in common, whether we rein or race, trail-ride or team pen — our horse’s tails must be long, flowing, and beautiful. We go to a lot of trouble to keep up our horse’s tails. Some people keep them braided and safe inside tail bags. Some people never brush a tail without spraying on detangler. Some people knot a tail up on a rainy day so that it doesn’t get muddy.

Which is what makes tail-chewing such an agonizing problem for the horseman. All of sudden, your horse’s flowing tail […]

Choosing Your Riding Arena’s Footing

12:22 am

1 Comment

Facility Planning & Design, Products

Choosing Your Riding Arena’s Footing |Equine Facility Design

The footing we provide our horses is one of the most important aspects of a riding arena. The amount of concussion the footing absorbs from the horse’s legs, the quality of its drainage, even its life as the particles are tramped down through daily use, are all variables to consider and all you should evaluate. How do you choose your riding arena’s footing? Here are a few initial items to consider when looking at footing options.

Weather:
The climate will play a big role in […]

How Big Should a Horse Stall Be

2:07 am

27 Comments

Facility Planning & Design

How Big Should a Horse Stall Be?

The standard size for a horse stall tends to be twelve feet by twelve feet. But is that the right size for every horse?

The twelve-foot wall standard comes from a simple calculation for the average 1,000-pound horse: the wall is about one and a half times the horse’s length. It accounts for allowing a horse to walk in a circle, to lie down and roll, and to sleep without getting cast constantly (although some horses just cast themselves no matter what you do!). This size is […]