As we are now starting to understand, modern big agriculture, while highly productive in terms of food output, can have several negative impacts on soil health and the environment. Similarly, modern wisdom on paddock management with a clean field approach, poo-picking twice or three times a day is now causing similar damage, with issues such as a loss of soil structure, nutrient imbalance, soil compaction and a loss of microbial diversity.

What was once lush pastures is now sparse and weed filled; what grass there is has a frail root system and we alternate fighting through the bog in winter and despairing at the dust bowl in summer. The general solution offered at this point after the weed spray/fertilise cycle has failed is to plough in and re-seed only for it all to begin over again.

Hopefully if you are here, you have already realised this is unsustainable and are looking for a different approach.

After years managing three 16h+ horses on just over 1.5 acres on a livery yard we were finally able to keep horses on our own land, I am writing here the informational resource I wish we had at the start of our journey.