Do you agree with keeping horses in 24/7?

Do you agree with keeping a horse in a stable 24/7?

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If I had a telly, supplies of food and drinks, the odd shower, I would love to be confined to my bedroom. Maybe it's my age, but it honestly sounds very appealing.
And as for the person who used the word 'suicidality', shame on you.
 
Some old friends of ours had to do it with their horse as he got horrendous allergic mudfever from their grazing land. They kept him happy but it was hard work and a full time job just looking after one horse. They didn't work so were at home all day.

He lived just outside their kitchen window so he was truly one of the family and lived like a king. He had a very large stable. They took him out at least three (often more) times a day, every day, without fail, rain or shine. They were of the opinion that if he would mooch 15-20 miles every day in the field and they had taken that off him, they had to replace that with the same amount of exercise even if it was just walking in hand. He also got to mooch round their concrete yard.

I think if you are going to do it, you need to understand what you're taking on and make sure that you are replacing all the horse's needs yourself and I know very very few yards that manage this. Even the old fashioned BHS instructions for looking after 100% stabled horses include three separate exercise sessions and three separate grooming sessions (including an hour's strapping). Those sessions are in there for a reason. A quick flick with a brush and a spin on the horsewalker just isn't enough.
 
No. To keep a horse in for no reason is cruel, they mentally, physically and naturally need to be out and about being a horse!!!!
 
Animal Welfare Act states that animals must have;

  • Somewhere suitable to live
  • A proper diet, including fresh water
  • The ability to express normal behaviour
  • For any need to be housed with, or apart from, other animals
  • Protection from, and treatment of, illness and injury

By stabling 24/7 I'd say that the first four out of five of those standards in the Animal Welfare Act are being broken, unless with reasoning covered by the fifth standard I don't agree with it at all.

Pan
 
I dont agree with stabling 24/7 except for medical reasons. That said, i dont have a problem with restricted turnout over the winter, ours are out for half days, 5 days a week in the winter, just enough to stretch their legs.
 
My boy used to be kept on a yard that had no turnout - he loved being in the stable! In fact I would say he was the happiest he had ever been when he was there (we moved for other reasons) He is a completely diffener horse now he has access to turnout (and not in a good way!)

He was also a more responsive ride & had better concentration, in general he enjoyed his work more.

I think he had an ulterior motive though as he always had access to quality food :o so could be the main reason he enjoyed it. The stables were in an open barn & all the horses faced each other (around 30 others in the same barn)

All horses are different & unless you have tried it yourself I cant see how you would know your horse is not happy with this kind of living arrangement??
 
Wasnt there a journalist who decided to do a 72 hr stint as a stabled horse to see what it felt like? She had a porta loo in there, meals were bought to her morning and evening and she was left for hours alone. She soon started to show signs of depressive behaviour and needed to get out. I wonder if horses feel the same and to what extent? My horses run free 24/7 365 days a year as a herd in a summer field and a winter field. Beautiful to watch. We lay with them on sunny mornings while thyre still snoring flat out on the grass. x
 
castleoliver said:
Wasnt there a journalist who decided to do a 72 hr stint as a stabled horse to see what it felt like? She had a porta loo in there, meals were bought to her morning and evening and she was left for hours alone. She soon started to show signs of depressive behaviour and needed to get out. I wonder if horses feel the same and to what extent? My horses run free 24/7 365 days a year as a herd in a summer field and a winter field. Beautiful to watch. We lay with them on sunny mornings while thyre still snoring flat out on the grass. x
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That's interesting. I spent a summer in bed following a leg operation. My OH was away at work for 12 hours a day. I stared at my bedroom walls and imagined green fields and trees. I tried to remember the smell of grass and flowers, tried to imagine the sound of running streams and the wind rustling through trees.
When I was well enough, at weekends my partner would carry me to the car and take me to the horses, where I would bury my face in their necks and drink in the smell of them.
At the time, we did not know if I'd ever walk again and although I accepted my confinement and appeared stoic, the desperate desire to walk in the woods, climb craggy hills and wander by rivers was overwhelming.
How much worse confinement must be for a large animal made for outdoor living, designed to roam and forage. To have no ability to move where it chooses, with the only time it moves is when a rider directs where it places its feet and the speed at which it travels.
That to me, is the ultimate in cruelty.
 
No I dont agree with it at all, unless for a medical reason,

If someone kept a dog in a crate (size for size ratio) 24/7 even if it was walked 1-2 hours per day, people would complain,

so whats the difference doing it to a horse? I certainly would not want to but shut in the loo all day!

Ive got mine out 24/7 and they seem so chilled, even the stallion, I get some funny looks/comments from the Spanish here as they stable all the time, but it does look like some are coming round to the idea, as I have seen a few more turned out now ..
 
madmav said:
If I had a telly, supplies of food and drinks, the odd shower, I would love to be confined to my bedroom. Maybe it's my age, but it honestly sounds very appealing.
And as for the person who used the word 'suicidality', shame on you.
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you sound like my daughter, she spends a lot of time in her room at her dads..

BUT.... you would not have a TV... no PC, no phone, no games, just food 2-3 times a day and your room would not be much bigger than a double bed... ... I dont think you would love it then..
 
I knew a horse who just refused to be turned out! She loved being on the yard in her stable watching what was happening and munching her hay. She was worked 6 days a week and they tried to turn her out for 10 mins a day to have a roll. Any longer than that and she would run along the fence line like a tool. Caused herself a few injuries doing that- ripped open her shoulder once, jumped out and went through the top of the gate, numerous bruised soles...
 
