Grazing

We have 120 rolling acres of pastures and can offer agistment for your horse, either on a long or short term basis. 

We have many clients who leave their horses with us when they go on holiday, often asking for a bit of extra schooling whilst they are away. Our agistment is competitively priced and enables owners to leave their horses and ponies with us in confidence. 

Grazing mares to foal here who then have the youngsters grow up in a herd of other foals, in lovely big paddocks has become quite popular. We then can start them over a longer period of time doing a week on then a month off then repeating the process over months to years so they have time to think about what they've learnt. This way there's no pressure to become a perfect riding horse in six weeks!!

With grazing comes the full use of our facilities:
- wash down area
- sand arena
- covered arena
- show jumps
- farm riding.

Pricing
Long term grazing $215 per calendar month. 
​Trimming cost $40 per horse.
Drenching of all horses occurs twice a year and will be charged accordingly ($35.00 inc GST as at August 2016). 

Click here to download our grazing agreement or fill in an online enquiry or registration here.

Please contact us for further information. 
Worm Management

Having a horse or horses grazing at Kate's Riding Centre means we take care of deworming for you and here is how we do it.  

The KRC worm management strategy has successfully been in use for over 10 years. It is based on natural horsemanship methods such as Pat Coleby and Strasser and has been adapted for New Zealand conditions. The strategy has shown to keep horses in great condition and the proof is in the healthy horses: Striking Distance, the 22 year old TB is in great condition and still performing at Pony Club Championship Competitions, and our faithful Kiri is at least 35 years old, is sound as a bell and looking beautiful!

Strategic grazing management helps to reduce the presence of parasites and their ingestion. Grazing management at KRC means:

  • good paddock rotation
  • strip grazing
  • low horse-to-land ratio
  • not over-grazing the land.
The excellent earthworm population in our soil built up over the years also helps to safely and quickly return poo back into the soil. 

Drenching is carried out for all horses in Spring and Autumn using different products. In September 2013 we used Excel paste and  in March 2013 we used Triumph (please enquire for product specifications). By rotating wormer use, we increase the coverage against all the worm types and it is also important to prevent parasite resistance to the chemicals used. 

Having a healthy immune system is an integral part to this more natural strategy as it is easier for parasites to be fought off from a good defense system. To aid our horses’ immune systems naturally we ensure that our herds have sufficient copper levels through the addition of a small amount of copper sulphate to paddock troughs year-round. Copper is also important for general condition and is known for contributing to shiny coats. Additionally we have been adding a homeopathic treatment to the yard troughs.

Bot flies are dealt with using kerosene applied topically as required. 

To keep this delicate balance in check we do require that your horse has been drenched prior to arrival at the centre. We ask that you let us know when and with what your horse has been drenched. Please get in touch if you have any queries about this. 

You are also welcome to worm your horse more regularly if you prefer. If you have any questions or special requirements feel free to get in contact.