Integrative Equine & Environmental Science Education 2.45

(Centre for) integrative equine and environmental science education is a network that provides educational courses, workshops, books and media releases related to integrative horse nutrition, health, pasture and property planning. Its a new platform where MB Equine Services and Equine Permaculture meet. Under this new umbrella we will promote the developement of specific courses and workshops such as the Integrative Equine Nutrition Course and Equine Permaculture Designer Course (Cerficate).

MB Equine Services was set up to provide consulting services to the horse community but over the years it has developed itself more and more into an educational movement. Hosting various educational workshops and seminars at national and international horse events and conferences such as the Equitana, Equine Podiotherapy Conference, (Sustainable) Horse Keeping Conference, Brazilian Society of Animal Science Annual Meeting and Intergative Veterinary Medicine Meeting at the Michigan State University. In addition, MB Equine Services works closely with landcare, local land services, NRM and catchment organisations and presented many workshops on horse and land management. Together with the Equine Permaculture movement it has received a lot of traction in the equine community and this has led to the next developement > offering education in intergrative equine & environmental science.

So what will change:
MB Equine Services updates will now be posted on this new page as well as any media releases on Equine Permaculture. This avoids having two pages for the same news (as its managed by currently one person :) Simple, one place for all things related to integrative horse nutrition and pasture/property planning.

This page is the first start to get things happening for future courses which will be largely online-based and 1 or 2 weekends face-to-face education. We are still in the process of developement and still have to write the curriculum. In addition, with time we will also make changes to the website structure. MB Equine Services and Equine Permacture remain seperate entities, but will be linked to the new platform IEESE. So keep checking this new space for more updates.

Consulting?
MB Equine Services will continue to provide consulting services for private horse owners and commercial horse industry on equine nutrition and property/pasture planning. It will also be involved with equestian sporting, offering equitation lessons/ clinics and officiating.


About MB Equine Services:
EQUINE NUTRITION | PROPERTY & PASTURE | EQUITATION

An integrated approach to horse's health & performance

MB Equine Services assist the equine industry and horse owners with professional and practical information about horse nutrition, management, (forage) enrichment and slow feeding. The consultancy is specialised in integrated horse property design and regenerative pasture management for horses (and other livestock) and provides education in sustainable horse management. In addition to the core consultancy services, MB Equine Services also provides professional sport coaching and training services. The involvement in the equestrian sport, coaching and officiating adds a sport vision and understanding to the equine nutrition, property design and pasture management consulting.
www.mbequineservices.com

Member of The Nutrition Society of Australia and Registered Animal Nutritionist (RAnNutr.)

About Equine Permaculture:

Equine Permaculture unites like minded horse people that want to learn about the principles and implementation of permaculture (design) and other sustainable farming strategies on their own properties. Our new website is an international platform for all horse and land owners that want to share principles, experiences and education. Anyone can contribute to the website!! On this blog site we aim to collect those articles and information that is of particular interest to horse owners. However, we will also touch on livestock, small farm animals, kitchen gardens, house designs, earth works! Anything that is of interest to improving human settlements and responsible integration of horses on properties.

Why join and share your experiences and views?
To build a sustainable future we need to implement new ways of farming and managing pastures. But more than ever we need a paradigm shift, we need creativity. "Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way." Although science can guide is in the right direction, there is still a lot to be discovered about how complex adaptive systems function such as soil, plant behaviour, plant-animal interactions, animal behaviour etc. Sustainability or balance in complex systems can not be found without trial and (mostly) error! On the large scale of time, we are only for a short time custodians of the land, why not share your trial and errors and change the way people manage their land and horses!

Join the movement towards responsible horse keeping and sustainable living using permaculture!

About MB:

Mariette van den Berg is a registered equine nutritionist, dressage rider and equestrian official who completed a MSc. in Animal Science at the Wageningen University in the Netherlands and a thesis in Equine Nutrition at the Massey University in New Zealand. She is founder of MB Equine Services, an education and research business that offers specialised consulting services in integrated equine nutrition, horse property design and pasture management (www.mbequineservices.com).

Mariette has recently completed a PhD in equine nutrition and foraging behaviour at the University of New England (UNE) in Armidale, Australia. She examined factors that influence foraging behaviour and diet selection in horses, with a main focus on orosensory and post-ingestive feedback mechanisms. Mariette is also a specialised lecturer at UNE and is a frequently invited speaker at various horse nutrition and land care workshops and conferences in Australia, Brazil and USA.

Besides her passion for equine nutrition and research she is also a Certified Permaculture Designer and initiator of the Equine Permaculture movement. Equine Permaculture unites like minded horse people that want to learn about the principles and implementation of permaculture (design) and other sustainable farming strategies on their own properties. (www.equinepermaculture.com)