No, unless for a medical reason. Then I think you can do a lot to keep them occupied mentally and also a horse in for medical reasons often appreciates the comfort of soft footing/bedding and everything on tap if they are in discomfort or pain.

My vet laughed when he visited our cob who has just had a tendon op, as she had her huge fan on as she ate her haynet and the radio was playing away, he looked at her mirrors etc and said 'she just needs a TV and that's her set up'.
 
Absolutely dont agree with it, unless of course its box rest for medical reasons. One of mine is on box rest right now but I feel absolutely dreadful about it even though its on the vets advice :(
 
A horses way of calming itself is to chew from forage on the ground and move its feet. Both much easier turned out. We're lucky enough to have enough land to use one 4 acre field and rest the other 4 acres. When the horses get to swap fields they are so excited, exploring hedgerows for blackberries, sniffing snorting, synchronised cantering and mirroring each other, whatever the weather, its beautiful. I wouldnt deny them this as a daily routine. Occasionally through illness or injury, box rest is necessary. But, although the horse looks as if they have accepted there confinement i cant honestly say they ever looked happy, the sparkle in their eyes had gone. The fact the vets advise a sedative to keep the horse calm the first time he is returned to turnout would suggest the relief they must feel at being returned to their natural environment. xx
 
Not at all unless medical reasons. I worked for 6 months at a yard with very very limited turnout - a couple of hours twice a week in summer and none in winter. I wasn't aware turnout was this restricted when I took the job, and my horse came.


From the outside, my boy seemed happy enough. He didn't develop any vices, was well mannered ect although a bit more fresh than usual. I left in the end for many reasons but partly because I had a week off and took him home and he was so so happy to be out.

I am now work g out an event yard that adores turnout, my boy is out from 4pm to 7am and he is so much happier. Very chilled to ride, spends hours lieing down in his stable in the day (never ever saw him sleeping in the old yard), and much more interative in himself than before.

The majority of the horses on the yard before (majority of them were high quality competition horses) were extremely quiet in themselves, appeared to have no personality and were just so...shut down.

I hate it and will NEVER do it again.
 
freckles22uk said:
you sound like my daughter, she spends a lot of time in her room at her dads..

BUT.... you would not have a TV... no PC, no phone, no games, just food 2-3 times a day and your room would not be much bigger than a double bed... ... I dont think you would love it then..
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I see it with the detained persons who are locked up over the weekend, until Court on Monday.

Just a concrete block with a metal toilet. Food brought through the hatch, three times a day.

They most certainly don't enjoy it at all :)
 
Shall we ask him which he prefers :D

charlessnooze.jpg
 
Definitely not, it's prison for horses.

Normal though where insect bites can be horrendous e.g. Spain. However most I saw when I was there had psychogical problems as a result of not being able to see or mix with their own kind.

I only ever close the doors if medically required and at feed times. Even my mares are allowed to give birth outside if they want.
 
Not unless its for health reasons, and even then depending on what the health reasons are,when i was told to box rest mine for 3 months over the summer, she went out every day in her own wee penned off area with the rest of her field mates it was renewed every day for her, if i ever see a 15x15 pen leckie fence pen again itll be to soon, but it kept her sane and prevented her being stuck in a barn on her own all day
 
MagicMelon said:
Absolutely dont agree with it, unless of course its box rest for medical reasons. One of mine is on box rest right now but I feel absolutely dreadful about it even though its on the vets advice :(
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Mine had to stay in for 3 days when she was diagnosed with a particularly nasty bout of conjunctivitis last summer and she hated it, even though it was over a weekend and other horses were in and out all the time.

I wish my yard let them have 24/7 turnout, but they have to come in at night during the winter, though I would bring her in on really vile wet nights. We all count the days to when they can go out at night again.

With modern technology in rug fabrics I believe even a TB can be out 24/7 with adequate rugging and a sensible diet.
 
No. In my view it is akin to what others had said about being locked in your bedroom all dày every day and only being able to poke you head out the window.

We have horses for pleasure and competing, and they serve us well, it is the best we can do to ensure that we do well by them in return, which in my view is allowing them to be horses.

Although in some instances box rest is necessary for medical reasons.

However the Swiss have a much better grasp on horse welfare than we do, they have guidelines stating that horses should be allowed some turnout, they should also be allowed turnout with other horses, if not it is viewed as cruelty.

http://www.eurodressage.com/equestr...nch-peta-files-charges-against-totilas-owners

The link is about the charges against the owners of Totilas, partly for the use of rolkur during training but also about solitary confinement and lack of turnout.

In my view even top competition horses should have turnout. If Carl Hester can give his gran prix horses daily turnout then what's stopping every other international rider doing the same.

It annoys me that in this day and age some horses are still not destined to see grass for years on end, and I personally wouldn't go to a livery which offered no turnout in winter.
 
Depends on the horse. I agree that most like being out, but my friend has one which hates it and will stand weaving at the gate of the field. He's a bit better if turned out in the arena, but even then after a couple of hours he wants in. He's been stabled most of his life, it depends on what the horse has become accustomed to I suppose.
 
wench said:
I would rather my horse was in a nice warm clean stable, than turned out in a field that was just a muddy bog...
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You prefer it but does your horse?

I have met horses that prefer to be stabled but not many, and none that like stables 24/7, although I'm guessing there's an exception to every rule, and I'm guessing this is due to conditioning from youth, but I'm no expert.

I'm not questioning your methods but usually no winter turnout is for owner convenience than what the horse wants, it's much easier to clean, ride and look after horses when you don't have to wipe a layer of mud of when you bring them in :)
 
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