Do you agree with keeping horses in 24/7?

[christine48]

On the whole no. Having said that some horses don't seem to mind and settle well.
I don't agree with horses being turned out from dawn till dusk in the horrid winter weather either.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

The question did not actually say as a general rule or including box rest so I will not vote..

if the horse is on box rest yes


but if not not really. At Fulmer we had to keep them in as there was no fields to keep them in but most were ridden or hacked 3 -4 times a day ( it was a riding school / livery yard )

 

[ellie11987]

Nope, was at a yard that only had a little turnout area and now my horses are at a yard with 24/7 turnout in summer and 12 hour turnout in winter. Needless to say they are 10000% happier

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Mrs B you ask if tolerating being stabled 24/7 is good enough. IMO yes. I don't go in for the culture that unless its 100% happy the owner shouldn't own it. I agree nothing makes up for being able to engage in natural behavior under natural circumstances. But if something the owner is able to do can make the horse happier, then why not do it? That was my reason behind suggesting alternative activities to turnout. I meant it as a way of improving the horses life where turnout isn't possible.

At the end of the day we keep any animal for our own needs. Very few people take on an animal purely so they can provide it with an ideal life. Most people keep animals for riding, food, milk, companionship. IE the animal is kept primarily to fulfil a human need and I don't have a problem with that.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

I don't agree with horses being turned out from dawn till dusk in the horrid winter weather either.

Mine are out 24/7 all year and love to be out even if the weather is horrid. The TB used to be stabled all the time (except for exercise) and now she shakes and grinds her teeth when you put her in a stable, even if you've just bought her in to wait for the farrier (and that's better than she used to be).

 

[Cinnamontoast]

Nope unless for medical reasons.

This.

There's one on my yard who is stabled 24/7 and covered in a lycra hood/fleece at all times. I have no idea why. It's in a block of two and the other horse is out 24/7 so it has no company and can't see the fields even.

 

[Mrs B]

Mrs B you ask if tolerating being stabled 24/7 is good enough. IMO yes.

Then you and I will have to agree to disagree.

 

[Merlin11]

I don't agree with it but I currently have a laminitic pony in a stable with access to a small turnout area with no grass. I feel bad about that but hopefully it is only short term. He has adapted quite well to be honest and just accepts it.

 

[Mrs B]

I don't agree with it but I currently have a laminitic pony in a stable with access to a small turnout area with no grass. I feel bad about that but hopefully it is only short term. He has adapted quite well to be honest and just accepts it.

As the others have said, when it's a medical necessity, it just has to be done - hope your pony gets better soon...

 

[mandwhy]

In an actual stable certainly not! I guess if it is winter and they can't go out but have access to a bit of hardstanding with hay its not so bad. I am an advocate of out 24/7 though really although I would quite like a stable for really horrid wet weather and getting away from flies.

 

[Pedantic]

No no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no no, they aren't designed for it

 

[Arzada]

I'm going to continue to look for liveries to be completely honest.

Whereabouts are you looking?

 

[pookie]

Hell. No.

You couldn't pay me to keep a horse in 24/7 (box rest excepted). I'd prefer not to have a horse than exert that potential mental trauma just so I could own one.

 

[loverly]

Whereabouts are you looking?

North Devon

 

[maxapple]

Nope. I wouldn't want to stay in my bedroom for 24 hours a day only able to stick my head out of the window!

No one would condone keeping a dog in a kennel or even run 24 hours a day.

 

[Oberon]

No

Although I have one who is elderly, refuses to wear a turnout rug and prefers a stable over bad weather. He will plant his feet and refuse to leave the barn

So he has been in for the odd day, with just inhand grazing and a walk around the yard. Work can mean I am short on time to give him more than 30 minutes....

But that is his choice. I will still pay for winter turnout for him, even if he only chooses to go out once a week .

 

[Dave282B]

Interesting question
I have known of racehorses in training who only leave their box's to groom, train,horse walker, hack and race so they are always under supervision when out of their box's.
If the question is 24 hours and never leave their box unless tied up outside when mucked out , No
I can understand that some horses however are never turned out unsupervised .

 

[RutlandH2O]

Very few people take on an animal purely so they can provide it with an ideal life. .

I'm one of those people. I have 4 Shire horses: 2 broodmares and their 3 year old gelding sons. I neither ride nor drive, and I no longer breed. My horses are my passion and my guilty pleasure. We live on very sloping, heavy clay soil on the side of a valley. In winter the footing is treacherous. We have stables, but I never use them. We have a massive pole barn which is 90' x 45'. My horses are over-wintered in this barn. Their hay is fed to them out of two 5' diameter circular sheep feeders (with weld mesh over the bars) so their heads are down, but the hay remains untrodden. The sides of half of the barn are boarded to almost 4' so that the horses can put their heads out. The rest of the barn is boarded to approximately 20' height and they can get out of the worst of the wind. There are 8' x 4' polycarbonate windows on the solid sides, so there is a tremendous amount of light. They have 3 water troughs from which to choose and salt licks in 3 different locations within the barn. There is cardboard bedding in half of the barn (their favourite toilet area). There is enough space in there for them to actually trot about, if the mood suits them (usually not). I decided to house them in this structure after my late Clyde slipped and fell on two occasions due to the dangerous conditions in the fields during a particularly wet winter 13 years ago (all of our gateways are dug out and filled with hardcore and packed with stone "dust"). If the winter is dry, they're out. If it's wet and slimy, they're in, and they seem to love it. In 2011, they were turned out on 11 March and came back in around the second week in November. It's not ideal, it's a tremendous amount of work mucking out 3 times a day, but it's safe and I've tried to keep their existence as natural as possible, given the circumstances.

