Eco-Horsekeeping
Over 100 Budget-Friendly Ways You and Your Horse Can Save the Planet
Lucinda Dyer
FINALLY, the advice you need to stop worrying about the environment and start doing something about saving it—while at the same time saving money! And best of all, your green initiative can begin in the barn, alongside your horse. Who knew the cheapest, easiest planet-friendly practices could revolve around your equestrian passion?
With positive-action-packed sections for the barn, the horse, the rider, the farm, and of course trailering and showing “on the road,” you won’t find a better practical guide to the very best ways to cleaner, greener, more sustainable horsekeeping practices. From the simplest recycling techniques to sun and wind power, from basic water conservation to manure management, you’ll not only get the low-down on popular eco trends and techniques, you’ll find fantastic ideas you never thought of before. Plus, you’ll see how businesses, riders, and barn and farm owners throughout the country are already successfully pursuing their own green initiatives. The result? A surefire source of both eco-friendly information and inspiration.
Printed on 100% Post-Consumer Recycled Paper
Once part of the problem (“I tossed hundreds of water bottles in the barn trash, didn’t care where manure ended up as long as it wasn’t in my horse’s stall, and wasted untold gallons of water in a losing battle to keep a gray horse squeaky clean”) LUCINDA DYER is now as passionate about the environment as she is about horses (well almost). She lives outside Nashville, Tennessee, and works as a literary publicist and freelance writer. She is the author of Back to Work: How to Rehabilitate or Recondition Your Horse.
168 pp • 6 x 9 • 978 1 57076 416 5
“Eco-nomize”: Think “Green” This Winter—Save Money, and Save the Planet
Lucinda Dyer, author of ECO-HORSEKEEPING: OVER 100 BUDGET-FRIENDLY WAYS YOU AND YOUR HORSE CAN SAVE THE PLANET highlights a few great ways to be kind to the environment and your pocketbook this winter.
Unless you’re lucky enough to live in a part of the country where the sun still shines brightly during the winter months, the number of days between the “last time you rode” and the “next time you’ll ride” can seem to stretch on forever. So what better time to sort through your closet and corner of the tack room and make a commitment to “reduce, reuse, and recycle.”
The first step is to take a hard honest look at your closet (do you really need six pairs of identical buff breeches?) and tack room and decide what can be donated or swapped. If you or your horse haven’t worn or used it in two years, it’s probably time to pass it along to someone who will.
Organize a swap meet: Just because you regret buying that tiger-striped brow band or that two-toned-turquoise-sequined slinky doesn’t mean someone else won’t be thrilled to have them. Get together (inside where it’s toasty and warm) with your barn mates, local riding association members, Pony Club, or 4-H group, pick a wintry Saturday afternoon and have everyone bring their “doesn’t fit,” “never-used-it,” and “what was I thinking?” clothes and gear. Set ground rules that everything is free for the asking and don’t get all tangled up in how much it originally cost or the fact that you’re giving away five things and only taking home one. What could be greener than being generous?
Donate clothes and boots to riders in need: The Rider's Closet (www.theriderscloset.org), a program started by show jumper Georgina Bloomberg, donates all styles of “gently used” riding clothes (except helmets) to intercollegiate riding programs, pony clubs, therapeutic riding programs and younger riders unable to afford them. Or think locally and find a riding program in your community that can put those almost new chaps, breeches, and boots to good use. Some suggestions on where to start:
North American Riding for the Handicapped Association (www.narha.org)
4-H (www.4-h.org)
Unites States Pony Club (www.ponyclub.org)
Discover other great ways to become as eco-conscious in the barn and on your horse as you are in your home and in your car—check out Eco-Horsekeeping: Over 100 Budget-Friendly Ways You and Your Horse Can Save the Planet.
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