Horse stops walker!

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Summer pudding

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My chap is very popular with the other horses as he stops the walker - yard staff and other owners are less keen! If we gently shout at him he starts again, but stops as we disappear from view. Any suggestions as to how I can instill in him that a few twirls are required.....ironically one of his friends loves the walker and seems to happily power walk. Not my chap, who is very laid back and unworried by most things. While I don't love the walker the weather and conditions have been so bad it has provided the only exercise on a lot of days recently, so I'm very reluctant to abandon it.
 
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Horses should ideally be watched while on a walker and if you can't zap him with a shock, try chucking some bark chips at him to keep him moving.
 
Put him on the walker by himself naked and turn the zappers on. It only takes one or two zaps for them to realise then you can turn them off again for a few weeks/months until the horse realises they aren't on again lol! Don't put any other good horses on the walker whilst the zappers are on as you dont want to scare them into not liking the walker.

We have one we toad at work who stops one walker and lets the paddles go over his back on the other one - he has been known to go back 3 or 4 horses until he is sharing a partition with one of his friends lol!
 
We have one we toad at work who stops one walker and lets the paddles go over his back on the other one - he has been known to go back 3 or 4 horses until he is sharing a partition with one of his friends lol![/QUOTE]

Thank you everyone for your prompt and helpful suggestions....I love the above^^. We can turn the 'electric' on - he HATES being zapped by the fence but this has made me a bit wary about resorting to this solution in case we really frighten him! Softee that I am.
 
Summer pudding said:
Dumb question....how is the walker stopped by the inmates in an emergency if the electricity is on?!
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With the Emergency stop button. It turns both electrics and walker off. If it is like ours then it takes longer for the emergency stop to slow down than it does to hit the off switch ... Or you switch off the electric and then the power.
 
One reason why I stopped putting my horse on a walker sorry but if you need to use an electric shock to get your horse to walk on one I would find an alternative method of Exercise, I think its one of the most boring things for a horse to do I would rather lunge for 15 minutes at least they can have some trot and canter.
 
True...but I know personally lungeing is not an option as nowhere to lunge. Don't know about OP, but also I don't see how a small zap is any different to flicking the end of the lunge whip on their backside when they ae being bone idle :)
 
LittleRoodolphRider said:
True...but I know personally lungeing is not an option as nowhere to lunge. Don't know about OP, but also I don't see how a small zap is any different to flicking the end of the lunge whip on their backside when they ae being bone idle :)
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I suppose you would say that considering you are not the one getting an electric shock on your backside:)
 
I wonder whether Pinkvboots uses electric fencing for his/her horse or is that cruel? Perhaps they should they be allowed to roam freely?
 
But you would lunge them in pointless circles which is so much worse for their joints as you add in speed and what is more you probably use a lunge whip to keep them going!
 
I am not a lover of lunging either but I think you can achieve more from a quick lunge as you can work in all gaits and use the whole arena so rhey are not on a tight circle, hey I appreciate its difficult in winter the ground is rubbish for hacking the lack of light I have the same issues at times but I just think its harsh to use electric on a walker I would rather not bother, I have a mare that would march round all day on one but my gelding was terrified on it, and I have seen so many people who abuse them and use them instead of doing proper work with their horses it's just a pet hate of mine!
 
They are invaluable for my job. They warm up/cool down the horses after exercise (not their full warm up or cool down just the start of the warm up and finish/dry off of the cool down) Also for horses that are just back into work after an injury - far safer for horse and human to contain them in a walker than try to walk them out in hand.

You don't need the electric to be on permanently just for a few zaps then it can be turned off again.
 
sport horse said:
But you would lunge them in pointless circles which is so much worse for their joints as you add in speed and what is more you probably use a lunge whip to keep them going!
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I agree - lunging is a different type of pointless circle and can be detrimental to joints etc. They are not on the walker for long, I know it's not ideal but they are on there with their mates...just while the stable is mucked out so not too strenuous, more of a leg stretch.
 
The electric shock that they get is exactly the same as that from an electric fence and like the fence if they respect it and do not touch it they do not get a shock. Everyone is entitled to their own views but neither lunging or a horsewalker is ideal but we do now live in the 21st century. Staff on yards quite rightly earn proper wages (or they should!) the roads are much busier with traffic that does not always understand and/or respect horses (also plenty of horse riders who do not understand and/or respect traffic too!) so we are forced to use alternative methods to exercise our horses, and to condemn horsewalkers which are now used in probably 100% of professional yards, is somewhat naive. Yes some horses are frightened of the electric so it is not turned on for them. If someone uses the electric when there is a horse that is frightened that is pretty bad horsemanship. I have a large yard of competition horses and it is not difficult to sort out the ones that need a zap and put them on together from those that would have a heart attack so need to go on separately. At the end of the day it is the responsibility of the owner to see that equipment, be it walker, electric fence, lunge whip etc etc is used as and when necessary and correctly.
 
I would not put a horse in a confined space and zap it, in a filed they can and do run from the zap, on the lunge the horse can move forwards if a touch with the whip sends them on,but I don't have a lunge whip long enough to touch the horse whilst out on the circle
 
Pinkvboots said:
I suppose you would say that considering you are not the one getting an electric shock on your backside:)
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I suppose I also shouldn't put a saddle (or myself) on a horse because I wouldn't want one on my back.

