History

Natural Paddock began in 2004 with two rescued horses and an uncomfortable realisation: the traditional stall boarding practiced in most stables produces stress that becomes visible within a few months.

From rescuing horses to redesigning the land

Manja and Josep Ruiz founded the paddock after that first rescue. What started as a practical solution for two horses turned into a way of working: the horses that came next all carried some link to abuse or abandonment, and their behaviour called for something different.

Paddock Paradise® as method

The theoretical reference was Jaime Jackson's Paddock Paradise®, a method that redesigns the land so that a horse, left to itself, walks kilometres out of its own choice. Water and food are placed at a distance and spread out; the horse follows the tracks between bubbles and reproduces, within a fenced property, what a feral band does in the wild.

One of the first paddocks in Catalonia

In 2004 almost no-one was talking about this locally. Natural Paddock was one of the first Catalan centres to commit to natural handling, and remains today a reference for those looking for that specific way of caring for a horse.