Horse Boarding Near Colorado Springs & Denver
In addition to hosting rustic weddings in Colorado, our ranch is home to one of the most unique facilities providing horse boarding near Colorado Springs and Denver.
Most everyone in the Snow Creek Larkspur family has grown up around horses, and we’ve all come to love and cherish these majestic, beautiful creatures with all of our hearts. They’ve truly helped to raise our kids, teaching them responsibility, providing a unique perspective on how to preserve and protect our land and environment, and even helping to lead them home when they’ve gotten lost.
But more than just our love for horses, it’s our expertise, attention to detail, and personal touch that makes Snow Creek Larkspur the best spot for residents of Colorado Springs and the surrounding areas to board their horses.
Our Track System
One of the most unusual features of our equine services facility is the track system which we implemented to help maintain the physical and mental health of your horse. Our track system is a series of fences set up around the perimeter of the pasture to guide the movement of the horses.
The overall goal is to keep our residents moving as they would in the wild. This is better for the whole pasture ecosystem, and ultimately helps to keep our horses healthier, as they get plenty of exercise and access to native grasses, in addition to the provided hay.
We move the fences around seasonally to help keep the pasture from becoming over grazed, and we move the feeder around the pasture as well in order to encourage movement.
Healthy Pasture: Healthy Horses
Did you know that horses got depressed? It’s true. If your horse doesn’t get the benefits of plenty of movement, sunshine, and free grazing they actually start to display many of the same symptoms of depression as humans, becoming irritable, lethargic, and anti-social (like BoJack). They even lose their appetite! Keeping the horses in motion helps to keep them both mentally engaged and physically fit. They also digest their food more efficiently when they move around.
This is why we don’t do permanent stall boarding. Our philosophy (backed by research!) holds that a horse lives his or her best life when they are grazing and playing in their natural habitat – outdoors, under the sun.
Rotational Grazing
In addition to keeping your horse happy and fit, our Track System facilitates rotational grazing – a style of grazing developed to preserve pasture and prairie health as close to their natural state as possible.
Rotational grazing mimics the lifecycle of the natural prairie or grassland by imitating the migration patterns of horses or cows as they would exist in the wild. It’s the same powerful method we use to raise our delicious, Snow Creek Ranch black angus beef.
Rotational grazing helps to maintain the health of our pasture’s ecosystem by preventing overgrazing, and sustaining a deep root system. We maintain 3-to-6 inches of above-ground grass on the pasture, allowing it to return in the next growing season heartier, lusher and fuller. This means we can minimize the use of chemical fertilizers on our pastures, which is not only better for our residents, but also better for the surrounding groundwater, the birds and other animals and features that are part of a healthy pasture.
Winter Horse Boarding, Colorado Springs
Winter is coming to the I-25 corridor, so we’ll be taking a few extra steps above and beyond our standard care to keep your horse healthy and safe during the cold weather. For example, we understand that keeping your horse well-fed during the winter helps keep them warm, so we provide extra feedings.
Keeping Your Horse Safe & Healthy
Nothing is more important to us than keeping your companion safe and sound of body and mind.
One of the big advantages of using Snow Creek Larkspur for Denver-area horse boarding is that our private ranch provides direct access to Spruce Mountain Trail and Greenland Trail without trailering.
In addition, we provide:
- Automated waterers
- Round pen
- Sand arena
- On site trainers
- Three available tack rooms
- Free trailer parking on site
- Extra feedings during cold snaps
- 14-day quarantine for all new horses before they are integrated into our herd. We check for:
- Clear eyes
- Sound breathing
- Clear, dry nose
- UTD on shots
- Snow Creek Larkspur is a barefoot barn (we do allow front shoes)
- We feed our horses hay. We do not supply seed grown grain – you are welcome to supply and store your own grain on site
Let Us Help Your Horse Thrive
In addition to the benefits outlined above, at Snow Creek Larkspur we maintain 2 herds to meet the exercise and nutritional needs of your horse.
- The Hill Pasture Herd – This herd and pasture serves the needs of horses that require feeding only twice a day to maintain their proper weight.
- Free Feed Pasture – The Free Feed Pasture allows your horse access to hay and grazing all day.
