In The Beginning

These pages are about my search for what I hope to be a new and healthier life for my horse and how he lives.

have you ever had one of those moments when you get inspired by something and you just know it is exactly what you have been looking for. I had one of those moments while reading a web site I found about the Paddock Paradise from Jamie Jackson's research on wild horses.

I own one horse named Frankie who is a 12 year old Tennessee Walking horse and a nanny goat named Emma. My family and I live on 5 acres of hills and woods in Virginia. Frankie's pasture as of right now is a little over one acre with his 1/2 acre dry lot paddock. My pasture does not grow a lot of grass because there are a lot of trees in it so he can only stay on it for short periods or he will eat it quickly to dirt. We also have another two acres of thickly wooded area that is unused. I have been trying and trying to figure out a way to get Frankie more room to move about. It would cost thousands to clear that unused land. The land is very hilly with a creek through the middle so the trees are also needed to keep too much erosion from happening.

What we DO have however are several trails through the woods that our boys made with the neighbors when they were young and played in the woods. This is where the AAAAHA moment came (and the clouds parted and the angels sang). I can make a track along all those trails and power lines like shown in the paddock paradise method! I got so excited I have already drawn up a map. I am very excited to get started and look so forward to getting Frankie out there where he is not trapped in a small paddock area so often.