STATION #4:  HORSES & PASTURES

Horses

We care for 16 horses, including a Mustang as “Boss Mare,” a pony, and 2 minis.  Visit the “Meet the Horses” page to see if you can identify who is who in the pasture.  

Why horses when it comes to Mental Health and Personal Growth & Wellness?

For their survival as prey animals, horses are highly intuitive to nonverbal messages and intentions. Because of this characteristic, horses may respond in ways to our presence that can reflect aspects of ourselves – bringing to the surface beliefs, attitudes, and unresolved trauma which may be impacting our relationships and mental health. This natural, unbiased feedback supports clients in learning and transforming in a safe and powerful way.

Due to their size and presence, horses create a sense of awe, leading to an increase in emotional safety and engagement in the treatment process.  

As social animals, horses are a lot like humans. They have different personalities and hierarchies in their social structures, which includes at times challenging one another in those roles. They can be hypervigilant of their environment, which can be healthy or unhealthy. It is easy to resonate with the similarities horses have to our own lives, and which provides opportunities to learn from them that feels relevant to other life and relationship situations.

Horses provide a safe and dynamic environment, where peace and healing comes through the relationship facilitated by trained professionals.

Common Horse Care Expenses:

Routine Vet Call $110 

The vet comes out at least once a year for yearly exams and vaccinations, however we must call the vet out for illnesses and/or emergencies too. In June Huck required an emergency vet call and a 3 day stay in the ICU at a vet hospital in Ohio for a sudden onset of colic. His care for that instance was approximately $3,500. If he would have needed emergency colic surgery, it could have costed $10,000+

Hoof Trim $45
All horses get trimmed every 6-8 weeks.  $45 per trim = $5,120 per year

Dental Exam $110
All horses get this at least once per year, sometimes twice per year = $1,760 – $3,520

50-lb Bag  Purina Enrich Feed $37

The horses go through about 10 bags of feed per month = $4,200 per year

Large Round or Square Bales $60
The horses go through about 120 large bales per year= $7,200

Small Square Bales $5

They eat about 200 small bales per year= $1,000

Dump Truck Load of Sawdust $200
We use sawdust to keep the horse stalls clean, and we get a load every 3 weeks.   One load of sawdust lasts about a month = 480+ stalls cleaned.

Pasture:

The main pasture has a dry lot up top where the horses eat from the hay huts.  It needs to be cleaned regularly, and set up differently depending on the time of year and the horses’ needs.  For example, the minis can’t eat hay right now so you can see they have their own gated section in the dry lot.  There is a water system that feeds the blue fountain in the middle of the dry lot.  We implement rotational grazing so that the land doesn’t become overused.  The pastures get replanted, fertilized and cared for every year just like the other crops.  This time of year there are frequent pasture rotates, even hourly, as the horses adjust to the sweet, green grass. 

There is also a small pasture next to the “chute” and another one at the front of the property where you drove in.