Part 3 - A herd environment means ...

... living in a herd environment with enough space to move freely and maintaining an interest in their living space.

Well, that’s a mouthful. To break that down a bit … the first part says living in a herd situation. To be in a herd means to be with others of his own kind, to socialize and interact. Here at the EQ Awakenings Centre we have horses coming and going on a somewhat regular basis. We have one main herd to hold a constant ‘order’. Horses are very social animals and need the company of others to live with at all times. It’s not the same as being caged next to another horse. They need to learn to touch, groom, play, rest, etc. with other horses This also calms the mind.

👉🏼 To have enough space to move freely.  A lot of behavioural problems will be solved by giving your horse a more towards natural lifestyle.  You don’t need TONS of land to do this either. I have had less than 4 acres of land and not all of it belonged to the horses. We kept adding to the list of innovative ways to keep them moving and exploring and interacting within their ‘ecosystem’  ( EQ-System ). Some things include ‘pick-a-pooing’, a compost program, and utilizing electric fencing to balance their system with the seasons.

👉🏼 Maintaining an interest in their environment. We simply mean we keep them moving … exploring, snoofing around if you will. Plugged into the living space… which is dynamic. Using the whole area allotted to them. Movement is the Essence of Horse … but they need to be given reasons to move when they are living in a concentrated ecosystem. We have variable strategies for each season to insure a lot of natural movement in addition to regular exercise and training programs.

Enhancements in how the horses utilize the living space benefits the horses and the land.

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