Anyone read, or even more interesting practising, Jaime Jackson's Paddock Paradise system of natural horse boarding?
Jaime Jackson is a natural hoof care guru, I suppose. He was a farrier then started natural hoof care and advocates natural ways of keeping horses.
He spent years observing horses in tehw ild then developed the Paddock Paradise model to replicate wild conditions in a domestic situation. Basically, it involves creating a 12'-15' wide track around the perimeter of your field using the boundary fence and an internal electric fence. THe grass is removed either by scraping or weedkilling. Then interesting things (from a horse's perspective)are placed around on the track - a shelter, a waterhole, mineral and salt lick, trees, gravel bed (good for feet), small hay drops. All this encourages the horses to walk, as they would in the wild.
My foot-trimmer uses this system for her horse. The centre of the field is allowed to grow as standing hay. Another friend has a client who has done this and says the horses can walk round 50 times in a day. Grazing with other animals is recommended. Keeps weight down, improves top-line development, improves feet, improves mental state, no warm up is required when riding.
I'd be interetsed to know if anyone else has heard of, or done, this.