22/04/2025
🧠🐴 Let’s Talk About Welfare-Focused Horse Keeping 🐴🧠
We recently received a comment questioning whether our grass-free track system is psychologically disturbing or even “cruel” because horses are being kept from grazing lush grass. While we understand where this concern comes from, it’s important to take a closer look at the facts around equine welfare, digestion, and natural behaviour. Our goal has always been to support horses’ physical and mental well-being, not just for the short term but for their long-term health.
🐴Track Systems: Designed for the Horse, Not Human Convenience
Track systems are inspired by how wild horses live — roaming long distances daily in search of forage, water, shelter, and social interaction. Horses are meant to move frequently, eat slowly, and interact socially. Our track system encourages just that: movement, mental stimulation, and choice. In fact, horses on our track system often walk 10-15 km per day, compared to just a few hundred meters in a small paddock or almost no movement when confined to a stall.
🌱 Why Not Lush Grass?
Grass may seem "natural," but for modern domestic horses — especially easy keepers, seniors, and metabolic horses — it can be dangerous. Today's cultivated pasture grasses are nothing like what wild horses encounter. They’re often high in sugars (NSCs) that can trigger laminitis, insulin dysregulation, and digestive upset. Many horses can't safely graze on rich pasture without serious health consequences.
In theory, pasture grazing can be part of a healthy horsekeeping system (for some horses) if it's managed carefully. Unfortunately, most boarding barns do not rotate fields, test their grasses for sugar content, or adjust turnout based on seasons or weather conditions. This often means horses are turned out on stressed, overgrazed, sugar-spiking pastures with no safeguards in place. Overgrazed or unmanaged pastures are one of the leading contributors to laminitis and metabolic crashes — especially in spring and fall when sugar levels are highest. A grass-free system with tested hay offers predictable, stable nutrition, which is essential for at-risk horses.
🧠Is Withholding Grass Psychologically Harmful?
Not when it’s replaced with appropriate, consistent, species-appropriate forage. Horses evolved to graze up to 18 hours a day — but that doesn’t mean they need grass. They need fibre-rich, low-sugar forage in small, continuous amounts. Our horses have unlimited access to tested, low-NSC hay offered through slow feeders that mimic natural foraging behaviour and prevent boredom, gorging, and long periods without food.
🐎But What About Exercise?
Absolutely, in-hand work and training are valuable — and we do both! But no amount of scheduled groundwork can replace the self-directed movement horses get when they have space, stimulation, and companions on a track. The movement that happens when a horse chooses to go investigate a friend, walk to a new hay station, or wander to the water trough at the far end of the track is far more impactful to their metabolism and mental state than forced exercise could ever be.
🥀Cruel? Quite the Opposite.
Our system is designed around autonomy, enrichment, social connection, and metabolic health. Horses can choose to eat, move, rest, play, or stand in a shelter as they wish. We offer 24/7 forage, shelter, water, and enrichment options — far beyond what many traditional paddocks or stalls provide.
We know it can be hard to reconcile the image of “green grass” with the reality of what’s healthiest for horses — especially those with modern metabolic issues. But this system isn’t about restriction. It’s about freedom within a framework designed for optimal health.
We’re always happy to answer questions, and we appreciate the opportunity to share the why behind our management. Our doors are open to anyone wanting to learn more or see it in action
