November 2000

Choosing A Farm

by Leigh Ann Howard

This is a good time to visit farms and make selections, both for permanent and temporary boarding. Although the pastures will not be at their best, the farm personnel generally have more time for visits and to show prospective clients their facilities. 

If you have some husbandry background, you will be better equipped to judge the knowledge level and ability of the manager. If not, you need to ask many questions and pay special attention to answers you receive. If you can, ask for references and call some of the farm's clients. Ask around, if the farm has a bad reputation you will soon hear about it! 

It is important for a manager to have experience in all phases of horse husbandry. And it is important that the manager have experience at the track. As you can imagine, it is very helpful if the manager knows what sort of development, mentally and physically, needs to occur with the young horse in order to compete at the track. 

So, you like the manager and feel comfortable that he/she knows how to handle any sort of situation that might come up around the farm. 

Now let's take a look at the farm. Actually, the first thing to do is take a look at the horses on the farm. This will give you a good idea of how the farm is run. Do they look happy? Do you get a calm, relaxed, feeling in the area where the horses are kept? Most farms have several different areas where horses are kept.

Commonly there are large pastures with groupings of mares, of yearling fillies, of yearling colts and of weanlings. Then there are areas where horses are kept separated from each other for one reason or another. Visit all these areas and get a feel for the general atmosphere.

What are you looking for? You need to assess the level of stress, as stress is the most important element affecting the health and welfare of your horses. An unstressed horse can and will survive all sorts of adversity. 

Next, how do the horses look? Do the mares look well fed and content? Look at your watch, if it is only about an hour since the horses were fed, is there hay on the ground, left over? Or have the horses devoured everything already? This is particularly important with horses living in pens with no grazing available.

Remember, the equine is designed to graze continuously, so there needs to be something to munch on all the time. Many farms will supply grass hay to horses so the gut continues to work throughout the day. 

How about the manure removal? When is that done? How often? Most farms pick up the manure daily, except Sundays. Remember, everyone needs a day off, even the "poop-picker-uppers"! 

Take a good look at the fences and feeders. Are they safe? One of the hazards on farms close to civilization is dog packs. Is there a perimeter fence designed to keep roving dogs and coyotes off the property. The fact that the EPM problems seem to be spread by opossums means that farms need to reduce these rodents' access to feed areas. Do you see evidence that this problem is being addressed? 
What about the common rodents? Are there gopher mounds in the pastures? Is there any evidence that the farm is trying to reduce or eliminate these animals? There is nothing worse than huge squirrel and gopher holes in a pasture where the foals run and play! There are times during the year when these rodents really multiply and it is difficult to keep up with their hole digging. The question here is not whether there are rodents present. The question is: does the farm address and attempt to control the problem?

Grass pastures. Are there pastures available for your horses? Southern California is basically a desert, meaning that grass pastures come only with considerable work and considerable money. Northern and coastal California have a much better climate in which to maintain year round grass pastures. 

Are permanent grass pastures necessary for the development of racehorses? Probably not. Many farms that have seasonal grass, raise fine racehorses. Aesthetically, we all want our horses out in a lush pasture but that may not be practical or affordable. And certainly is not as important as the care given to your horses by a knowledgeable farm crew. As long as there is ample hay then the horses will do fine without pasture. Room to exercise is probably more important than year round green pasture.

Catch pens. This is the term given a small pen or pens in large pastures. Catch pens have many uses. A pasture holds a group of similarly aged or sexed horses. If these horses need to be caught or separated from one another, you use a catch pen. Often a mare that eats more slowly than her pasture buddies can be put in a catch pen during the night to eat at her leisure. A horse with a wound that needs to be by its self for a few days can be placed in a catch pen, near enough to friends so separation anxiety doesn't make the injury or ailment worse. Catch pens can be used to keep the horses off the grass while it is being watered or fertilized. Catch pens are very useful. 

Take a look at the feed being given to the horses. Is it relatively clean and fresh? How does it smell? Is the grain delivered regularly so there is a turnover of feed or is it stored for long periods of time? Of course, the 'proof of the pudding' as far as the feed goes, is how the horses look.

