Lost Creek Acres utilizes a track system for daily turnout. There are internal fences around our pastures, creating a track, or sacrifice area, about 10-30 feet wide, wherein several types of slow feeders are stocked with hay daily. We keep a minimum of 1 feeder per horse, plus one extra, allowing for a horse to always have a place to eat. The horses who are higher in the pecking order will move the other horses around, causing a lot of movement all while keeping the horses on hay for most of the day. The protected (central) pastures are opened for grazing infrequently, usually in the fall, after the grass has gone to seed, to allow the horses some lazy days of all you can eat grass grazing.
Our horses are turned out for 8-9 hours every day, generally from 8am to 5 pm, weather permitting, and stalled in the barn overnight. We believe the track system promotes movement, natural horse behavior and herd bonding; all while protecting pastures from overgrazing. Currently, two track systems are in place. Several mares are turned out to the front track, and mostly geldings with a couple of mares are turned out to the back track.
Enrichment areas, such as a sandpit for rolling and resting, a street sweeper brush mounted on a post for scratching, and hay balls for mental stimulation while grazing, are distributed around the tracks
In a best-case scenario, horses will not have dietary restrictions for grass intake in this system. Additionally, horses ideally will only be shod when necessary for their hoof health, and trimmed and kept barefoot when suitable.
We have equipped our current herd with fitbits in some test scenarios and we find that on pasture our horses move an average of one-half to one mile per day. We see on the track that the average looks more like 3-5 miles per day. This results in our horses keeping healthy weights and maintaining more muscle.
Our goal is to provide as much quality of life as possible to our herds, and therefore are constantly looking to improve our tracks.