 

[NicoleS_007]

We had no TO from Oct to Feb/mar and it irritated me a lot more than my horse! She seemed content enough with ridden work 6 days a week and being turned out in the arena for a run each day. But I would have preferred her to be turned out for at least a few hours every few days, limited TO is better than none! Unfortunately there are not many (as in none I'm aware of) yards who offer winter TO around here.

 

[cptrayes]

There are IR/Cushings/allergic horses which simply can't eat grass. If the owner just isn't able to stable somewhere with a paddock of hardstanding, and if the horse is happy and exercised daily, then I am sure it is better than the horse being dead.

 

[Oberon]

We had no TO from Oct to Feb/mar and it irritated me a lot more than my horse! She seemed content enough with ridden work 6 days a week and being turned out in the arena for a run each day. But I would have preferred her to be turned out for at least a few hours every few days, limited TO is better than none! Unfortunately there are not many (as in none I'm aware of) yards who offer winter TO around here.

Nor round here.

I am on one of the few yards that do. We pay extra for it as the YO says it's us who choose winter turnout who ruin the fields So it's fair enough that we contribute to the upkeep of them .

I couldn't go to a yard with no winter turnout. It'd kill me .

 

[YorksG]

There are IR/Cushings/allergic horses which simply can't eat grass. If the owner just isn't able to stable somewhere with a paddock of hardstanding, and if the horse is happy and exercised daily, then I am sure it is better than the horse being dead.

TBH the quality of life would triumph over quantity for me, the opportunities to socialise with other equines is an essential part of well being, as is the feedom to move around. Unless they are kept in barn systems, where they can be turned in with others, to reduce the symptoms of illness, then I would choose to pts. I do not know how the 'happyness' can be judged objectively in the wymptom mangement of these horses.

 

[rema]

Totally Agree YorksG.

Edited to add that for permanent box rest i would rather pts.As opposed to a few weeks/months for illness such as Lami.

 

[cptrayes]

TBH the quality of life would triumph over quantity for me, the opportunities to socialise with other equines is an essential part of well being, as is the feedom to move around. Unless they are kept in barn systems, where they can be turned in with others, to reduce the symptoms of illness, then I would choose to pts. I do not know how the 'happyness' can be judged objectively in the wymptom mangement of these horses.

Quality of life would be my first requirement, but I think you can tell if a bright eyed bushy tailed horse who doesn't buck off his rider, go spare when led outside the stable, isn't cribbing, box-walking, weaving, door-kicking or windsucking, is happy and doesn't want to be dead, don't you?

You'd surely not shoot a horse in full work full of the joys of life just because you can't turn it out?

 

[mulledwhine]

No

 

[Daytona]

Nope think It's cruel

 

[YorksG]

Quality of life would be my first requirement, but I think you can tell if a bright eyed bushy tailed horse who doesn't buck off his rider, go spare when led outside the stable, isn't cribbing, box-walking, weaving, door-kicking or windsucking, is happy and doesn't want to be dead, don't you?

You'd surely not shoot a horse in full work full of the joys of life just because you can't turn it out?

An animal does not necessarily display stereotypical behaviours in response to isolation from its kind and the reduction of its ability to move around, to indulge in herd behaviour, neither does it necessarily explode, it may simply shut down its responses. This is most likely to be the case when people believe that the animal has become aclimatized to its situation, as it has by then learnt that it cannot influence its surroundings. I do not believe that any mamal other than humans ever 'want to be dead'. I am unaware of any studies which show suicidality in any species other than humans. In the case you describe, the animal already has a life threatening illness. IMO the price of symptom management is too high a price for the animal to pay.
We may need to agree to disagree on this one

 

[Littlelegs]

No, except as a short term medical requirement. Agree entirely with yorksg. If for whatever reason 24/7 stabling was my only option, I would either move area myself, loan them out, or pts depending on why they couldn't go out. I wouldn't get any enjoyment from having an animal with a miserable life for my benefit.

 

[JFTDWS]

No, I wouldn't condemn a horse to a life like that, other than in the short term for medical reasons. I'd rather (and do) sacrifice facilities in favour of turnout. If I had a horse who could not be on grass, I would find some means of having non-grass turnout - either by renting a field which could be kept barren or finding a yard with non-grass turnout options (and I'm not in a great area for yards, but I can think of a few options round here). If there were genuinely no options, I would probably pts as I don't feel it's a fair compromise in terms of quality of life.

 

[cptrayes]

An animal does not necessarily display stereotypical behaviours in response to isolation from its kind and the reduction of its ability to move around, to indulge in herd behaviour, neither does it necessarily explode, it may simply shut down its responses. This is most likely to be the case when people believe that the animal has become aclimatized to its situation, as it has by then learnt that it cannot influence its surroundings. I do not believe that any mamal other than humans ever 'want to be dead'. I am unaware of any studies which show suicidality in any species other than humans. In the case you describe, the animal already has a life threatening illness. IMO the price of symptom management is too high a price for the animal to pay.
We may need to agree to disagree on this one

Are you seriously suggesting you can't tell the difference between an unhappy shut down horse and one who has bright eyes, pricked ears and is happy in his work?

There is nothing life threatening about being allergic or unable to digest grass except eating grass. Excluded from grass, most of them are perfectly healthy.

Why anyone would shoot a horse with bright eyes, no stereotypical behaviour, who behaves completely normally in all circumstances outside and inside the stable is beyond my comprehension.