Enviro-Horsekeeping:
Win-Win Techniques for You, Your Horse,
Your Farm, Your Neighborhood --
AND the Environment!
Part 3 of a 3 part series
by Alayne Blickle, Horses for Clean Water
There are many wonderful ways that we can care for our horses and facilities that are also environmentally friendly. The exciting news for us as horse owners is that these techniques also happen to be quite beneficial for horse health, farm productivity, and chore efficiency. This series covers win-win techniques useful for horsekeeping as well as for environmental health. We began with an environmental overview and then covered some simple techniques for your horse farm. This month we conclude by listing a few more practices you can implement. Making these changes will make life easier for you, better for your horses and it will keep things like nutrients (from manure) and sediments (from mud) from causing water quality issues.
We all know that we are living in an age of more and more urban and sub-urbanization. We as horse owners need to consider the impacts we are making on our neighbors and the environment and seek to reduce these as much as possible. Are we contributing to reduced water quality in our watershed, creating an eyesore and a fly haven? Or would you like to have a horse operation that demonstrates healthy horses and a home for wildlife? I know you’d like the latter, so read on for the last techniques in this series:
- In the winter, keeping horses off saturated and rain soaked soils and dormant or frozen pasture plants is critical if you want to maintain a healthy pasture next summer. Soggy soils and dormant plants simply cannot survive continuous grazing and trampling in winter months. Horses are particularly hard on pastures -- the pounding of their hooves compacts the soil and suffocates plant roots. In addition, when the soils are wet, horse hooves act like plungers by loosening fine particles of topsoil that are then washed away by the rain.
- Cover manure storage facilities to prevent rainwater from leaching nitrogen from the manure pile and reaching waterways. The material used to cover your manure pile can be as simple as a tarp or plastic sheet. In the late spring and summer, when the ground is no longer soggy, the manure can be applied as a soil amendment to your growing grasses.
- Keep fill, especially manure and garbage, out of wetlands and wet meadows. These areas serve as natural filters for water moving into our streams and groundwater supply. They cannot function properly when they are clogged with debris.
- Fence off streams, lakes, wetlands and water bodies to limit livestock access. The direct input of animal waste and sediment into streams and water bodies degrades water quality and destroys the aquatic environment. Horses and other livestock tend to trample down streamside vegetation. Trees and undergrowth are nature's system for filtering contaminants from runoff. They also help prevent soil erosion and provide food and shelter for fish and other aquatic wildlife. The overhead canopy that trees provide keeps the water cool. When these natural elements are destroyed, a toxic environment is created for fish and other stream life since cool water is able to carry more oxygen than warm water, which benefits fish.
- Plant native trees and shrubs to provide habitat for wildlife such as birds and small animals. More and more wildlife habitat is being lost as land is subdivided and developed. Even pastures don’t provide good habitat for most wildlife. Farm owners can help offset this loss of habitat by planting or growing a diversity of vegetation that provides food and cover for wildlife. Consider incorporating native plants for landscaping and planting projects. Wildlife is better adapted to native plants and uses them for food and shelter. Create brush piles with downed branches, stacking them in an unused area of your pasture. Rock piles also make good habitat for small animals. Save snags and downed trees -- these are important non-living materials in the ecosystem.
In order to insure horse owners a place in the future of our community, we need to take steps toward becoming an asset to our community, and not a detriment. Do your part as a responsible horse owner to protect your watershed, the environment, and the equestrian way of life in your community by making your horse farm a happier, healthier place for you, your horses and the community as well!
Good horse keeping to you!
Alayne Renee Blickle, a life-long equestrian and reining competitor is the creator/director of Horses for Clean Water. HCW offers educational materials, courses & individual consultations on ways to care for and manage your horse and the facilities, with an emphasis on environmentally friendly techniques. For more information on HCW visit the website at www.HorsesforCleanWater.com.
Join HCW at the following upcoming events:
Horse Farm Management Class Series – Join Alayne Blickle for the full Horses for Clean Water farm management series. Learn about the many fascinating techniques to reduce mud, manage manure, make pastures more productive and provide for wildlife at the same time. Maple Valley, WA. Tuesday evenings, 6:30 – 9pm, March 2nd, 9th, 16th, & 30th. For registration & details contact HCW at 425-432-6116 or ARBlickle@aol.com.
Manure Management Options for Horseowners – Learn techniques to manage manure, find out the latest on composting and get an update on new manure management regulations. This evening event will be repeated throughout King County, WA, during April & May. For registration & details contact HCW at 425-432-6116 or ARBlickle@aol.com.
Attention Whatcom County Horse Groups:
Speaker Available to Help with Mud & Manure Management Issues
Are you looking for monthly speakers for your horse organization? Would your 4-H club like to get more information on composting? Do you have a family member interested in getting a horse? Would you like to learn about resources and organizations available to help with free technical assistance and education?
If so, Horses for Clean Water is available this spring to come to speak to your organization – for free! Thanks to special funding, HCW is able to do a limited amount of presentations to horse groups. HCW has 1-hour slide show presentations on Manure Management Options for Horse Owners and the ever-popular Mud, Paddocks & Horses.
Presentations include educational materials and resource lists.
For more information contact HCW at 425-432-6116 or ARBlickle@aol.com. Visit the website at www.horsesforcleanwater.com. Call soon to set up your presentation, as time is limited for this opportunity.
