Horse rolling in stable when wet

[exracehorse]

This gives me such anxiety. Whenever it’s been raining. Or is raining. And makes no difference if she’s rugged. Or naked. She comes into stable and goes crazy. Rubs against the walls. Throws herself on the floor. Bedding goes everywhere. Pushes against the haynets with her head and shoulders. They bounce off the walls. I’m so worried she will get cast. She’s like this for a good ten minutes. Then .. it’s all over. Only when she’s wet. Or rug is wet. Although dry inside. My other horses just stare at her in amazement. Anyone else have this.

 

[Boughtabay]

my gelding can get quite itchy when he’s wet. I think if I was putting him in I’d try giving him a good brushing before letting him loose on the stable walls

 

[Sossigpoker]

I think the rain makes her itch and with the rug on she remembers being itchy without the rug on so repeats the same behaviour.

 

[Btomkins]

My filly does this. Absolutely detests the rain. Throws herself with such force against her haynet to rub that she’s fallen over. Not much I can do about it so I let her get on with it and just keep an eye in case she gets into trouble!

 

[criso]

My tb usually has a roll in his stable if he comes in sweaty or wet, not in a dramatic way though. And he waits for me to take the rug off first.

 

[meleeka]

I’m glad I’m not the only one with anxiety about rolling in the stable. I can’t look!

 

[Nasicus]

My previous mare would do this whenever she got wet too, it made her itchy!

 

[Maxidoodle]

Yes, one of mine will even go down to roll on concrete if he’s wet, his favourite thing is rolling in the stable whilst you’re in it

 

[SEL]

The microcob does it right at the back of her stable (she's put a couple of holes in the chipboard) - always worries me. If she's wet she looks like she's been tarred and feathered by the time she's finished. She'll also roll if she's rugged and been rained on even if she's dry underneath. But she has very sensitive skin and isn't keen on being groomed so I think that's got something to do with it. Appalling trace clip at the moment because she was so ticklish when I clipped her.

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Yes..my mare does it..flattens her nets as she does a long rub on them down each side…doesn’t roll though..that’s my other mares thing.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

Yup Faran has done this since I bought him he hates being wet when I bath him for a show I have to make sure the bed has a good thick layer of fresh straw on top as he goes nuts

 

[chaps89]

Yep. Pony gets mortally offended by being wet, it’s hilarious after he’s had a bath in summer (for me not him admittedly) he was very happy to be rubbed down with a towel this morning but the haynet still got it!

 

[Flame_]

My arab belongs in this club.

 

[Gloi]

Mine is fine with rain fortunately but if he has a bath or is sweaty he goes mad trying to roll. If he's sweaty I just turn him in the sand paddock. But once after a bath he just flopped down on the gravel car park to roll while I was walking him round.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Senior mare does this, too. I've had her for 20 years and she's never grown out of it .

 

[NinjaPony]

My old Connie used to have a roll in his stable after every ride if he’d worked harder than a walk. You had to get rid of his tack quite quickly before he went down! Very normal for him, and he never hurt himself.

 

[exracehorse]

My filly does this. Absolutely detests the rain. Throws herself with such force against her haynet to rub that she’s fallen over. Not much I can do about it so I let her get on with it and just keep an eye in case she gets into trouble!

Yes. She’s done this since she was a youngster. It’s scary to watch.

 

[humblepie]

Mine does when I pop back in to the stable after exercise. Even if it’s been a gentle hack he rolls like he’s just run the grand national. Think it just be nice to have all your clothes off and a good roll

 

[Lois Lame]

I'm a bit surprised to read that so many horses are put in a stable for a roll, rather than being allowed to roll outside first.

 

[sychnant]

My Section C does it. He'll sometimes try to roll on the concrete aisle. Being wet makes him furious!

I'd happily "allow" him to roll outside, but he doesn't want to. He's had all day to do it but wants to roll in dry bedding!

 

[HappyHollyDays]

One of mine does the same thing, he’s a hot horse and hates being sweaty and itchy. He scared the life out of me when he was on box rest in December and needed a good scratch and got himself cast in a corner. I couldn’t shift him even with rope tied around his legs but luckily he was as calm as could be and just laid there on his back all four feet in the air until help arrived.

 

[criso]

I'm a bit surprised to read that so many horses are put in a stable for a roll, rather than being allowed to roll outside first.

It's not a question of putting in for a roll but the hors choosing to roll after being brought in from the field on a wet day or put away after work. Mine loves rolling in the mud too but will still sometimes have a roll when he comes in and the rugs come off.

