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I live in Karratha – it’s a little
mining town in the North West of Western Australia mostly known for the companies
that make the town – Woodside, Dampier Salt and Hamersley Iron
– three of the major contributors to Australia’s economy.
Having horses in the Pilbara is certainly an interesting experience. It never rains, when it does – it
floods, there is no pasture, our land consists of compacted clay and with a
fine silt cover, on top of which lays scattered rocks and pebbles, and a
sea of Spinifex mixed in which a few Stuart peas and the purple mulla mulla
plants.
Our
paddocks are cleared and graded
to remove excess rocks and stones and to remove Spinifex. In its place, we make an effort to plant
shrubs and eucalypts to stop the land from eroding. Never the less the land
is still barren and green pick for the horses is a rarity. Sand is brought in by the truckload for
regularly used areas.
Feeding consists of lots of roughage. Oaten hay is a main feed and these
days it is fairly expensive with the drought. Its important though as the area is
extremely dusty and sandy and colic is kept at bay by the important high
fibre content.
Most feed ordinary hard feeds twice daily.
Copra and Rice Pollard are common feeds to keep weight on,
especially during the extra hot conditions during summer. Temperatures often reach up to 50 degrees
Celsius or more from November to March.
Keeping a balanced diet is especially important to keep feet and joints in
excellent condition. The hard, rocky
ground saps all moisture from hooves and without proper supplementation and
‘feet soaking’ hooves will crack and chip away. Joints take a bashing, as most areas are
as hard as concrete, most horses have their legs iced or hosed after every
ride for prevention of splints and/or wind galls.
Riders are really confined to riding
in our club arena, or pony club grounds, which is a fenced off area that
the equestrian club here fills with truck load after truck load of sand
just so we can ride on decent ground. (see picture) Otherwise you float to
the beach. The process of trucking
in sand is repeated at the beginning of every season as most is either
blown or washed away. Sprinklers to
keep the dust down and keep the sand from blowing away (as you see in most
centres down south), don’t exist as our water supply is limited and
we aren’t allowed to waste it on such things as dust control or even
irrigation for pasture.
Most horses owned are generally bought and trucked up from around
Perth so certainly have not been raised to be accustomed to the climate or
conditions. In preparation for
summer most owners will send their horses away for spell down south, to
escape the heat and potential cyclones and also for a well-earned break on
a green paddock.
Generally I think most horses handle the conditions extremely well – it
certainly shows how easily adaptable they are. All the horses in our area are healthy
and shiny and rarely do we have a sick horse, which is lucky as vet
facilities for equines are almost non-existent up here.
Author: Kim (WA)
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