Horse wont come out of his stable

Status
Not open for further replies.
rubyroo92 said:
People seem to think or not read properly that I "zapped" my horse on purpose, I know my horse and know to make sure all electric is turned off this goes for fencing as even the ticking sound will upset him,
I put him on NO electric and SOMEONE ELSE turned it on when putting their horse on I was asking for advice not a lecture in electric on horse walkers
I love my horse more than anything and seening him genuinely scared has broke my heart I do not need lectures.
Thank you
Click to expand...
Sorry OP, my comment was regarding the barbarism of zapping horses with walker panels in general, I did indeed realise that you hadn't done this yourself and it had been done to your horse. In your position I would be outraged.
 
Rowreach said:
Honestly it's not like you're holding a taser to their chests, it's absolutely no different to putting them in a field with electric fencing and most horses treat it the same way. If they don't like the zap (and it really is a mild zap, I have tried it) then they keep moving, and if they don't mind it or are small enough or canny enough, then they will position themselves so it doesn't touch them and they can still stop the walker. It's a taught thick metal wire between rubber bushels, not the whole partition that's zappy.
Click to expand...
It absolutely is not the same thing. In a field they can lie down, move around, do as they please and avoid ever touching the fence. In a walker they are forced to walk, like it or not, in small circles in a confined cubicle - and to zap them up the backside if they dawdle or stop is just inhumane. We will never agree on this.
 
Landcruiser said:
It absolutely is not the same thing. In a field they can lie down, move around, do as they please and avoid ever touching the fence. In a walker they are forced to walk, like it or not, in small circles in a confined cubicle - and to zap them up the backside if they dawdle or stop is just inhumane. We will never agree on this.
Click to expand...
I don't need you to agree, it is a fact that every single horsewalker manufacturer includes electrified pushers either as a standard or as an add on, and if you and others on here really have a problem with it then you should probably start a petition to get them banned (having proved that they are barbaric/inhumane/instruments of torture etc etc).

Doing something that makes a horse walk on, when it might rather be lying down, moving around or doing as it pleases is exactly what we do when we ride (endlessly round arenas in particular), lunge, lead or stick them in a stable for hours on end. But that's fine obviously because ...
 
Clicker training works fantastically for things like this. I'm not a rabid clicker trainer by any means, but in this instance it would be my go to. It rewards and tiny improvement and encourages the horse to offer behaviours, which is exactly what you want, as opposed to the frightened shut down horse you have now. Theres lots of videos on youtube to show you how to prime it.
 
Slightly OT but still on walkers. I also hate them for various reasons. People being stupid with them and using them when backing/breaking is one of my top hates.

I must admit when I was a junior groom I worked on a yard where we put 5/6 horses on the walker and went in for a tea break. As you can imagine this is a bad idea as we got a panicked phone call from a neighbour saying that two horses were in one compartment together…..
The two biggest horses on the yard were side by side squidging round. Minor cuts and bruises but no lasting damage. We did not leave them unattended again.
 
I’ve been zapped many many times by walkers, it’s really not that bad but I appreciate it has obviously scarred this poor chap.
I’ve never used a walker with the electric on for my own horses, I’ve never needed to, but yard after yard I’ve worked at it’s a very regular thing.
 
paddy555 said:
I would think this is now so stuck in his memory (and he may be a very sensitive horse) and it is going to be difficult to get rid of it. I think the only way to get a happy horse again is to move stables well away from sight and sound of the walker.
Click to expand...
Yep, I have a dog who got a shock off a fence many many years ago and still won’t go near a field with horses. He obviously puts the two together.
 
Rowreach said:
(having proved that they are barbaric/inhumane/instruments of torture etc etc).
Click to expand...
why should we have to prove it? Perhaps people who want to use them should justify that they are not.

I think most of the public would think sticking an electric wire behind a horse (and or in front of it) to control it was unacceptable. This horse apparently thought so. :rolleyes:
 
Be good if you could move to another stable and as others have said do nice things to try to help him. Not the same, but a friend’s horse had a big issue going back into a barn stable after a pig from a farm nearby had escaped and ended up in the stable block - indeed put in the stable next to my horse whilst the owner was contacted. My horse just thought it was a new friend. The other horse was so wary about the stables for a few days, possibly because the smell of piggy remained but he did relax and settle back down over period of time. Good luck.
 
Suncat said:
Erm, is that an actual thing? Promise this is an honest question, not trying to derail the thread or be provocative. Or possibly an idiot! I've never used a walker or had much opportunity to - they don't have an electric prod built into them do they surely...?

(edited for spelling)
Click to expand...

many do - to prevent the horses from sitting on them. I’ve never used it though.
 
