Hi everyone!  I thought I had better share the details of one of the upcoming CAFRE courses for the New Year! I’m always up for some online learning – especially when it’s free! Do you have an interest in Online Social Media for Equine Businesses? Then you might want to enrol in this free course!

The email I received indicated:

Online Social Media for Equine Businesses

CAFRE will be delivering their online social media course for equine businesses in January 2017. The course will be delivered completely online and will consist of three presentations over a six week period. There will also be online discussion groups and support and an online assessment to test your knowledge. There will be a certificate of completion from CAFRE.

If you are interested in enrolling in the course, then check out this CAFRE Short Courses link and fill in your details!  The enrol tab is found on the right hand side of the page.

The course will be looking into the likes of:

• Social media channels and tools
• Measuring the success of social media and also
• Monitoring social media

The course is free of charge and will go live on Wednesday 11 January 2017 for 6 weeks.  If you’re interested, then participants need to register online by Wednesday 4^th January 2017.  You can’t go wrong with free education – especially if it’s focusing on your horse and business knowledge!

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On a side note, did you know that Equus Education is on Facebook?  Be sure to check it out and like the page to stay updated!  You can also follow me (Christine Meunier) on Twitter for site updates.  And for those on Pinterest, be sure to check out Equus Education here, too!

“A horse loves freedom, and the weariest old work horse will roll on the ground or break into a lumbering gallop when he is turned loose into the open.” ― Gerald Raftery

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I have started reading a book on ponies by Jenifer Morrissey. It is titled The Partnered Pony. One of the first chapters highlighted a job that a particular woman’s ponies had been carrying out since 2010: conservation grazing. In fact, she says:

Beginning in 2010, my ponies have done a very different kind of work. As conservation grazers, their job is to keep down the shrubs and coarse grass to keep the habitat suitable for rare butterflies to breed. I have no idea what my ponies and I might do next, but I’m sure they’ll do well. They’re all-rounders!

Conservation Grazing and Horses

What an interesting concept! This woman and her ponies are based in the United Kingdom and a quick search online allowed me to come across the Grazing Animals Project. The focus is on encouraging grazing from animals that helps to benefit wildlife, landscape and also cultural heritage.

The benefit of conservation grazing is twofold.  It meets the welfare needs of livestock whilst also allowing natural processes to occur. It is a process that focuses on less intensive land management techniques. The type of livestock utilised for conservation grazing takes into consideration feeding preferences of stock, their physiology and also animal behaviour. According to the GAP website:

Grazing livestock and associated activities played a key role in the formation and maintenance of many semi-natural habitats including grassland, heathland and pasture-woodland, through slowing or altering the successional trajectory of these habitats towards increased woodland cover. In addition to maintaining or restoring such habitats, grazing is also an essential component of many habitat (re)creation projects for example managed reversion from arable fields to species-rich grassland or the recreation of heathland.

I had never considered the use of horses or ponies by doing what they naturally do. And yet how wonderful to make use of grazing animals to benefit a particular habitat!  If you’re curious, you can read about the Focus on Equines section of their site. Training is also provided as shown on their site.