Environmentally Conscious

I do try to be!

Further to Emma's post, I thought I'd turn it into an informal blog hop and outline how I try to keep my horse's environmental impact to a minimum.

The area I live in is super green and environmentally conscious. It's a beautiful part of the world that has sadly seen more than it's fair share of destruction from the past century of resource based economics. The positive though, is that I think (I hope) we've learned from those mistakes and the research is showing changes made in my lifetime are adding up to things like returning fisheries stocks and forest cover.

This post brought to you by scenic pictures from last week's hiking adventures. This is the Pacific and as you can see we look at a lot of islands here rather than open ocean.

The local residents are unlike anywhere I've ever lived. I got called out by a stranger a couple of years ago for buying a plastic bottle of water, and we'd better not get started on my organic veggie farmer neighbour's opinion of those pressure treated fence posts I bought that one time.

While there are a few things I can do to minimize my horse's impact, there are others I kind of struggle with.

My least favorite walking trail because it seems to be always flooded and it is closest to our house so I have to start the walk in wet shoes. First world problems. It was very pretty this weekend, though.

Feed:

- I try to buy local hay whenever possible. It's cheaper, the farmer I buy from doesn't put any chemicals on it, and it hasn't been trucked for hundreds of miles. it comes with baling twine, though. I reuse bits of it for all the horsey hacks and repairs we all know and love. I use some in the garden to build  'trellises' for the peas and beans. The remainder goes back to the feed store for recycling, but I have to admit I'm in the dark as to what's actually done with it beyond that.

- Grain bags. I buy the stuff that's made on Vancouver Island and comes in 100% paper bags. I reuse the bags in the garden instead of landscape fabric and also re use them for my super thrifty stash of wood shavings from the local sawmill.

Bedding:

- I use fir shavings from the local mill, so they compost well for gardening and keep the manure pile small (vs cedar, which no one will take for their gardens and is better as a mulch). In the winter I am guilty of buying the pelleted wood bedding to mix in, and so although I use them sparingly, I have about 10 plastic bags from this winter that are currently enjoying a second life as garbage bags.

Dewormer:

- Like Emma, I try to keep it to a minimum. I have no clue what to do with the empty tubes, so I throw them in the trash. Bad me. I wonder if the place that takes expired human medications might be worth looking into?

Trail to the beach.

General Horse Gear:

- I have way too much, and after reading about how bad even synthetic fabric waste is in our world, I've been feeling pretty guilty. I've been giving away things I know other people need, and trying to buy good quality items that will last forever rather than cheap, replaceable stuff. I have much room for improvement, though...in general I previously purchased a lot more than I really needed.

Water:

- Every place I've ever boarded has been on a well. And so, it's second nature to be aware of what you consume and what is going into the soil. I'm thinking of setting up a rainwater collection in B's paddock...her lean to is attached to the barn and it's all metal roofing. If nothing else, it would save me hauling out the hose to fill her bucket a good part of the year :)

Beach and pier near my work.

General Horsekeeping Considerations:

- Sacrifice paddocks are my friend in the winter. There is no point in trashing the fields. Picking poop all winter to compost for spring and spread in the fall makes for happier fields too.

- I don't ride off the trail or on trails I might damage. I know that might sound weird, but given our terrain, erosion (especially in winter rains) is a thing. Given the large numbers of people out there mountain biking and hiking too I want to keep the trails nice and I want to keep horses welcome on them.

- Keeping Bridget's fields mowed and weed free. Not only helps the fields stay healthy, but helps curb the spread of said weeds and invasives. If left neglected, not only do they spread on their own accord but if Bridget eats the weeds and poops on the trail, boom, potential for spread there too.

- Participate and support local events like Trash Bash (we have riding club team that marks places in the backcountry to clean up)

- I have no idea if this was a good thing or not, but after reading about how in the UK a lot of synthetic footing from arenas is essentially classed as hazardous waste if you ever need to replace it, I've mentioned to our local groups that maybe we should explore that topic further before decisions are made regarding upgrading our existing sand footing.

Lake on my drive home. I had to stop for the rainbow! Off topic: the camera so I can have nicer pictures on this blog is coming! I had a last minute doubt or two about which to order so I decided to look at them in person when we are in the city next.