Horse will not stay out! Thoughts please?

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KINDMARE

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We have a smashing Shetland pony - he has a lovely paddock with others around him - within touching distance. We try to give him as much turn out as we can but at 2.30 every day he is wanting to come in! He gets agitated and marches up and down up and down until someone goes to get him! He has plenty of grass and loads of hay out. We have tried putting him in with another pony but it made no difference. Any ideas- or should we just accept it and bring him in? Or ignore him and make him stay out for another couple of hours (which is when we would like him to come in) and hope HE accepts it eventually? WWYD? Thanks
 
He's got you trained!

You can obviously see him if you observe this behaviour at 2.30, can he see you? Leave him out until you want to put him in.
 
If His Majesty wants to be in, let him in! My stallion has very strong views on all this mud and cold malarky and will tolerate about 2 - 3 hours before he starts pacing and weaving at the gate. No amount of "you'll just have to lump it" will work, so we just let him in, whereupon he's as happy as Larry in with a bit of straw to nibble on.
 
Our yard Manager brings them in for us at lunch every day and it is like a little gathering at the gate of pleading faces, so funny. Such pansies.
 
I'm with Cortez on this, Mr B stands at the gate and shouts when he wants to come in. When the weather is nice, he's happy to be out but when the wind blows or the rain pours down, then frankly he'd rather be in his stable and why not?
 
I'd give it one week, making sure I just didn't see his pleading little face, and if he didn't quit I'd pop him in his stable with his teddy :)
 
A Shetland that wants to be in?!?!? Weirdo!

I have trouble keeping my Thoroughbreds in! They much prefer being out! The shetlands would only tollerate being in for as long as food was available! After that they get destructive!
 
Fig brings himself in (and half the fencing yet only half his rugs) if left out too long. Would be happy with an hour a day.

If he has to stay out to suit your routine/management then up the fencing and the electric and ignore him.
 
After spending a winter trying to convince my late horse that fence walking didn't = stable I gave up. One day fence walked for 7 and 1/2 hours straight in thick mud, no stopping. Enough was enough. He wanted an hour morning and evening so that's what he got and was happy with it. Just not worth the unhappy horse who didn't want to be out - if left long enough he would do it in gallop!!!!!!
 
Cortez said:
If His Majesty wants to be in, let him in! My stallion has very strong views on all this mud and cold malarky and will tolerate about 2 - 3 hours before he starts pacing and weaving at the gate. No amount of "you'll just have to lump it" will work, so we just let him in, whereupon he's as happy as Larry in with a bit of straw to nibble on.
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This. Mine's exactly the same (but without the dangly bits). If he thinks it's coming in time in winter - he's out 24/7 from Spring to late Autumn - he'll just do the Wall of Death until he's a sweaty mess, probably falling over in the process & cutting himself, the paddock's trashed, and you're likely to be missing a shoe.

Doesn't matter if you don't even peep at him, don't bring anyone else in, or 'leave him to it'.

All my other horses have waited quietly, even if it's by the gate with a hopeful expression, until I arrive.

Not this boy ...
 
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As others have said, I have one who will just not stay out. He's on livery, fields are mostly out of sight of the main yard, he's out with another horse, has plenty of grass/hay in the field and yet if you leave him out longer than he deems is suitable he will either take down the fence or jump it and come trotting into the yard and stand by his stable until someone lets him in! Does it even in nice weather! So now he only stays out for half a day and no more escape attempts have been made.
 
Mine will stay out until 4pm if it is warm and nice, but will start postulating by the gate or looking in the french doors from 12.00 if it is cold and wet, or windy!

I give in. Why not? He loves to go out in the morning, loves to come in in the afternoon. In fact he gets rather cross if his day's proceedings are delayed.
 
Daughter's new pony won't stay out in wind, rain or snow. Having moved to Scotland having had a pampered life til now at 18 I'm not going to have a battle mid winter. However during the summer, he will have to learn to tolerate the wind, rain - and occasional snow (!). I just can't have the argument at this time of year as he is a skinny beastie and will gallop around ploughing up my nice grassy field which he needs to eat to gain weight!
 
KINDMARE said:
We have a smashing Shetland pony - he has a lovely paddock with others around him - within touching distance. We try to give him as much turn out as we can but at 2.30 every day he is wanting to come in! He gets agitated and marches up and down up and down until someone goes to get him! He has plenty of grass and loads of hay out. We have tried putting him in with another pony but it made no difference. Any ideas- or should we just accept it and bring him in? Or ignore him and make him stay out for another couple of hours (which is when we would like him to come in) and hope HE accepts it eventually? WWYD? Thanks
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Bring him in I would, horses let you know what they prefer, we let the old ones here tells us when they want to come in.
 
I would bring him in to a stable that has nothing to eat in it for at least an hour, I don't see the point in leaving him out to wreck the field but some of them do become less inclined to want in if there is nothing to eat when they get there.
 
They definitely do make it clear what they want. It reminds me of a study done here in Norway in which the horses were trained to choose whether they wanted to wear rugs out or not. They were brought in front of simple signs that signified putting a blanket on, off, or not changing anything. They were subsequently happy to make that decision themselves once they had learned how to.
 
My oldie is feeling very good this winter, and is being a total bad egg.

If left out too long, he's taken to jumping out of his paddock! I've had to make his electric fence taller - being very arthritic, I assumed (hahahahahahaha, he said) that he would be too immobile to jump anything, so it wasn't on the highest part of the post. Now it is and *touch wood* it has worked.

That being said, if it's too wet or windy I don't chance it, and the large softy gets to come in early to his hay. Yes, it would be preferable to have him stay out longer, but he's less stiff this winter than he has been for years, and he's 25. I don't want to risk a field injury for the sake of a few hours.

He does have me wrapped round his hoof, but then again I pander to him, so my fault! (Dear old b*gg*r!)
 
There must be something about 2.30, that's when mine start asking to come in too.. I turn them out between 6.30 and 7 with hay and some strip grazed grass which lasts them until middayish. They are then happy to mooch around for another couple of hours then come and stand by the gate. If the weather is OK I tend to leave them a bit later, they don't mess round luckily, they just stand and whinny every time they spot one of us. If the weather is bad I get them in at 2 anyway, in time for their afternoon snooze!
 
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