 

[millitiger]

Mine does this too- he usually rolls anyway when brought in but goes wild with it, if he's wet or if he got hot being ridden.

 

[Hollylee1989]

My shetland will drop and roll on the concrete, who needs a deep comfy bed

 

[PurBee]

My gelding hates getting rained-on, especially his face, so if his face is wet he’s prone to rolling in their open bedded large shelter.
I used to cringe watching him, despite it being a very large bed double stable sized - i hear him banging around in there sometimes, and he comes out covered in shavings! He really has developed his tactics for having a safe roll. He usually rolls one side, wiggling like a salmon beached on sand, then gets up , turns, and down again on the other side to have a wriggle.
He does now understand that a full-on flip roll is best done in the fields, and half-rolls work better in the stable.
It probably took him 1000 rolls for him to figure that out tho!

When he was a foal he went in the shelter after getting rained-on and was so eager to roll everywhere his dinky body could, he rolled into the water trug in the corner, flooding the stable and soaking himself! Freaked himself out, scattered to his legs and ran out in despair!

To prevent casting i have a deep dense shavings bed that is sloped. It’s around 18’ length 10’ wide. It literally slopes from the back to the front. Its very deep at the back, 16-18 inches compressed, shallower at the front..6 inches. I keep adding top-up shavings bales. Usually 1-2 bags a week winter for 2 horses to share the bed. It’s very compressed underneath, like a new bag of shavings, with a looser shaving layer on top. To construct a from-scratch new deep-bed it would easily take 10 large shavings bales.
I did this initially, to make the shavings work better at absorbing pee, because I was finding a loose shavings bed was useless, with pee pooling and running everywhere underneath the shavings. Daily skip-out of wet shavings was a barrow full, yet the shavings were mostly just externally wet and not fully soaked. So compressing the bed meant the pee would soak-in better into the shavings.
This then developed to me realising the casting potential due to Mr roller, so i constructed the dense bed purposefully with a slope, as i had seen them in the fields do full rolls on flat land, but half rolls on the sloped parts, as they find it more difficult to fully roll uphill. However, Mr Roller when in full gusto rolling has managed uphill rolling when he has space for it!

So, the bed construction killed 2 birds with 1 stone, as they say. Get the most out of the shavings absorbancy, aswell as prevent casting so safer to roll on

They’d have to roll uphill to try to get cast, and even if they managed that, due to the slope its easy for them to turn their body and legs towards the door. The bed slope is solid and doesnt shift under them so there’s no chance of them getting lodged between bed and back or side wall.
It’s always worked great for them both, and their varied styles of rolling and laying to sleep.

The mare on the other hand doesnt care about being drenched, she doesn’t get bothered at all. Yet, hilariously hates getting wet via a hose!! She has remained outside grazing when it has absolutely hammered it down, drenching them to the skin within minutes, in the summer. The gelding ran to shelter, but she didnt miss a stride grazing, as if nothing was happening. I watched them from the cover of my polytunnel. She is very all-weather tolerant. Half welsh half arab.

With rollers i just make sure theres no low hay nets or anything from floor up to 5’ high their potentially flailing legs can get caught in.

 

[poiuytrewq]

Obviously a far lesser problem but my dog does this! If he’s wet he literally hurls himself at the walls and in particular under radiators before rolling round like a mad thing,
Weird! Of course it’s far less stressful to watch a terrier than a horse in a stable!

 

[Lois Lame]

It's not a question of putting in for a roll but the hors choosing to roll after being brought in from the field on a wet day or put away after work. Mine loves rolling in the mud too but will still sometimes have a roll when he comes in and the rugs come off.

I wasn't suggesting that the horse be given an opportunity to roll in the mud, but to roll in a suitable rolling place like a sandy or dusty place (or a grassy place) but I suppose there are few such places at the moment.

 

[criso]

I wasn't suggesting that the horse be given an opportunity to roll in the mud, but to roll in a suitable rolling place like a sandy or dusty place (or a grassy place) but I suppose there are few such places at the moment.

Are you based outside the UK? I've not come across a yard in real life with sand pits or similar to roll apart from possibly a racing yard or similar I've seen on tv.

A lot of yards aren't keen on horses being allowed to roll in the school which aren't sandy or dusty usually but often a rubber or fibre mic

And given that we are talking about horses wanting to roll when they get wet, this time of year, they'd get wet coming back from their roll and want to roll again.