Our Horses are important to us here at Tallarook Park
I remember myself seeing some less than desirable horse riding establishments in my time. This inspired me to make sure my own establishment had very high standards, with the welfare of our horses a top priority.
Here at Tallarook Park our horses want for nothing, their comfort and happiness is very important to us. There is no difference between a truckie or courier needing to maintain their own vehicles so they can run a productive and efficient business.
All our horses have their own professionally fitted tack, our saddles are fitted and checked each year by Saddlefitter Gary Johnson who owns and runs www.saddlesplus.com.au in Byford. It is extremely important that tack is fitting correctly and well maintained as the comfort of the horse is a priority. An unhappy and uncomfortable horse will not perform well.
All our horses are stabled at night in lovely roomy 4m x 4m stables with yards 4m x 8m of top quality metal railing. They are all rugged with a quality winter rug which fits and these are always kept in good order. All our horses are hard fed in the evenings, feeds consisting of:
Oaten Chaff
Pony Maintenance Pellets
Equilibrium Mineral Mix
Rosehip
Kelp
Celery seeds
Lucerne Chaff - As required by individual horse
All horses are fed top quality oaten hay each morning, all stables are mucked out at feed time 6-7am. The horses rugs are taken off on fine days and they are all put out, on a rotational basis, one day paddocked in our well fenced and lovely irrigated grassed paddocks, the next day they are yarded. When they are yarded they are mucked out again 9-10am and fed extra hay to keep them happy and content for the day.
On extremely wet and cold days we keep all our horses stabled for the day to protect them from the dangers of bad weather. On fine days the horses are all brought in at 3pm each day into their stables and the afternoon routine starts all over again. In the Summer months our horses are not rugged but always have a well fitted flyveil.
Our horses work in arena lessons Mondays through to Thursdays taking an extended 3 day weekend each week. Our lessons run from 3pm - 7pm after school, with our school horses doing a maximum of 2 lessons per day. When the riding sessions are finished, all horses are washed and hosed off in our wash bay area with warm water - we expect nothing less, I'm sure you would'nt enjoy a cold shower after a day at work!!!
Property Management is very important to us, firstly so we can uphold and maintain our council license but also for the welfare of our horses and clients. For the clients we have full toilet/shower facilities, ample car parking with friendly and knowledgeable staff to help and assist. We pride ourselves in presenting a very well maintained yard, excellent fencing, floodlit arenas and an extra grassed arena jumping area for our more experienced riders.
Worming: All our horses are wormed strictly as per worming manufacturer's recommendations. Usually every 6 weeks, however some wormers have longer periods. All horses are then yarded for the next 24 hours and all manure is composted and sold to be used as garden fill. The cost to worm each horse ranges from $18 - $25 each horse depending on what brand of wormer is purchased. Many would think you can just go in and buy a wormer and worm your horse. All horses on a property must be wormed at the same time, manure must be composted and disposed of and a worming rotation must be in order to be successful in keeping control of worms on your property. There is a lot more to managing your horses health than you would realise. There are some very good educational DVD's available from the Virbac range of horse wormers. You will find most of these at your local horse or stockfeed store.
Manure management: Manure pick up is hard work, sick or tired there are no days off from stable management for us humans. Stables are mucked out each morning 6-7am, then again 9-10am, 3pm, 6pm and the barn stables which don't have walk out yards are mucked out again at 9pm. By keeping on top of the manure pick up, it makes the workload easier and more manageable. All manure is deposited into our 2 Large Manure Storage areas. They are composted for 2 weeks and sold by the trailer load for $5, used in our own Veggie Patch or used to fill holes in the paddocks the horses may dig.
Dentist: All our horses have regular 6 month Dentist check ups, young horses need their teeth filed every 6 months, older horses only require it every 12 months. Dental care is very important to horses of all ages, especially the young and the older horse. Cost of a good quality Horse Dentist ranges from $90 - $120. Our horse dentist is also a horse vet and she sedates all the horses when doing their teeth, this then causes less stress to the horses and has proven safer to the handlers of the horse also.
Farrier: Cost $35-45 per trim, front hoofs only Shoeing $80-$90, full Shoeing $120 +. All of our horses have the farrier attend to their hoofs every 6 weeks for a trimmed horse (no shoes) and for a horse with shoes 4 -5weeks. One of the most important things in purchasing or breeding a horse or pony is inspection of the hoofs. If a horse has bad hoofs from neglect you can usually get them back on track in a few trims or shoeing sessions. However it is vitally important for the longevity and comfort of any horse that the hooves and legs are in good order, one thing I have always been a stickler for is a good quality horse. Horses with bad and poor comformation often have soundness issues not only with their hoofs, but may also have other performance issues.
Our Horses: Many people often ask me where I purchase such lovely horses from. In recent years we have started our own small breeding programme. When our youngsters reach 3 yrs of age, they are started under saddle and educated and shown for several seasons before retiring to earn their keep in the riding school. All our school horses and ponies are retired show horses, all of whom have competed and won at Royal show level in showing/breed events and also competed in eventing. We pride ourselves on producing show winners of all shapes and sizes with such quality well educated school horses this enables our clients to learn how to ride on quality horses who enjoy their nice home here at Tallarook Park. |