One thing that might be mentioned here is the developmental problems with the foals. Excessive swelling in the growth plate areas of the foals long bones (above the knees and ankles) is often a sign that they are getting either too much growth feed, an imbalanced feed or are simply not handling what they are getting very well. So look at all the babies in a pasture. Do they all have swollen physes? Or is the swelling fairly minimal and just on one or two of the babies? Remember, there needs to be some enlargement of the growth areas or the baby is not growing!
The manager has to balance the positive and negative aspects of his/her decisions. An example would be physitis in a suckling foal. There is a huge advantage in having a foal out running in a pasture group with his peers. But if he is not handling the exercise and feed very well, as shown by excessive physitis, then he probably needs to live by himself and eat a special diet. Which is more important to him as a future racehorse? The manager has to make the call here. Most managers would opt for a middle ground decision. Maybe put him and his mom in a catch pen at night, give him a different diet and still let him run for a few hours in the day with his peers.

Ask how the weaning is done. All evidence now points to the "gentle method" as being less stressful and traumatic for both the mares and foals. Once again, less stress means less sickness and less injury and, it is thought, less OCD problems.
What about isolation areas? This is very important because without the ability to isolate, disease can roll through a farm like a wild fire in a forest. It is very hard to isolate during a breeding season because the mares have to be teased and bred, but keeping visiting mares, and particularly mares with foals, separate goes a long way toward keeping down the spread of disease.

Newly arrived horses certainly need to be isolated and facts surrounding their previous place of residence need to be shared with the new farm. In particular, horses arriving from the sales, where they are both stressed and exposed to multitudes of new germs, need to be isolated for at least three weeks.

In all farm situations there will be the occasional injury and sickness. We all know these Thoroughbreds seem bent on destruction. The question is whether or not the farm staff and manager work at keeping disease and injury to a minimum. 
Ask about regular preventative health care given the horses. Is there a regular vaccination and de-worming program? What about the availability of the veterinarian? Does the farm have a resident veterinarian? If there is no resident veterinarian, how long does it take him/her to arrive at the farm if there is an emergency? Is there anyone at the farm trained to handle emergencies until a veterinarian arrives? Maybe even more importantly, does the farm help have enough medical experience to recognize a health problem BEFORE it becomes an emergency?

How about a referral clinic that handles big problems, like colic surgery and major injuries? Is there such an establishment fairly close and does the farm have a good relationship with the veterinarians there? Does the farm have a truck and trailer rig in which to haul the ill or injured horse to the clinic?

The farm employees are really the backbone of the farm. Without them the farm could not function. If the opportunity arises, ask about the help and try to meet and assess the quality of help. Do most of the workers live on the farm? Is there employee turnover? What is the ratio of workers to number of horses? Do the manager and workers communicate well with each other?

What about communication between the mare owner and the farm? Is the office staff capable of giving requested information to the mare owner or is it the farm policy that only the manager talks to the client. Both methods work; should this be a factor in choosing a farm? 

Lastly, is the farm's day rate high enough to cover its costs? As mentioned above, the Southern California farms have much higher costs in maintaining pastures. And all the feed needs to be shipped in from further distances, which also raises the costs. Owner-operated farms generally have lower day rates because the salary of a manager and office personal are not figured into the equation.

There are no farms in California that make money off their day rates. But they do need to charge enough to break even. The last thing you want is to have your horses on a farm that can't pay the feed store. A farm can only survive if its customers pay their bills regularly.

"Deadbeat" customers can put a farm out of business fairly quickly. Before moving your mare to a farm ask about the farm's accounts receivable situation. And, in turn, expect to have the farm ask about your history of bill paying. If the owner is not going to pay his bills, the farm cannot afford to board his/her horses. The boarding agreements with the farm should be clear, concise and helpful to both the mare owner and the farm. It's a good idea to ask about the farm's liability insurance.

And it is a good idea for mare owners to check with their own insurance carriers to be sure they are personally covered in case their horse injures someone on the boarding farm. Most farm managers should be able to explain all this to you. There is also medical and mortality insurance that can be purchased on your horses. Any one of the California insurance agents can fill you in on what is available. They are listed in the California Industry Directory.

So what does a conscientious mare owner need to do before shipping his/her mare to board on a farm? First and foremost, visit the farm and talk to the people who will be caring for the animals. Lastly, trust your intuition.

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