gateway nightmare!!!

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Pixxie

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My mare fencewalks terribly and has created such a trench at the front of her field she's got windgalls come up (very unhappy me) and actually refuses to walk through her gateway every morning and requires to be forcibly pulled in as she's far too precious to get her feet wet unless fence walking you see!! So my question is aside from fencing off the front of her field to let it recover which I feel would be counter productive and just create a new trench, please please please has anyone got any suggestions as to anyway I can improve it?

Thankyou in advance x
 
She fencewalks simply because she doesn't like being out wasn't turned out much as a baby even though she's only 6 now and by about 2 she's had enough I get her in at 3 everyday somedays she's still grazing others she's got a proper stomp on there is no real reason for it she's always one of the first in god forbid if she's not sadly she's not food oriented enough to be placated by hay
 
i am afraid other than bring her in early you are stuck.
You could as suggested do something with the bit she paces up and down on.
Have seen them end up like ploughed furrows by the end of winter and can't imagine it will be any good for any bit of her legs.
I have the opposite in that as soon as I get there in the morning my horse creates a monumental fuss to go and and it is driving me mad, he is behaving like a spoilt baby!
If I am not quick enough is bed is absolutely trashed and takes me hours to clean out.
Even if he has a net its still a fuss.
He does also want to come in when it gets dark, but is thankfully the field boss and he stands at the gate waiting to come in, thankfully it is tarmaced so at least its solid and he doesn't pace about just waits. I hate horse sometimes.
 
Is she turned out alone? My WB was really stresy when I first got him and he fence walked continually up and down - drove me nuts.
Now he is turned out with my youngter he never fencewalks. He is finally contented chilled and I am happy. Try and sort out the root problem as another poster suggested.
This was my WB's field last winter - he field walked! the field has recovered thanksfully!

IMAG0477.jpg
 
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Ploughed furrows is indeed the correct term! And no she's not turned out alone I can't for the life of me figure out why she's doing it. I'd do anything to find the root cause and stop her doing it that's always the best solution
 
I've got the same problem with my 7 yr old connie mare.

She's turned out at 8am, has a scratch on the field shelter, picks at some grass, eats the haylage that i've put our & then stands at the gate, kicking it to come in. If i leave her out, which i generally do, she fence walks until i give in.

I've tried leaving lots of small piles of haylage dotted around the field but she only eats the nearest one to the gate. I've opened up a big, only very lightly grazed, field for her, where there is loads of grass but she's not interested & nearly pulled my arm out of it's socket when she whipped round when i had the audacity to lead her down there yesterday.

As someone has already said, it's going to be a very, very long winter..................
 
Pixxie said:
Ploughed furrows is indeed the correct term! And no she's not turned out alone I can't for the life of me figure out why she's doing it. I'd do anything to find the root cause and stop her doing it that's always the best solution
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Does she do it all day, or start at a certain time?

Does she have some grazing, or could she do with being hay'ed in the field?
 
Not all day no from what I can tell, I bring her in at 3 when i finish work and some days she will still be grazing happily luckily the rest of her field has plenty of grass always head straight down when she goes out and other days its been obvious she's been fencewalking for a while. Benson21 whilst I agree she would be out at 5:45 for the grand total of 15mins 20 at the max and personally at 6yrs old I don't think that's really a life for her and as i said before somedays she won't at all and she certainly to my knowledge is fine until it hits early afternoon and I always make sure she's in first as all hell breaks loose if she isn't
 
Is there a pattern? I.e she only does it on days when it is raining??

I also see from another thread that she's going out at about 6.00/6.30 am. How about seeing if the YO can put her out later for you - with a stomach full of hay.
 
Definitely more common on days when the wind is up but she will do so on nice days too, I know I'm sounding like i have an answer for everything lol but I genuinely think its a case of 'I've had enough now strop' I can't see any real reason for it and i can't get her in any earlier than 3 so I'm not sure I can actually stop her doing it unless she's not turned out at all
 
Brightbay she is always in first I finish work before anyone else and know their routines so make sure she's in first

Flipthelid that sounds like a good suggestion that may work for her I'll definitely give that one a try I think
 
Some horses need to be managed far more carefully than others. In your shoes, I'd go with out later, and half days only on rainy days.

Happy horse = happy owner.
 
Well she is one of lifes princesses bless her just going to have to see what i can figure out as the time she goes out and comes in is rightly or wrongly factored on my work hours so turning out later or bringing in earlier myself is not feasible....freelance groom looks like the next option :(
 
Pixxie said:
Well she is one of lifes princesses bless her just going to have to see what i can figure out as the time she goes out and comes in is rightly or wrongly factored on my work hours so turning out later or bringing in earlier myself is not feasible....freelance groom looks like the next option :(
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Do you not have someone on site who can turnout??
 
