How Mud Management Is Making the World a Better Place

Mud management on horse farms is important and exciting to me because I am passionate about horse health and wellbeing; but on a much greater scale, how we keep our horses can also have a huge impact on the planet as a whole.

Don’t believe me? Take a look at these numbers. It is currently estimated that there are around 58 million horses in the world. If we assume that these horses are being managed on an average of one acre of land per horse, that translates to 58 million acres of planet earth occupied by horses and their people.

By comparison, there are 51.9 million acres in ALL of the US National Parks. So you can easily imagine, if our government feels the need to preserve these acres from misuse and development for the benefit of future generations, then there must be something to this preservation of land concept.

Think about this: as horse people we are the collective stewards of more land than all of the US National Parks combined. This means that our actions have a huge impact on the health of our environment worldwide.

That is why smart horse farm management and sustainable horsekeeping practices are so important. As a horse owner, you have the ability to change the future landscape of our planet in a massive way and it starts with what you and your horses do every day.

Do you manage your pastures to prevent overgrazing? If not, you are not only missing out on the full productivity of your land, but also on the opportunity to help combat climate change through carbon sequestering and vegetative growth.

If you haven’t seen Allan Savory’s mind-blowing TED Talk on using grazing animals to restore desertified land and capture carbon, then you simply must stop reading this and watch it now.

If you do manage, rotate, and rest your pastures is your sacrifice or winter confinement area mud free? Of course, you and your horses would benefit from a mud free paddock, but did you know local fish and wildlife would like that as well?

Contaminated runoff from muddy paddocks introduces silt, bacteria, and uncontrolled nutrients such as nitrogen to streams which can be harmful to wildlife and upset the ecosystem in your area.

Using LIGHTHOOF to permanently eliminate mud in your paddocks can save you time and money while keeping your horses healthier and protecting the environment. And since you are on a green horsekeeping mission, you will probably want to preserve or reintroduce native plants to your farm’s landscape. This provides a number of benefits to the environment and creates habitat for local wildlife which you can enjoy.

Mud Management Assistance Resources

If saving the world sounds daunting, remember, you can do it one little bit at a time. There are many resources available to you as a farm owner including cost sharing and grant programs in most areas.

Contact your local Conservation District for help finding these resources. Conservation Districts are non-regulatory agencies that are available to assist you at no charge. You can find your local CD using the National Association of Conservation Districts’ directory.

There are other organizations like Horses for Clean Water and Sustainable Stables that are a wealth of information on how to manage horses in practical and environmentally sensitive ways. So, it’s true. You and your horse CAN make the world a better place, and it all starts by eliminating mud in your paddocks.

It’s easy! See how to do it by downloading a free Mud Management Planning Kit from Lighthoof.