Sunshine Coast Agistment

30/03/2025

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amynthas_agrestis

Have you ever wondered why you have worms swimming in your water troughs and buckets after heavy rain?
These are Asian Jumping Worms, I kid you not!
An invasive species of worm. I have never witnessed one jumping, but would love to see it. 😲

27/03/2025

If you are interested in riding with other like minded caring horse owners, then I can thoroughly recommend this riding club. S.C.A.T.E.R are based on the Sunshine Coast and cater for walk only rides, competitive trail rides, navigation rides and training days.

26/03/2025

https://chng.it/nkQKWJyTFv
It has come to my attention that a local riding school is seriously neglecting the horses within their care. Please sign the petition to save these neglected horses from further suffering.

Save Mooloolah Valley Riding Centre Horses and Permanently Close the Centre

11/03/2025

The Horse Manure Problem of 1894 The 15 to 30 pounds of manure produced daily by each beast multiplied by the 150,000+ horses in New York city resulted in more than three million pounds of horse manure per day that somehow needed to be disposed of. That’s not to mention the daily 40,000 gallons of horse urine.
In other words, cities reeked. As Morris says, the “stench was omnipresent.” Here are some fun bits from his article:
Urban streets were minefields that needed to be navigated with the greatest care. “Crossing sweepers” stood on street corners; for a fee they would clear a path through the mire for pedestrians. Wet weather turned the streets into swamps and rivers of muck, but dry weather brought little improvement; the manure turned to dust, which was then whipped up by the wind, choking pedestrians and coating buildings. . . even when it had been removed from the streets the manure piled up faster than it could be disposed of . . . early in the century farmers were happy to pay good money for the manure, by the end of the 1800s stable owners had to pay to have it carted off. As a result of this glut . . . vacant lots in cities across America became piled high with manure; in New York these sometimes rose to forty and even sixty feet.
We need to remind ourselves that horse manure is an ideal breeding ground for flies, which spread disease. Morris reports that deadly outbreaks of typhoid and “infant diarrheal diseases can be traced to spikes in the fly population.”
Comparing fatalities associated with horse-related accidents in 1916 Chicago versus automobile accidents in 1997, he concludes that people were killed nearly seven times more often back in the good old days. The reasons for this are straightforward: . . horse-drawn vehicles have an engine with a mind of its own. The skittishness of horses added a dangerous level of unpredictability to nineteenth-century transportation. This was particularly true in a bustling urban environment, full of surprises that could shock and spook the animals. Horses often stampeded, but a more common danger came from horses kicking, biting, or trampling bystanders. Children were particularly at risk.
Falls, injuries, and maltreatment also took a toll on the horses themselves. Data cited by Morris indicates that, in 1880, more than 3 dozen dead horses were cleared from New York streets each day (nearly 15,000 a year).

04/03/2025

Update - we are happy to announce that the perfect home has been found for Grey.

Beautiful "Grey" is looking for a new free home.
Here is his story....his current owner of 8yrs would like him to find a loving home as a companion horse. He is 15yrs and 15.2hh stock horse. Although he has no injuries or ailments, he did not enjoy being ridden and was overly anxious.

He does not have a nasty bone in his body, and is bottom of the pecking order. He is sweet natured, and easy to handle, and so would be the ideal companion for any horse.
He doesn't have separation anxiety, and therefore is fine if his companion goes out for a ride. He doesn't have any vices.
"He is curious but can be easily frightened" his owner said. "He responds really well to gentle handling"

He has been agisted with us for 10 months, and in my experience he is a very easy keeper. He gets 1 scoop of chaff and a cup of copra daily with his calcium, minerals and salt, and is in great condition. We have a gentle farrier, and he totally relaxed with him after a few months, and picks up his feet well.
He doesn't like to be touched under the tummy and flank areas, but he is fine about his tail and body being brushed.
He comes when he is called for his breakfast and walks straight into his feed yard, so there is no problems with catching him.
He is good with rugs and hugs, and good on fences, and will walk onto a float.

Grey's owner would like an experienced home for him within driving distance of the Sunshine Coast, so she can visit him after 3 months and see how he is settling in. If it's just not working, she would take him back. Naturally we both want the best for Grey, as he deserves it. No dealers please.
We can deliver.

Please phone owner Tracey 0408 116 696

24/12/2024

Happy Christmas to all our wonderful agistees and their horses, who will all get an apple today from our trees. 🎄🍏🍎🍏🍎🍏

26/10/2024

I am not in the habit of advertising products, but having said that, this is my preferred fly mask, as they stay on so well. The flies are just starting up, and this is a great way to avoid eye infections.

28/09/2024

28/09/2024

And there’s more

3 years of progress with frequent proper trimming after pulling steel shoes.

Over the years, I’ve noticed a pattern where the striping starts to come back after 2-3 years of simulating adequate miles of wear.

No top dressing.
No topical treatment.
No dietary changes.
No environmental changes.

