Horses being naughty in the field - any advice?

[rforsyth1984]

Theres hardly any grass in our fields, and for the first time ever, our horses are on restricted turnout. Despite this, they are at time still behaving like horses (!). I had a complaint today that my horse leant on the gate, causing it to break (a piece of wood that the gate bolts into broke). I then found out that he did this at the weekend too.

Any suggestions to what I can do? They are already limited to 4-6 hours a day turnout, and I don't want to limit it any more as he has arthritis and a dust allergy (and weaves when he has to stay in on his own).

We are not allowed to put haylage in the field. He is used to being out for 12 hours a day, and I think it might be the change in field routine (horses going in and out at different times and all of them getting brought in earlier) thats upsetting him?

My horse isn't the only one doing 'destructive' things but he is getting blamed for most of it because he seems to be the one people catch doing things.

 

[CBFan]

ours have been right thugs all winter but now we have a few tiny shoots of grass coming through they've been behaving themselves much more...

I'd sugest you try and give your boy a little more work so he just feels like sleeping when he gets to the field and pehaps you could give him / them some toys to play with in the stable or in the field... snack balls, footballs, tubtrugs smeared in mollasses... just stuff for them to investigate and 'destroy' which won't cause them any harm...

 

[rforsyth1984]

I could certainly try working him a bit harder, will give that a go. Not allowed to put things in the field, I think the yard owner is worried about them fighting with their being up to 9 horses in there.

It's so frustrating because I know he'd hate to be stuck in, and I don't actually think he wants to come in - more likely he wants to get to the grass and plants outside the field, but how do you tell a horse not to lean on things?!

 

[Kat]

Can't YO put a strip of electric tape along the inside of the gate. It should put him off doing it for good if he gets a couple of shocks!

 

[rforsyth1984]

I dare say if the gate didn't just ping open every time a horse leant on it he probably wouldn't do it. I'm going to put a chain around the gate post and gate, so at least if he pushes the strip of wood off that blocks the bolt, he shouldnt be able to get out. Thanks for replies, and thanks for not telling me what a naughty horse and bad owner we are, it was starting to get me down a bit!

 

[midoak matrix]

if geting to the grass is what he wants working him harder probably wont make a difference but if they have a go at you again id put your point of view across because the last thing you want is for your horses safety to be put at risk by him breaking out which is why adequate fencing/gates should be in place.if its that easily broken they should be taking other measures to secure the horses even if it is puting a chain round the gate or electric tape up.

 

[rforsyth1984]

I suspect you may be right about the extra work not having much effect. I think I'd just like to be seen to be at least trying to do something because I'm so fed up at arriving at the yard to 'bad news' and feeling fed up and helpless.

 

[midoak matrix]

dont take all the blame on yourself and your horse.we have an escapie at the moment so hes been stabled tonight and we'l double check fences tomorrow. difference is hes escaping out of electric fencing into a field with secure gate.

 

[Dolcé]

I'm quite shocked that you would even get a comment about him breaking the gate tbh! Our YO would have just repaired the gate and made sure it was strong enough that it couldn't happen again - do we not pay for our horses to be safe! Horses do things like this, they break fence posts by rubbing their bums on them, they chew fence rails or break them by leaning over them to eat the grass on the other side - it is what they do and anybody that runs a livery business should have thought of this before they decided to make their money that way! If they don't allow you to put forage in the field then I'm not surprised your horse is trying to find something to eat over the gate - we feed 13 in the field with either hay or haylage and as long as any leftover is cleared up then it doesn't harm the field.

Your horse isn't being naughty, he is just being a horse, so don't worry and get you YO told to repair the gate properly!

 

[goldanas49]

It's up to the yard owner to provide secure strong gates and if they wont then the electric tape should work, ideally with electricity in it.

 

[rforsyth1984]

Thanks everyone, I have to say I agree it is YO's job to maintain the gates etc, but when you get whinged at so often you start to feel like its just your horse. I'm going to speak to her later.

 

[siennamum]

I would be concerned about the situation more for the horses well being tbh. A small field with little food with 9 grumpy horses in it sounds like a bit of a recipe for disaster.
Can you give him extra food before he goes out so he isn't hungry? YO is asking for something to get kicked, hopefully the grass will start coming through and they will all settle down soon.

 

[HollyWoozle]

Don't worry about having a naughty horse - Belle likes to smash things up, cut up the grass by charging around, stamp all the time etc. etc. Luckily, she's on my parents' land, but you're not the only one with a naughty beast!

 

[MochaDun]

We have 12 geldings out together at the moment in a field with no grass yet and are getting some high jinks too, we also can't put supplementary hay in. All I'm getting is a pony with lots of bites and some others have torn rugs. It's one of those things unfortunately at this time of year when we've had such a bad winter and while they can be out longer as it's lighter and the field is dry there's no food. At the moment to try and stop my gelding getting too hungry out there and messing about I am giving a small haynet before he goes out in the morning and if I can I get up there earlier than they would normally be brought in to ride. Although some of the horses aren't bothered about coming in early they just all seem to gather at the gate from a certain time as they've had a restricted routine all winter and also know there's haynets in their stables! Let's just pray for the grass to slowly start to grow!

 

[Tinypony]

They aren't being naughty. They are behaving as any horse would when there is a shortage of forage. I'd be worried that one of them is going to get injured, as fights happen when they are competing for resources. Not allowed to put hay out in the field... I hope the YO is going to pay the vets bills then.

 

[AmyMay]

Are any of these horses getting any work? The play rate descreased quite dramatically when a horse has a job........