Are grass clipping safe for my horse to eat?

Jane Myers 22 April 2016

Are grass clipping safe for my horse to eat?

Horses and grass clippings Acquiring your own property is a dream come true for many equestrians – a patch of land to call your own where you can keep your horse at home. Heaven! Of course, if you’ve never lived on the land before, and have always kept your horse in fullboard agistment, there might also be a steep learning curve when it comes to property and equine care. One really common property management question that pops up on horse forums is, “can I feed my horse grass clippings?” If you have a catcher on your lawn mower then you’ve got to deposit those piles of clippings somewhere, and if your mower simply spits the grass out, then you’ll have lines of clippings scattered along the way. Unfortunately, it’s really unsafe for your horse to graze on these clippings. To explain why, Cavalletti asked Jane Myers, the co-author of the

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Road to the 2016 Australian Polocrosse National Championships

Jade Salpietro 8 April 2016

Road to the 2016 Australian Polocrosse National Championships

In the lead-up to the 25th Australian Polocrosse National Championships, Cavalletti gets a glimpse into the realities of the training and long-haul travel involved in participating in this “one-horse” sport. Polocrosse. It’s a combination of polo and lacrosse with the spirit of an AFL footy match. It’s also the answer for anyone who claims that equestrian is an elitist sport – get them immediately to an Australian polocrosse tournament and let the game speak for itself. A team sport with Australian origins, polocrosse is played fast and hard with only one horse per player. Each team consists of six players, divided into two sections of three who play alternate chukkas. Polocrosse is exciting to watch and even more exciting to play, demanding all-encompassing passion and commitment – many players learn the game as kids and maintain involvement in the sport for life. Such was the path for Steven Boulton, who besides being

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Why won’t you just grow out of horses?

Anita Marchesani 16 March 2016

Why won’t you just grow out of horses?

I’m sure my mum asked me this question a hundred times, and wished for it privately a thousand times more. I have no idea how I ended up a horse riding crazy child. I have no idea when it even started. I just always, always loved them and ever since I can remember I desperately wished for my own pony. No one in my family was the slightest bit horsey, and neither them nor I have any idea where my obsession came from. I would stare out of the car window as we drove around the suburbs and imagine a galloping horse running alongside the family car, jumping other cars, fences, hedges, flying alongside me with mane and tail streaming. I had a special shoe box that I covered in coloured paper and Contact, in which kept cut out pictures of horses. I’m pretty sure I did this because I

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The problem with weekly horse riding lessons

Anita Marchesani 16 March 2016

The problem with weekly horse riding lessons

Accountability is a great thing. Having someone on your side, who will keep track of where you are, where you have been, and help you get to where you are going is invaluable in life, in work, and in your hobbies. I have a tendency to be a bit of perfectionist, and I’m also slightly addicted to learning. I love placing myself in a space where I feel like I’m the “stupidest” person in the room and then learning everything I can as fast as I can so I can take it all home and try it for myself. You know those annoying people who buy tickets to expensive master classes with world leaders in their field and then spend the whole night talking to their buddy next to them about how they can do it better/ differently/ in their sleep? Yeah. I’m NOT one of them. I hate those

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How to write a great horse for sale ad

Anita Marchesani 16 March 2016

How to write a great horse for sale ad

I came across a post the other day that went something like this:  “I can’t believe that my lovely Diego is still for sale. He’s such a superstar horse!”   And the comments from her friends all agreed with how wonderful the horse was, and what shame she was selling him, and what a great asset he would be for the new rider. Then someone asked how much he was advertised for, and this was the reply:   “$60,000. He’d make a super ARC horse or school master for a teenager.”   It seemed immediately so obvious to me why she was not getting the kind of inquires she wanted in order to find the horse a new home (in fact, she admitted to having no inquiries at all). Did you pick it up too?   There’s a HUGE disconnect between the price point and the description.   Don’t get

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Equestrian Working Pupil Jobs- Slave, or the Path to Excellence?

Anita Marchesani 16 March 2016

Equestrian Working Pupil Jobs- Slave, or the Path to Excellence?

Carl Hester and Charlotte Dujardin are probably the most admired and respected dressage riders and trainers in the world today. Both of them spent a number of years as an equestrian working pupil.   Charlotte left school and starting working for dressage trainer Judy Harvey, then after a one off lesson with Carl, he asked her if she could stay and train and work for 10 days. She never left.   Carl himself spent three and a half years with Dr Bechtolsheimer (Laura B’s father), as a working pupil.   Why do people do it though? Why do they agree to working for little to no pay, for long hours, in all weather, often for 6 days a week?   It’s been found that in order to become an expert at a new skill- be it playing a musical instrument, learning to 10-pin-bowl, learning to roller skate, or riding a

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Horse Riding Moments to Be Grateful For

Anita Marchesani 16 March 2016

Horse Riding Moments to Be Grateful For

We’ve all heard it a thousand times before- if you want to achieve anything in horse riding, you must set goals. Maybe your goal is to go up a grade in competition this year. Maybe it’s to ride a clean flying change. Maybe it’s to ride out alone beyond your front gate. Whatever your goals are with your horse riding, they are a guiding light, the destination that you aim yourself towards as you work and train and learn and play with your horse. And as they say, if you aim at nothing, you will hit it with remarkable accuracy! So I’m not going to tell you how you should plan your season, or set your goals, or how to write them down, or create a vision board of everything you want to do or achieve this year with your horse riding. That’s nothing new, you’ve heard all that before.

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Three things to remember when buying a new horse

Jade Salpietro 27 April 2014

Three things to remember when buying a new horse

So you are ready to start looking to buy a new horse; a partner to take you to events or just to check the boundary fences. It is a big job to find the right horse the first time, but Cavalletti has three tips to keep in mind while doing your research. The things to remember when buying a horse by Lou Hardwick   1. Connection I took my daughter to look at a new horse recently. One of many, but this one was different. They had an instant connection! The smile was enough to seal the deal and when she got off after being put through her paces on a strange horse, jumping heights she had never before jumped – she said to me ‘this is the one’! I don’t believe in love at first site but these two just clicked. Now realistically not all of us are lucky

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