​Welcome to Valley View Farms 

Our beautiful Valley View Farms have 60 acres of land. We follow sustainable, biodynamic farming. We have horses, cows, sheep, chickens, dogs and a cat. We run a holistic horses rehabilitation livery yard based on barefoot, bitless, and track system methods. We live on the top of Okaihau Hill in Northland, only 25 minutes from the Bay of Islands.

Our holistic horse livery

We provide optimal care for your horses if you don't have your own land to keep them or your horses need rehabilitation. Our horses only get natural feeding based on their needs and we keep them healthy with a Track Grazing System.
Our daily routine includes grazing, movement, and special feeds and care when necessary.

Our weekly routine

  • Morning:
    • Come up to the round pen yard
    • Get fed (if necessary)
    • Hoof soaking (3-4 times a week, depending on time of year)
    • Apply sun protection, balms, etc. (if necessary)
  • Daily movement:
    • Walk/trot/canter on different surfaces around our track system (5 to 6 days a week)
    • More than 8 to 10 km each day
  • Daytime:
    • Spent in the hay yard with high-quality hay
  • Evening/Night:
    • Spent in one of our paddocks (rotational grazing)

Daily movement

​Daily movement is very important for horses to keep their metabolism and hooves healthy. We move our horses on different surfaces around our track system 5 to 6 days a week. To mimic the daily exercise of wild horses, they are moving more than 8 to 10 km each day.

​Benefits of daily movement:
  • Development of the hoof capsule
  • Maintaining healthy weight and prevention of laminitis/founder and hoof pathology

Herd life

  • Our horses live in a herd including all equines (ponies, minis, clydies, donkey). This mimics their natural living conditions, maintains  social interaction and balances them psychologically.
  • Our average herd size is between 10 and 18 equines.
  • As new horses are introduced into the herd there's always a transition of hierarchy order which could involve biting and kicking (bumps and bruises). We care for those with homeopathies and homemade creams.

Rehabilitation

The daily routine that our horses live in is perfect for lameness/laminitis, coffin bone protrusion, and any other physiological or psychological issues. It helps restore horses back to optimal health.

We achieve this by:
  • Weekly to two-weekly hoof trimming
  • Wearing hoof boots for daily walks and to promote optimal loading of the hoof capsule
  • Additional hard feeds with herbs and minerals to re-boost and support metabolism
  • Dental treatments
  • Body work sessions (with the help of external professionals)
  • ​X-rays from a veterinarian to identify the position of the coffin bone in the hoof capsule to support optimal trimming

What else is there to know?

  • We have a round pen and tack shed you can use.
  • You need to bring your own gear (saddle, helmet, etc.).
  • We use our own hard feed for all horses, no need to bring yours.​

Pricing

Horse Livery:
  • $85 per week (including hay, walking, and soaking)
  • Livery price brake down: Grazing $30, Hay $15, Labour $40 labour.
  • Each day the horses routine take us about 4-5 hours. 
  • We expect you owners to show up once a week to care for your horse (brushing, taking off bot eggs, etc.). If you can't come weekly we charge $10 extra to do the care for your horse.
  • We may need to do some handling sessions with your horse to get it comfortable with the routine. We will discuss this with you once we find out how your horse is doing. (A session is $60.)
Hard feeds:
  • $2.50 per regular feed (400g chaff, 1kg oats)
  • $4.50 per mineral feed (1kg oats, 400g chaff, 50g Dynamin12, 30g kelp, 30g DE)

Rehabilitation:
  • $60 per extra handling sessions
  • $60 - $70 per trim
  • Body work sessions (outside practitioner)
  • Hoof boots

Important documents

You can download our Grazing Agistment Registration form here: