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The Facility
Our state-of-the-art facility is located in Northern Virginia, just south of historic Leesburg in beautiful Loudoun County. Surrounded by historic Civil Battlefields and Landmarks, we are just 40 minutes from downtown Washington, D.C. and 20 minutes from Dulles International Airport. Built amidst 116 acres of rolling, grassy knolls and surrounded by trees on either side, we provide a welcome sanctuary from the hustle and bustle of every day life, while still providing easy access to restaurants, hotels, tourist attractions, and night life. With 40 stalls, an 80ft x 210 ft indoor arena and 120ft x 220ft outdoor ring, as well as lengthy trails that lazily string themselves throughout the property, we have the perfect balance of hard work and enjoyment awaiting you and your horse.
The AAES barn houses forty 12ft x 12ft stalls with two extra large recovery stalls of 12ft x 24ft. The horses stand on a thick bed of straw that is cleaned twice per day and freshly bedded as often as needed. The Academy’s signature Sunshine Stalls ™ have attached turn-outs so that the horses may walk out of their stalls and directly into their own outside living area, for a total of 540 square feet all their own! There are also plenty of large, expansive pastures available for group turn-out.
Fresh, clean water is provided on an as-needed basis via automatic water feeders in each stall. This provides unlimited, cool, and most importantly fresh water for your horse 24 hours per day, without ever having to worry about dirty and/or dry buckets. Feeding occurs three times per day (morning, noon, evening). Special arrangements may, of course, be made.
Certain elements, more than any other, contribute to the horse’s well being in a stable environment. When done correctly, these elements have been identified as having a significant positive impact on the quality of health and performance, and are endorsed by the leading authority on horse care and training: the German National Equestrian Federation. We have made it a point to meet, and striven to exceed, those standards:
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FACT
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WHAT THIS MEANS
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OUR ACCOMMODATION
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FEED
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A horse’s stomach is 12-14 Liters in size, and it’s intestinal tract can contain up to 200 Liters of material. |
Horses need to eat nearly continuously to keep their digestive tract functioning properly. |
In order to provide your horse with a complete and balanced diet, we provide:
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Hay -
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an abundance throughout the day, so they may graze without interruption. Hay provides a well-balanced mix of nutrition and roughage.
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Grain -
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supplies nutritional protein. |
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Straw -
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although it contains little nutritional value, it provides necessary roughage, and they may nibble on it as they please. |
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WATER
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Horses drink 10-13 gallons per day, depending on the work load and temperature. |
Horses need plenty of fresh, clean water daily. Dirty water causes them to drink significantly less, perpetuating digestive problems. |
All horses have a self-activated, automatic water replenishment system that provides fresh, clean and cool water as needed, thus eliminating the worry over dirty buckets. |
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DIGESTION
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Horses chew 70-80 times before they swallow,
and produce 40 Liters of saliva per day! |
Since the digestive process begins with chewing and the enzymes contained in saliva, and given that horses have an extremely sensitive digestive tract, we need to provide them with food that enhances saliva production. |
To this end, it is best that horses eat whole oats instead of crimped/steamed oats, pellets, or other processed feed. The husks of the oats make the horse’s chew more vigorously, and provide additional roughage and vitamins. |
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STALL /
LIVING SPACE
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Horses need a resting place two times their height at the withers. |
For the average horse, this equates to a stall of 9 meters² (100 ft²). |
Your horse will have a stall of 12 meters² (144ft²) at our facility. Sunshine stalls add an additional 60 meters² (540 ft²) of living space! |
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AIR
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Horses breath 28-40 meters³ of air daily, taking 8-16 breaths per minute. |
It is essential to provide them a plentiful supply of fresh air, while ensuring that they are housed in a draft free environment. Air circulation ceases at a temperature difference of 5ºC (9ºF) from outside to inside. |
The barn is built so that the summer prevailing winds flow directly down the aisle. Plenty of space was afforded atop the stalls so air space available to the horse exceeds 68m³, yet the horses stand aside the actual flow so as to avoid the draft. Additionally, each Sunshine Stall has a Dutch door, and each outside stall has an 87"x22" vent window. |
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BEDDING
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For horses to maximize their time at rest and recuperation, they need comfortable, dry, and even bedding. Wet bedding decreases the time they lie down upwards of 60%, and hard surfaces cause impairment of neurological functioning. |
Horses, like any vertebrate animal, need a firm yet soft bed on which to lie in order to keep the alignment of the vertebrae straight, without impeding nerve or muscle tissue. |
Your horse is bedded with straw, not sawdust. Straw is the most desirable bedding for several reasons. By providing a layer of insulation, it effectively regulates the outside temperature against the horse’s body – cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter. It is the driest, given its natural propensity to soak up large amounts of wetness, while at the same time not dusty. It is the most effective at preventing stall related injuries by providing a thick cushion between the horse and the harder underlying ground, and also gives the horse’s a source of roughage should they feel the need to nibble (unlike sawdust). |
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