TBH, I think you will just have to put up with the behaviour this winter. IME horses get used to changes in their routine over time, even if initially they protest.
I certainly wouldn't cut down the number of days she goes out. Make sure that she has plenty of hay overnight so that she isn't hungry when she goes out and then leave her to it.
She has plenty of company, she isn't left out on her own, you are doing nothing wrong. the only other thing you could do would be to agree with the other liveries that you put extra hay out in the field.
As for the windgalls; have you tried magnet boots? I've found them to work well.
 
Lovely without a YM we do have a YO but hes fairly uninvolved just go to him if big things break, we fix all the little things and do the oddjobs that are needed :) our YM was a nightmare so all really pulling together to demonstrate that there is no need for one and our yard is a nicer place than its been in the 4 years ive been there

ETA: Pearlsasinger I think youre right its that or pay someone to come and get her in! Toyed with the idea of magnetic boots but didnt know which ones are good, what would you recommend? As this is really my main concern is her legs of course a field will recover its just a pain the bum but legs dont once damaged daily
 
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Now you see i would do the opposite - and leave her a bit hungry overnight and then hay the field in piles for the day.

My old ginger always wanted in - she had been used to being stabled overnight for all of her life - then she fell on hard times for a year or so and was turned out on her on in a field of mud - when i brought her she would not move from the gate - lol and even when she was put on summer grazing the day after i brought her- she wanted her stable.

She was a proper little madam, and basically i think she just wanted to check she could come back in again - some days in the early year i owned her i would just pop her back in her stable for half and hour and then turn her out again - it was almost like she just needed to know she still had a stable ! lol

And in the winter 3.35 she was at the gate - so i had to pay for someone to catch her in as i did not want her chased off the gate.

Good luck - its a pain though isn't it ?-
 
Pixxie said:
ETA: Pearlsasinger I think youre right its that or pay someone to come and get her in! Toyed with the idea of magnetic boots but didnt know which ones are good, what would you recommend? As this is really my main concern is her legs of course a field will recover its just a pain the bum but legs dont once damaged daily
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I think that even if you did pay someone to bring her in earlier, she would start fussing to come in even earlier. I've only used Bioflow boots, they worked well on more than one horse.
Good luck!
 
Mine is the same if i bring her in ride and turn her out again she'll happily go back out maybe not for more than another hour but she will go back out and graze!! Clingy little things arent they hehe. I know she didnt go out much when I got her 7months ago and so i think it is by and large a security thing so far as she just prefers the security of her stable

like i said i bring her in at 3 and somedays thats fine others its too late, there is no real way of knowing whether shes going to have a good day or bad day and its her legs that bother me not the actual state of the field but shes only developed windgalls due to walking in her 'trench' ......vicious circle this one but hey ho going to try magnetic boots i think to deal with the windgalls in some way shape or form and just going to have to accept the fact its what she does but yes....it is a pain shame i love her so much :p
 
Pixxie - I would be reluctant to boot if the field is muddy - it can lead to more problems than your solving - ive been there and done that, and magnetic boots are quite powerful, they need to be built up.

When you get them put them on your forearm - you will feel a pulse after about 20 mins and its quite powerful


GW
 
Does she do it in the summer? If not, then it's definitely a hunger or cold issue. I too would arrange for her to be brought in say at lunch time, but would turn out every day. IME the only horses here that have fence walked, have done so because another horse that they are attached to has been taken out, or they are hungry and want to get into the next field that has more grass in or into their stables for haylage.
 
Those of you that have said you would rather continue to t/o every day rather than every other/3 times a week, please could you give me your reasons? Not wanting to start an argument/cause offense, just genuinely interested in others views and opinions. If my mare is turned out every day at the moment ( disgustingly wet fields, not a great amount of grass but several companions) after a few hours she just traipses up and down the fence in mud OR gallops around like a lunatic until I bring her in. If she goes out every other or every third day, she's pretty settled and will stay out all day. In the summer she will happily be out 24/7 so it's only in this weather. She's plenty warm enough and not at all interested if I put haylage out. She's exactly the same with friends or alone.
 
Wagtail said:
Does she do it in the summer? If not, then it's definitely a hunger or cold issue. I too would arrange for her to be brought in say at lunch time, but would turn out every day. IME the only horses here that have fence walked, have done so because another horse that they are attached to has been taken out, or they are hungry and want to get into the next field that has more grass in or into their stables for haylage.
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Yep, completely agree with this.
 
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