In my tour round the world to learn about what others are doing with their land I especially wanted to visit with Jane Jackson. Jane lives in northern Vermont. She has six horses, including an off the track thoroughbred and an elderly insulin resistant pony. Jane’s horses all go out together on grass. None of them (I’m knocking on wood while I write this) are laminitic. None of her horses have to wear a grazing muzzle. That includes her elderly pony. They all get to eat grass! They all get to enjoy being horses out in a herd.

That may not sound all that remarkable. Horses are, after all, grass eaters. But if you have an insulin resistant horse, you may be working hard to keep your horse from having ANY grass. Not only does Jane have a rotational grazing system for her pastures that gives her an abundance of grass, she can let her horses enjoy eating it.

And she has song birds. More song birds than when she and her husband moved to the property eight years ago. Healthy grass, more biodiversity - clearly I wanted to find out from Jane what she has been doing.

This is part 1 of an afternoon’s conversation.