Horse care is as much a science as it is an art, Jennifer and I have spent many years working in different horse facilities around the world, but both of us were trained to place the welfare of the horse first. As a result the plans for horse care and facility maintenance may seem a little elaborate, but they are designed to keep the buildings, land and most of all, the horses in the best possible manner. To help you understand our plans and facilities, the following will cover some of the key principles under which we will operate.

Feeding

Our feeding ethos aims to maintain good gut health and avoid dietary imbalances while matching diet to exercise. Grass hay and/or access to well maintained pasture will make up the bulk of the dietary fiber requirements for all horses. This will be supplemented with morning and evening grain rations designed to provide higher oil and fiber, rather than excessive carbohydrates and protein. All additional supplements are to be provided by the owner, ordered from Smartpak Equine.

Pasture

It is our aim to have the majority of the horses' dietary requirements met by the grazing, this means we will spend considerable time and effort maintaining pastures. Some of the key aspects of this will include the provision of "wet weather pastures" and "dry weather pastures" - the former being the better draining and the later being used only when the ground is firm enough that horses will not do significant damage to the grazing. This rotational grazing will allow us the time to roll, rake, reseed, weed and fertilize pastures.

Fencing

We will be using Geotek and Premier One Fencing products for several reasons notably; visibility, flexibility, longevity and ease of maintenance. The flexible, tough, coated fiberglass posts from Geotek are safer than T-Posts and will flex on impact without shattering. The IntelliBraid and IntelliTape from Premier One Fencing are highly visible and are not high tensile, so should your horse impact the fence they should (hopefully) suffer nothing worse than mild rope burns.

Perhaps above all else, we have tried to design a safe facility where owners can enjoy their horses and ride year round. We aim to have a clean and tidy barn where people can easily schedule their time and reduce the need to rush (we have provided a restroom with shower specifically for those people who would rather ride before work). Our staff will also work with boarders to cover many of the time consuming aspects of horse ownership, such as changing blankets or holding horses for routine vet and farrier appointments. We hope that boarders will appreciate the level of care their horses receive as much as they appreciate the facility! (if you would like to see the buildings and arenas in more detail, please go to the facilities page)

Tack Room and Trailer Parking

All horses boarded at Priestfield West will have their own space in the tack room, with saddle racks, bridle racks, rug rail and hooks provided. There will be trailer parking available for those boarders owning a trailer, initially this will be in the parking area that is closer to the house.

Arena Usage

We try to ensure all lessons (Private or Group) are scheduled and posted on the website calendar and the barn board so that boarders may schedule accordingly.

The rules of the arena posted in several locations around the barn and we would ask that people adhere to them.

We do have clients who "trailer in" for lessons, we do require a current (less than 12 months) negative Coggins for all horses coming onto the propert, in addition to signed waivers for all riders, owners and visitors to the facility.

There are two types of board available at Priestfield West; pasture board and stalled board, both include hay and grain rations.

Pasture Board

There will be two pasture boarding options available, the first is for horses in regular work using the facilities on a weekly basis. However if a horse is not using the facilities regularly (for example a horse that is recovering from injury, is retired or is too young to be in full work) then a reduced rate of board will apply. Pasture boarded horses will live in groups of three to six depending on field size and herd dynamics. We will make every effort to combine compatible horses in smaller numbers to reduce the possibility of bullying. All pastures will have Nelson automatic waterers and winter pastures will have run in field shelters available. Horses will be either have open access to hay or be fed hay three times per day in addition grain will be fed (with any supplements provided by owner) as neccessary. As with stalled horses, pasture boarded horses will have their own designated area in the tack room and access to the wash stall.

Stall Board

Stall board will include grain, hay, stall cleaning, daily turnout, blanket changing, feeding of supplements (supplied by the owner) and access to facilities. Stalls will be 12’ by 12’ and are supplied by Classic Equine Equipment. All  have automatic waterers, stall mats and have yolk doors that allow horses to put their heads out into the aisle. The stall barn will be heated to approximately 40°C during winter months, and will be well ventilated year round.

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