Hybrid Horse Keeping Equicentral and Tracks combined

 
A gravel track provides an allweather surface leading into a central yard and helps with selftrimming hooves.
There are many ways to achieve what you want and just as many opinions on what is best when it comes to keeping your horses!
With so many variables and as each individual situation is different its good to keep an open mind about horsekeeping models.
So lets look at how a combination of two popular ways of horse and property management have combined.
My Experience
My own experiment with an Equicentral system has been successful in certain circumstances. Ive also seen amazing changes in properties converted entirely and with great success.

In case you havent heard its a method of sustainable horse land management based on a central sacrifice area with access to a number of grazing areas that allow rotation to conserve pasture health.
Developed by Jane and Stuart Myers UK residents who have also lived in Australia they teach people better ways to manage both horses and land via their workshops and the Equiculture website.
I found it easy to implement for horses who can cope with unlimited access to grass like my 30 year oldies. They benefitted from coming into a central gravelsurfaced yard for shelter rest water and bucket feeds. Their hooves rarely needed trimming with walking back and forth on a 20m stretch of gravel 36 times a day.
However with my fatties 10 horses and a mule Ive had less success as theyre prone to subclinical laminitis.
During spring and summer the Equicentral system hasnt worked for them because I dont have a large enough area free of grass to confine them in. When they have access to our high in sugar and starch C3 grasses 247 my horses suffer from laminitis.
The Equicentral system works well in warmer climates where horses seek water and shade several times a day.
But in our cooler Tasmanian climate my horses were getting enough moisture from the grass to have no need to return to a central area for water or rest.
Movement is integral to keeping horses healthy so without motivation to seek resources water food shelter they tend to move less than the ideal.
Tracks
A combination of daytime grazing and being on a track at night works for my fat horses.
Track systems are designed to keep horses moving when resources are spread around the track which also limits or offers no grazing.
I have used tracks since the concept first became