Balancing Whispers

05/30/2026

The feeders shown in Brie's picture are a good sample of what we use here.

Horses evolved to eat almost continuously. This is not a training philosophy, a trend, or a management preference. It is how their digestive system evolved to function.

A horse’s stomach produces acid constantly, whether food is present or not. When forage is removed for long periods, that acid has nothing to buffer it. Over time, this increases the risk of gastric irritation, ulcers, and digestive discomfort.

Forage is also regulation. The act of chewing, swallowing, and slow intake supports calm behaviour and nervous system stability. When horses are left without fibre, we often see pacing, fence walking, irritability, wood chewing, or food obsession. Those are not training issues. They are welfare signals.

“My horse needs restricted sugar and calories.”
Absolutely. Here’s how we do that without compromising welfare.

Restricting grass does not mean restricting forage. Horses who need sugar control still require continuous access to fibre. Slow feeder nets, hay pillows, and grazing bags allow intake to be managed while preserving natural foraging behaviour.

Muzzles serve a similar purpose on grass. They allow horses to stay moving, social, and engaged in natural foraging behaviour while protecting metabolic health. Used correctly, they are a management tool, not a punishment.

Regulation comes from a species-appropriate lifestyle. Deprivation does not create regulation.

What is not species appropriate is prolonged periods with nothing to eat. No hay. No grass. No fibre.

Good horse care is about meeting biological needs while managing risk. Continuous access to forage, even when intake must be slowed or restricted, is one of the most basic welfare standards we have.

05/28/2026

The farm we currently own, was built and run as a high level show jumping facility for 10 years prior. It has a 12 stall barn and these pictures show the damage done by the horses kept inside on a schedule convenient for humans.

This is what the "other 23 hours" look like for stalled horses.

These walls and bars, in many barns, tell a story..but are we listening?

05/27/2026

A wise person once said to me "too many people claim to have 20 years of experience, but in reality they have 20 times 1 year of experience".

Never stop learning...

Time spent within the industry does not automatically correlate to competency or welfare positive practices.

In some cases, the longer someone has been immersed in an industry or culture, the harder it can become to question what has been normalized around them.

That is not because people are incapable of growth. It’s because repetition, tradition, social pressure, and identity can make long standing practices feel “correct” simply because they are familiar.

Experience ABSOLUTELY matters.
But experience without reflection, curiosity, or willingness to adapt is not the same thing as expertise.

Some of the most important growth in the horse world happens when people are willing to say:
“This is what I was taught, but I’ve learned something better.”

Industries progress when people stay open to new information, not when they treat years spent participating as proof that improvement is no longer necessary.

05/25/2026

Interesting perspective. The challenge imo is what people perceive as calmness, which is often shutdown.

05/23/2026

Track systems are still poorly understood — a common misconception is that they are “just outdoor board.”

There’s a huge difference between horses being outside and horses living outside in an environment designed around their natural needs.

So what are the key differences between standard outdoor board, as offered by most commercial barns, and our track system?

First, we control the diet — entirely.

- By analyzing our hay for sugar and starch content, we know exactly what the horses are consuming and can adjust each horse’s hard feed according to their individual needs.
- A large round bale in the middle of a field creates stationary horses, parked at the bale because their biology requires them to eat for roughly 75% of their waking hours. We use over 25 hay bags and feeders spread throughout the track to encourage movement.
- Round bales are often left exposed to rain and sun. Our hay feeders are refilled daily, so horses are never eating soaked or sun-bleached hay.
- A single bale can also create stress — higher-ranking horses guard resources while lower-ranking horses wait for access. By spreading resources throughout the track, each horse has uninterrupted access to forage.
- Horses that can tolerate grass are turned out on our grass centres for a few hours at a time to avoid the insulin spikes so often asscoiated with rich grass consumption. After grazing time, turnout simply continues on the track.

We also manage the social environment.

- Our 2.4 km track, with multiple shelters and resting areas, gives horses the freedom to choose who they socialize or rest with.
- Horses are not forced to stand in close proximity simply to access forage or water.
- Equal access to food, water, and shelter reduces competition and resource guarding.

And we carefully manage the biological environment.

- Unlike grass fields where manure is often harrowed back into the grazing area, our track is hand-picked several times a week to help control parasite contamination and fly populations.
- Shelters are cleaned and bedded during cold and wet seasons.
- Gate areas, shelter entrances, and low-lying areas are surfaced to help manage mud and maintain hoof health.

A track system also means we spend a significant amount of time among the horses every single day. Daily hay delivery, manure removal, and grass management allow us to closely monitor behavior, soundness, appetite, and overall health — often catching small changes before they become major issues.

As always, we’re happy to answer questions about building, managing, or living on a track system

05/15/2026

2 years ago, we had frost free water posts installed and never looked back. No more scrubbing tubs, no more misfiring heating elements.

The area in front of the posts is obviously high traffic so we "mud proofed" it by:
- raising the grade and sloping off to the sides
- install the Hahn plastic mud mats
- expanded the area around with tampered gravel

The gravel was added this spring after the unusual wet spring.

05/13/2026

Our track system as it is today, was personally planned, mapped, and continually refined by Brie and myself. Two passionate minds whose physical paths finally crossed in 2023.

Years of research and learning prior to buying the farm, land assessment (soil quality and water flow), firsthand experience (noting our horses favorite resting and galloping areas), creativity (working with the existing show jumping set up), conferences, clinics, and shared vision made it come together without outsourced consultation or external design help.

Like any large scale project, we absolutely brought in skilled labour for specific elements such as post pounding and landscaping, but the vision, design, and ongoing evolution have always been our own.

Looking back, it’s honestly wild to see how far Martine (Balancing Whispers) and I have come with this shared vision.

What started as simply wanting to do better for our own horses turned into something so much bigger than either of us ever expected.

From magazine features around the world, to university students coming out to learn, to people travelling across Canada to see our track firsthand, this journey has grown far beyond our own property.

What began as a deeply personal commitment to better our own horses welfare became an opportunity to educate, inspire, and contribute to much larger conversations around equine management.

I am incredibly proud of what Martine and I have built together.

Individually, we both may have been capable, but together we created something stronger through partnership, shared vision, and the way we constantly balance, challenge, and strengthen one another.

Our dedication, continual learning, and relentless commitment to improving horse welfare shaped what exists today.

And like anything built through real hands on experience, there have absolutely been learning curves, mistakes, challenges, and continual refinement, but that is exactly what makes this so deeply ours.

Sometimes it’s honestly amazing to reflect on just how far two determined minds, years of dedication, and a refusal to stop improving can truly go.

Anyone who has worked with us or met us often comments on how seamlessly we work together, and this track reflects exactly that.

True track systems are not simply installed.

They are studied.
Adapted.
Refined.
And continually improved through observation, education, and understanding both horses and land.

Good welfare rarely happens by accident.

It is intentionally created, thoughtfully maintained, and always evolving.

05/10/2026

Happy Mothers Day!