At the barn one of our top priorities is the health and wellbeing of our herd of horses. Without them North Shore RDA would not be able to run, so here are a few ways we keep them in top condition and spirits:

 

• Every day the horses get a feed containing chaff, equine balancer pellets, and a variety of supplements that give them all of the vitamins and minerals they need. Any of our horse suffering from stiffer joints are fed a joint supplement, and they often are given some carrots or apples as an extra treat!

• We utilise our Equissage machine almost every day (which I spoke about in more detail in our last newsletter) to give our horses much deserved massages. 

• They also get Bowen Therapy treatment during the school holidays.

• We keep worming, shoeing, and dentistry up to date.

• We often get our volunteers out for a ride on the horses when we have extra time, or during the school holidays. We like to take them for walks up the road, and out in the paddocks. We’d love to get a few of them out to the beach in summer too. This gives the horses some variety, and keeps their work more interesting, increasing their quality of life.

• The horse’s gear is checked and cleaned regularly, to make sure it is in good condition, and fits the horses well. This helps to make their gear as comfortable as possible.    

• We have a dedicated team of amazing horse checkers that come and feed and check on the horses over the weekends and school holidays. This is to give them their feeds, check their health and wellbeing, take off/put on covers if needed (and give them all a cuddle!). 

• Overall, all of our horses are different and have individual needs. We regularly have discussions about how we can best look after them all and adjust care as needed for each horse. Because our horses are so important, they get the very best treatment every day!  

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Please let us know if you know of any possible horses out there as we are desperately looking for our next superstars.   We’re looking for horses between 13.2-16hh, approx between 10-18 years old (flexible for the right horse), calm temperament, sound, preferably in Auckland but will travel for the right horse.
 

You can view our advertisement for details here