Jeesh get a grip anybody would think I was suggesting we should trot them on shattered glass and wallop them with crow bars
 
sport horse said:
Perhaps the OP's name - pinkvboots - gives us a hint LittleRoodolphRider?
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The OP is called Summer Pudding, but hey ho. ;)

I've never hidden my dislike of the overuse of horse walkers (especially when they are small, circular ones) or of over lunging on this forum. I also wouldn't zap a horse in a confined space (but I have used electric fencing), but then I'm one of those crazy folks who wouldn't use a cattle prod to load a reluctant loader either. I have a firm grip on what I feel is acceptable and what isn't and generally if the 'training' or 'encouragement' falls into the learned helplessness category, I'm against it. If people can't see why a properly used electric fence is different to zapping a confined animal and they think that because I do, it makes me a fluffy bunny, then fine, I'm a fluffy bunny.

I do feel for the OP's situation. I hope that a solution is found and that the weather and circumstances change so that you don't have to rely on the walker so much.
 
Hi OP Summer pudding here....thanks Faracat....I'm a member of the Fluffy Bunny Club... I was hoping someone would suggest a kind solution I hadn't thought of - this forum is very helpful for thinking outside the box. I'm not sure what I will do next, mulling it over.....thanks everyone.
 
Faracat said:
The OP is called Summer Pudding, but hey ho. ;)

I've never hidden my dislike of the overuse of horse walkers (especially when they are small, circular ones) or of over lunging on this forum. I also wouldn't zap a horse in a confined space (but I have used electric fencing), but then I'm one of those crazy folks who wouldn't use a cattle prod to load a reluctant loader either. I have a firm grip on what I feel is acceptable and what isn't and generally if the 'training' or 'encouragement' falls into the learned helplessness category, I'm against it. If people can't see why a properly used electric fence is different to zapping a confined animal and they think that because I do, it makes me a fluffy bunny, then fine, I'm a fluffy bunny.

I do feel for the OP's situation. I hope that a solution is found and that the weather and circumstances change so that you don't have to rely on the walker so much.
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Goodness...that escalated.. I wouldn't use a cattle prod for any reason, my family (dairy farmers) despise them (My Grandad gave a transporter an earfull and broke his prod when he tried to load a cow with one once). I am very aware that there is a difference between the use of electric fencing and the zap of a walker...but the zap is just that a tiny little zap that doesn't torture the animal nor make it shake uncontrollably. Yes walkers (and lungeing) are not the best, but they do have some benefit and are not the work of satan. Used correctly they are fine.
 
sport horse said:
The electric shock that they get is exactly the same as that from an electric fence and like the fence if they respect it and do not touch it they do not get a shock. Everyone is entitled to their own views but neither lunging or a horsewalker is ideal but we do now live in the 21st century. Staff on yards quite rightly earn proper wages (or they should!) the roads are much busier with traffic that does not always understand and/or respect horses (also plenty of horse riders who do not understand and/or respect traffic too!) so we are forced to use alternative methods to exercise our horses, and to condemn horsewalkers which are now used in probably 100% of professional yards, is somewhat naive. Yes some horses are frightened of the electric so it is not turned on for them. If someone uses the electric when there is a horse that is frightened that is pretty bad horsemanship. I have a large yard of competition horses and it is not difficult to sort out the ones that need a zap and put them on together from those that would have a heart attack so need to go on separately. At the end of the day it is the responsibility of the owner to see that equipment, be it walker, electric fence, lunge whip etc etc is used as and when necessary and correctly.
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Thank you for this long and balanced reply......lots of really good points.
 
Oh well, another fluffy bunny here. I also have a dislike of the concept of zapping a horse in a confined area, for our convenience.
I know of more than one professional who has discontinued use of their horse walker and some that wouldn't use them.
Sadly, I also know of more than one equine who fought and lost when zapped in a horse walker - I just don't think it is a match made in heaven, giving a high couraged flight animal an electric shock in a metal cage.
I would not do it, personally as I couldn't see when it would be necessary or correct.
 
Faracat said:
The OP is called Summer Pudding, but hey ho. ;)

I've never hidden my dislike of the overuse of horse walkers (especially when they are small, circular ones) or of over lunging on this forum. I also wouldn't zap a horse in a confined space (but I have used electric fencing), but then I'm one of those crazy folks who wouldn't use a cattle prod to load a reluctant loader either. I have a firm grip on what I feel is acceptable and what isn't and generally if the 'training' or 'encouragement' falls into the learned helplessness category, I'm against it. If people can't see why a properly used electric fence is different to zapping a confined animal and they think that because I do, it makes me a fluffy bunny, then fine, I'm a fluffy bunny.

I do feel for the OP's situation. I hope that a solution is found and that the weather and circumstances change so that you don't have to rely on the walker so much.
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Agree with this. Giving electric shocks in such a confined area does not sit right with me at all. Electric fencing is completely different. They are zapped only when THEY approach it and there is plenty of space to run away, giving an outlet to their adrenalin.
 
Listen to yourselves!!!!! Animal Rights People have fought long and hard to get live pony roundabouts BANNED in Spain.Horse Walkers are no different.Take your horse for a walk or put a play course up and run around with it.As for cooling down etc.walk it around like I used too before you could put your horse into a small space and have the option to 'zap' it.
 
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