I think one of the issues for me would be, electric installations of any sort, even a supposedly small zap inflicted on a walker is not fail safe. I don't like walkers, with or without the electric nudge on them but that is a personal opinion on what type of thing I find unacceptable in horse care generally.

I had a horse in a stable once very badly zapped when the electric fencing behind his stable fluttered against an iron girder that made up one corner of his stable. That is where I hung is hay net each evening and it became live without my knowledge obviously. I can assure you the zap coming through that iron girder that he was brushing his mouth and head against was far from the small and much more powerful than the zap he would have got of the fence, with the iron girder acting as a conduit.

I know nothing at all about electricity but try holding a metal pole and touching your field electric fencer with it, it would blow your socks off. Poor horse was very traumatised about his stable and in particular his hay net for sometime afterwards. I am very wary of any sort of installation like fencing or a walker zap now, it would take a very small and possibly intermittent fault to turn a minor zap into one hell of a shock where there is a lot of metal around as there is in a walker.
 
It's not really the shock itself that I object to - it's the psychological pressure of being stuck between adverse stimuli in a small, confined space, with no prospect of avoiding it.

A horse can move away from an electric fence, assuming it's not a ridiculously small pen, and find some psychological release. If you ask a horse to move under saddle (or in hand) you probably aren't (or shouldn't be) simultaneously blocking it from moving forward - you can release to reward the idea you want. It's not the same - to me - as trapping a horse in a small, moving space in which it has no options, other than to walk at a predetermined speed on a predetermined circle.
 
Get a lick put in a bucket. Let him lick it a couple of times in the stable, move the bucket foward each time. Only let him lick it a couple of times. Then take it away. Moving forward each time until he is out. Then move him away from the stable. It might take you a few days to do this. The key is to take his mind off things but he is doing it himself.
 
Rowreach said:
you should probably start a petition to get them banned (having proved that they are barbaric/inhumane/instruments of torture etc etc).
Click to expand...
Nah, it’s on the people who want to use them to justify how blocking a horse between two electrified components and forcing it to walk round in circles is in anyway beneficial to the animal.

I’ll never stop being amazed at the things some people will justify doing to horses in the name of sport.

OP, I’m so sorry that happened to your horse. I’m not surprised he’s upset, mine would be too.
 
Rowreach said:
I don't need you to agree, it is a fact that every single horsewalker manufacturer includes electrified pushers either as a standard or as an add on, and if you and others on here really have a problem with it then you should probably start a petition to get them banned (having proved that they are barbaric/inhumane/instruments of torture etc etc).

Doing something that makes a horse walk on, when it might rather be lying down, moving around or doing as it pleases is exactly what we do when we ride (endlessly round arenas in particular), lunge, lead or stick them in a stable for hours on end. But that's fine obviously because ...
Click to expand...
There's asking a horse to move on with gentle aids and there's inflicting pain and potentially fear in this way. Again, not the same. And no, sticking them in stables or over lunging or endless schooling - also not ok. And also irrelevant to this conversation. But we are hijacking OP's thread, so I will butt out.
 
I would worry
JFTDWS said:
It's not really the shock itself that I object to - it's the psychological pressure of being stuck between adverse stimuli in a small, confined space, with no prospect of avoiding it.

A horse can move away from an electric fence, assuming it's not a ridiculously small pen, and find some psychological release. If you ask a horse to move under saddle (or in hand) you probably aren't (or shouldn't be) simultaneously blocking it from moving forward - you can release to reward the idea you want. It's not the same - to me - as trapping a horse in a small, moving space in which it has no options, other than to walk at a predetermined speed on a predetermined circle.
Click to expand...

I agree fully with this but also it may just be a “zap” to some but to others it may feel much worse. Like humans, horse’s tolerances vary widely. Let’s not forget some shetlands will happily rage war on electric fences but other horses really hate it and will run off in a panic after a shock.

I’m another that didn’t realise they were electrified. I’ve never had the want to use one but I’d never put one of mine in a walker that could shock them.

Sorry this happened to your horse OP. Lots of good advice above. Hopefully you’ll find something that works for him.
 
equinerebel said:
Nah, it’s on the people who want to use them to justify how blocking a horse between two electrified components
Click to expand...
genuine question to those familiar with this (I hadn't heard of this till today) if the horse is blocked in per above quote and it gets zapped on it's bum and rushes forward and then gets zapped in front for doing so and then panics, what then?
I would never use one but I have had a couple of very nervous horses and if that happened and they were trapped I have no idea what they would do, go down, go up, panic or what as the walker is presumably going round and round with horses already fastened in it. If a horse goes down for some reason does the walker automatically stop somehow is there is no one supervising? I wouldn't like to be in the horse's pen if it panicked.

Perhaps I am overthinking but I look at everything horse related from a safety POV and how I am going to deal with a trapped/panicking horse problem. :D
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top