Handling our horses

At Sterrehof Stud we strive to turn out our horses as much as possible. It’s important for them and brings other advantages when we handle them a lot. It’s good for the mutual contact and an ideal observation moment to see if everything is okay.

It all starts with the foals. We handle the foals a lot and specifically in this period towards weaning they are haltered frequently again. As temperatures drop we lead the foals together with the mare every day from pasture towards the stable, where they stay during the evening and night. It’s easy to feed the foals some cubes and get them prepared for weaning.

Pensioned horses

For the yearlings and two year old horses the aim is to keep them in the land till November. But sometimes we have to make a virtue of necessity. Like last week. Because of the pouring rain the soil was soaked and we had to bring the youngsters in temporarily. Now they are again enjoying a little Indian Summer but the week before we had to put them in our sand paddocks for their daily exercise. Nevertheless it was a good thing to handle them all again and their stay in the rearing stable was an ideal moment for the farrier to trim all the hoofs.

Our (young) competition horses are at their turn used to another weekly rhythm. They have their exercise under the saddle and in the mill but are also turned out a couple of times a week in the grass paddocks.
Last but not least we have our pensioned horses, and among them the familiar Sterrehof’s Opium. This 21 year old stallion, who performed at the highest level till the age of 19, is the king of our stable and wants to be treated that way. We still ride him from time to time under the saddle and he can also lose some of his energy during his daily stay in the paddock.