Managing Horses Holistically

Radka Gromnicova, at Nature Way Farm in Buckinghamshire, England, saves time and money, and has healthier horses by managing holistically.

Traditional horse pasture management leads to muddy gateways. The photo below was taken two years prior to switching to a practice that regenerates land.

The 'Before' picture below is a bare patch where horses used to roll and create a compacted area. A year and a half later, it has completely covered over with vegetation. (Use the slidebar to see the change.)

In her video, Natural Horse Pasture Management, Radka shows how to manage pasture to grow nutrient-dense forage for excellent horse health.

The 'Before & After' images below are of the poorest field where the grass never grew tall. Better distribution of dung and urine combined with long plant recovery times allowed bare soil to cover over with vegetation. Grasshoppers, large dung beetles and ant hills reappeared.

Radka used to feed hay August until September, and from October onward. By the look of things she may have grass until December this year. She bought some hay in April, in case of a July-August drought, but she didn't use it. (Use the slidebar to see the contrast.)

The field below was overgrazed by horses and poo-picked for 20 years, and no grass was present when Radka secured the property. The image was taken at the end of January 2020, following six months of total rest. Notice there is no mud, apart from the three-day grazing enclosures the horses are in.

The white arrow in the photo above is pointing at the chickens which are scratching for insects and spreading the horse manure. Despite the wet, Radka was able to keep the horses out on pasture the whole Winter, apart from ten days of the worst weather.

Radka demonstrates in the video below how easy it is to build a temporary grazing unit for your horses using electric fencing.

Laying hens are a great way of utilising the pasture to improve land fertility. Radka keeps her hens safe from predators with a good electronet and energizer. Their fenced area is moved weekly to an area previously grazed by horses.

Hens scratch for insects in the manure, spreading it whilst leaving their own droppings. Chicken manure is potent! Radka ran the pen on the worst grass, and it has some of the best grass now -- lush, thick and dark green. The rest of the pasture looks pale in comparison.

Nature's Way Farm have been approved for on-farm slaughter (in an outdoor mobile unit), and have added broilers. The meat is of top quality, full of chicken taste and well-structured. Their customers love it, so they are expanding the broiler enterprise next year.

Thanks to Holistic Management, Radka has more time to enjoy her horses.