Natural Horse Care in an Unnatural World

In the 16 years I have owned my horse (a now 27-year-old Paint), I have boarded him at barns that fall into just about every category imaginable. He has been at large barns with rules so strict I felt suffocated, private barns with rules that rivaled big barns and some that allowed me to do as I please, and just about everything in between. We have moved 13 times in those 16 years, sometimes repeating barns we thought "had gotten better." The very first barn my horse was boarded at was also the same barn where I volunteered as a trail guide 40 years earlier. Seeking riding lessons, I naturally started there (by this time the riding stable it once was had become a privately owned boarding and lesson barn). I bought my horse (who had just turned 11 years old) while I was there as a lesson student. I boarded him there on "outside self-care" board. A show horse most of his life, he now lived on a 75-acre natural pasture with 20+ horses. This was a first for him and ...

Horses closed up in stalls are prone to health issues due to dust, endotoxins, urine, feces, etc. I have boarded my horse at 9 different barns in the 15 years I have owned him, moving 13 times for various reasons from lack of proper care, raised board fees, death of the owner, to simply not getting along with owners or boarders. Some were small family barns, others large public barns. All varied in the degree of airflow from too much (a wind tunnel) to not enough (stifling and hot inside). Some offered windows of various sizes or even run-outs so the horses could remain outside if they wished or go in if the weather was bad. Barns! The worst, however, (something I find mostly in larger barns), are barns with no windows and are shut up at night (one barn I was at even shut the place up and locked it all summer, the horses sweating horribly inside). Barns can get hot at night with the heat of the horses' bodies (even winter, so keep blanketing in mind). I've seen hors...