This article was prepared for Local Rider Magazine - UK
Author - Paul Anderson
Climate change is already having a big impact across the equestrian world. Experts are saying that summer temperatures in South East England (UK) are expected to rise by up to 3°C by 2050 with 35% less rainfall. Progressively warmer and drier summers will put further pressure on South East’s water resources, and wetter and milder winters will threaten our coastal communities and impose a greater risk to households on flood plains. If predictions are correct our livery yard – Stone Circle Livery - could be less than a mile away from the mouth of a new estuary whereas we are currently 12 miles away from the sea. You can go to the Environmental Agency website to see how flooding might affect you.
So what does it all mean for us equestrian folk? Warmer and drier summers sound great. Hacking in just a t-shirt until late evening only stopping to pick olives and apricots but the wetter winters sound miserable. Endless rain with saturated paddocks and schools. Climate change is responsible for increased feed costs. It is also responsible for squeezing already tight margins for livery yards and riding schools. Here’s why.
This year, you may remember the talk about the weather being so bad that nobody could make hay. Some farmers and agricultural contractors got it right but many didn’t. If the hay you are feeding your horse this winter smells musty it is probably because it was made in one of the ‘good weather’ windows but didn’t get stored quickly enough and was exposed to rain. Good hay is in short supply and this gets reflected in the price you pay for it. As we experience longer periods of rain we can only expect hay to start costing us more and as our horses are stabled for longer periods there will be an increased cost as we have to use more pro rata.
The agricultural fields that surround Stone Circle Livery ended up having two crops in them in one growing season due to the first crop being destroyed due to unusual wet weather. Many of these crops go to make hard-feeds for animals including horses. So now the cost of lost crops is being reflected in feed prices. This is all a vicious circle that we have to adapt to as climate change is not going away.
Another down side of all of this water is the impact it has on the paddocks and pasture we graze our horses on. Incessant rain will turn a paddock to slush in a few days. The deeper the horses sink in to it and uproot the grass swards the harder it is for the grasses to regenerate. Sometimes it is so bad you have to reseed completely. It can take up to 3 years for a paddock to recover if it has been so badly poached in the wet weather that it needs reseeding. Also, where does the horse go whilst you are doing the reseeding process? Back in the stable requiring more hay and feed that is already at a premium.
Keeping your horses outside for longer will require more land so that you minimize the impact of the wet weather and are in a position to ensure good grazing on a rotation basis. The issue is that once the rain stops and the warmer drier weather arrives, there is then no water around to kick-start the seed in to growing and little to keep it watered during the growing cycle. It is all a bit feast or famine.
So, what can we do to prepare for the future for our horses? Firstly, we need to find the space for our horses so that there is minimum impact on the grazing and ground. If you are keeping a horse on one acre then it will be difficult to instigate any real plan. If you can keep a horse on three acres then it is a lot easier to rotate the grazing and minimize any reseeding work. The more acreage you have access to the smaller the impact will be in terms of needing hay and hard feed and all the associated costs of running a stable like lighting and heating all of which have an impact on climate change. It will also minimize the need to reseed. Secondly, if you have a regular source of hay, ask the person making it if it would help if you bought it off the field. This means you will collect and stack it yourself. It is possible to negotiate a good discount on the cost of the hay from the field and will also ensure that you get it stored before it gets wet as it is down to you. I know 3 girls with a horse trailer who have done this very successfully.
For those of you with horses at livery or stabled with a riding school you can help the establishment so that inevitable price increases are minimised. Start a conversation with the owner of the school or yard and ask if it is possible to be involved in sourcing feeds. Form a team of helpers and ensure that your hay is made and stored at the right time. Try to secure more land for your horse and draw up a grazing plan to minimize the impact. These are a few ideas on dealing with the economic issues that climate change raises. There are many more.
Scientists have used fossilised horses teeth to monitor the effects of climate change. The results showed that the earth's temperature dropped by 15 degrees Fahrenheit during a period of 400,000 years some 33.5 million years ago. That temperature change was so drastic the impact was striking in terms of animal extinction. Climate change is not new and the impacts of it are well documented. As horse owners we have a closer connection with the environment and we have the potential to make a positive difference that could result in us actually saving money as opposed to having to bear the cost of climate change.
Paul Anderson is the Land Manager at Stone Circle Livery, Kent.
Winners of the 'Pioneering Rural Land Management Award for Kent Environmental Business' Overall winners of Kent Environment Business of the Year 2007' Stone Circle Livery is the UK’s first and only fully organic livery yard. A British Horse Society Approved Livery Yard. A member of BETA (British Equestrian Trade Association) you can visit Stone Circle Livery at: www.stonecirclelivery.com
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