Just trimming to build the foot from the inside out.

*collage is a series of random chronological pre trim/post trim pics from throughout the rehab process.

27/09/2024

It is nice to see improvements in any horse’s feet, as too often a lack of Heel and long toe results in too much stress on the hoof wall leading to hoof wall separation and seedy toe and white line disease.

6 months progress after pulling shoes and making frequent corrections.

26/09/2024

An interesting post I thought worth sharing

11/08/2024

For those of us who like to keep our horses dry during heavy rain, check the weather this week coming. Rugging prevents rain scald, and when rain is this heavy, rain scald is a real possibility.

01/08/2024

A Big Happy Birthday today to all our wonderful old horses!

15/07/2024

Hi folks, we have the most beautiful horse riding trails in Kin Kin, Cooran, Pinbarren and Pomona. But sadly Noosa Council allowed a quarrying company to operate in an area that is totally unsuitable for so many reasons.
1. It is situated roughly 35klms from the highway, travelling through dangerously steep and narrow country roads, shared with 12 school buses, horse riders, cyclists, tourists, and residents.
2. The truck route is a well known tourist route, and listed by UNESCO as an area of significance to wildlife. It is also part of the Noosa Biosphere.
3. The trucks, most of which are truck and trailer, cross all but one of the 8 Noosa trails, which makes them very dangerous.
4. There are up to 280 truck movements daily, 6 days per week.
5. The quarry has just applied to cut down a very large area of forest to expand their business. This area is home to koalas.

Please sign our petition to prevent the quarry getting a permit to expand.
It would be the su***de of the town of Kin Kin for the approval to go ahead.

https://www.aph.gov.au/e-petitions/petition/EN6301?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAR17o9_SuAl5cfDoaU_49lhYV8jESbywWLOMOWS2fAFA0o1RhUPuYeX6M3s_aem_tEXk1pJZToPdbhLEUW2ghw

e-petitions

02/07/2024

Happy retired horses enjoying their breakfast this morning. Thank goodness the rain has finally stopped.

03/06/2024

This poor horse was fortunately discovered during a routine dental examination, with the beards from barley hay impaled into his gums. I have copied this photo from a FaceBook post because it is an important reminder to have your horse’s teeth checked, and to only buy beardless barley.

23/01/2024

We have had several horses arrive with seedy toe, which has been fairly common of late. We believe that this is due to the extra wet conditions over the last 3 years in Queensland, which may have unfavourably changed the nutritional/mineral content of the paddocks, and also encouraged fungal/bacterial growth in horse’s feet.

To help us address this, our farrier provides us a range of services, including seedy toe resection, treatment of white line disease, abscesses and laminitis care. It is always good to have professional advice and help in these regards, from a knowledgeable and up to date farrier.

According to our farrier the newest and most successful cure is resection (cutting away the front of the hoof where the Seedy Toe bacteria is hiding, and treating with copper sulphate)
This also allows UV to help kill the bacteria, plus the hoof dries out which makes it a less hospitable place for the bacteria to grow.

It is necessary to clean out the hoof and treat daily with a copper sulphate wash (copper sulphate and water mixed and sprayed or a foot soak for 3 mins) for a period of 2 weeks, and then treat once a week until the farrier gives you the all clear. It can take roughly 2 -4 months to cure depending on the severity of the infection.
Mix up a pot of copper sulphate with vaseline to apply after cleaning the hoof. Pick out the hoof, spray clean with copper sulphate water, dry and apply copper sulphate/vaseline to the white line and resected areas every day during this period, and then once or twice weekly until cured.

The seedy toe and white line disease are killed by the copper sulphate.

Here are some photos so you understand the procedure. Here you can see the diseased areas after a trim, the black area around the white line is White Line Disease, and the dark area at the front of the hoof is Seedy Toe. Photo 1

Resection cuts out the diseased area of hoof as below. Photo 2

And then copper sulphate is applied to the area to kill any remaining traces of diseased hoof, including around the white line. The hoof will grow back normally over the course of the next 2-4 trims. Photo 3

Copper sulphate/Vaseline applied after a copper sulphate foot bath. Using a sharp pointed hoof pick, cleaning around the white line to remove as much disease as possible. Photo 4

Unfortunately Seedy Toe does not resolve its self, and is often caused by irregular trimming. To prevent its occurrence, have your horse trimmed every 6 weeks, to prevent the toe becoming too long and causing stress between the white laminae and the hoof wall. This is where dirt can build up and provide the right environment for white line disease to begin.
The disease can progress inward, seriously affecting the integral structure of the hoof, leading to severe lameness. We have treated one such pony. Her X-rays showed that she missed having to be euthanised by a very narrow margin. Daily treatment took over 6 months, wearing a boot and bandages.

Good luck, and we wish you every success with keeping your horses happy and healthy!

07/01/2024

This is the largest horse we have ever cared for, standing at 18hh. The other little guy is a miniature pony.