Nowadays we are becoming more and more aware of the natural needs of horses in the equestrian sector. Although we know it is impossible to keep horses in a natural way in our little country, we can stimulate their behaviour by adjusting their housing so that they would need to move more. A wider selection of food that is placed on different heights and different grounds are characteristics of a paddock paradise. Most paddock paradises that we know for now are meadows surrounded by a sand track. This track must remain dry at all times to avoid that the horse tramples the meadow and eats too much grass. The horses can find shelter along the track in a shelter or group housing, but sometimes there are individual stables where a horse could spend the night. However, there is an endless amount of opportunities to decorate your terrain to keep your horses in a most natural way.
Realization of a paddock paradise - layers approach
There are a lot of different ways to design your paddock paradise, equihabitat or horse garden. In the meantime, there are some theories and thoughts about how you could make this design best for your horse. Most people start with designing and adding elements, but is this the right way?
By Mount advies we do it differently. With our urban planning background, we are used to designing completely new neighbourhoods. From scratch to a whole city, there are a lot of things to consider. The first step is always the layers approach, and therefore this is no different by designing a paddock paradise. The principle from layer approach comes from spatial planning, where we establish what a landscape has to offer.
A landscape is built out of three layers:
- Ground (water, bottom and living)
- Network (all forms of visible and invisible infrastructure like cables, pipes, roads, and electricity masts)
- Occupation (facilities of cities and towns and made greens)
A good analysis with the help of layers approach can give you a solid basis for a design.
Historic structures
Bringing back old historical structures is one of the most important things in our designs. If there used to be a little stream, that place will always be a little more moist. By analysing the historical structures and trying to bring this back to the original state, terrain could be used in a more functional way. After that we go on with a SWOT-analysis. In here we look at the strengths and weaknesses of the terrain, and where there are opportunities and possibilities what could cause troubles. Logically, the strengths you want to keep and the weaknesses you have to keep in mind or even adjust. We also look at the risks that could cause your plan to fail. This creates a spot plan, by using this spot plan we can create your paddock paradise. Briefly said, there happens a lot before we start drawing.
Permits for paddock paradise
Perfect, we have a design, but how do you handle permits when the municipality is unfamiliar with the meaning of a paddock paradise? When you go to the municipality and simply ask for a permit, you will probably get a 'no'. A more successful way might be to unfold all components and test them separately for a permit. By doing an environment scan, you can determine what is allowed and what isn't. Using that we can see if you need permits for tracks, excavation work, installing a pool, levelling up the ground and planting trees. If it is not allowed to dig deep in your terrain, you could choose to ask for a permit there, or do your excavation work elsewhere. Want to know more about realising your own paddock paradise?