Horsewalkers - Invaluable or fad??

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Vicki_Krystal

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I have my own opinion on the use of them!

But whats yours?

Do you think too many people use them as a quick fix for fitness OR do you think they are a valuablle way to keep fitness levels.

Just interested in your views really!
 
I won't be the most qualified person to answer this I'm sure but I spent a year working for an international SJ'r and while there he decided to get a Horsewalker. Both his main groom (of many years) and I were skeptical. I had never come across one before for starters!
Anyway, walker was installed and we were left to get on with it!. I have to say every single Horse took to it immediately. What we did was pop them on whilst we were mucking out so they all got about 20 -30 mins each way. We also would tack up next Horse for rider and pop him or her on and do the same for cool down (though this wasn't a must do, just when it suited).
I must admit for me when I was left with a few when they were at shows it was great. I could pop 5 on and mucking out took less time. I just switched direction halfway through stable 3. It also meant that the 'edge' was taken off them for when I worked them :-) . Some would have a good buck and prance on it!!
Now, said yard the Horses lived in. They did have plenty forage (I believe not that usual for SJ yards though that's only what I heard) and would get turned out as often as possible for about an hour or two a day.
I am a big believer in Horses living out - BUT for those who want to (or have no choice but to) stable most of the time I think walkers are brilliant. Not one Horse (and we even put youngsters on it) was reluctant to go on it, and most clearly loved it. If I were buying one I'd buy an oval shaped rather than a circle - not that I could ever afford one (or need one as mine lives out anyway!!). There was one (sorry) big doofus of a Horse (he was lovely though) that learned to stop and splay his hind legs to halt the mechanism. Good job you could switch on the 'zapper' - electrified partition strip. Soon sorted him out!! Oh dear am I cruel?? In fairness I zapped myself on it once and it was no worse than an electric fence!!
 
Dont particularly like them. We have one at our yard and I would only use it when absolutley necessary. (In winter when road is icy and school frozen/snowy)

I think the poster above said it all - the horse learnt to stop the mechanism because it didn't want to walk in circles for half an hour!

I believe, though I am not sure, that it is not very good for the joints because they are turning in a fairly tight circle..?

Hacking is much better if you can get them out..straight lines all the way! ;)
 
You can't build - or even really maintain - peak fitness with one. But where you have the space and the money they are an excellent tool.

You can use them to warm up / cool down as Suzysparkle said. You can use it to help mainatin some level of fitness if the rider is injured or unavailable. You can take the edge of something a bit fizzy.

They do go fast enough to keep a fair trot - but I'm not sure I'd use them at that for any length of time. More becuase the concrete floor is a bit relentless for a long period of trot to my mind. Walking is fine.

Oddly the one time we couldn't use it was in the snow becuase it got ice patches in it and we didn't want the horses to slip.

Horses don't think the way we do. They simply are not capable of determining that they don't want to walk in a circle for half and hour - they don't have that concept. They may well decide they don't want to walk at the moment. But that is really the best we can get from them. Horses live in the moment and cannot plan to the extent of determining "I don't want to walk in a circle for half and hour so I'll stop."

Anyway ours love looking over the top and seeing what is going on. A never ending kalidoscope!
 
I think they have their positives uses but unfortunately i believe in many cases they are used for less positive reasons e.g. as a substitute for turnout. This is better than being in a stable 24/7 but obviously not as good as freedom in the field to graze, socialise and roll.

I dont think round ones are great on the horses legs- oval ones are better. the flooring can also be c**p!

If used as a tool on a yard then great but they should be just that- an aid- and not used to short cut proper horsemanship.
 
petethepainter said:
I think the poster above said it all - the horse learnt to stop the mechanism because it didn't want to walk in circles for half an hour!

QUOTE]
No,she said ONE horse on the yard objected to it,the others all took to it right away.
I have no real opinion of them,if you like them use it if you don't,don't- simples :)
Logic says it should help with fitness though as they will be walking at a decent pace which is a very different thing to mooching around the field.
Click to expand...
 
Our walker has been invaluable with box rests! We can have up to twleve TBs in at one time, all on box rest and very very cross!
Ours is covered, with rubber block thingies as the floor so it has a bit of spring, and is much nicer than a sand and rubber chip surface as it doesn't heap up the sides. It is so helpful, particularly when I'm on my own, to be able to put horses on while I'm mucking out, and know that they can't easily do further damage. I'd much rather have them walking on the rubber than being idiots on the road in hand, or on the yard!
They all get their time on the walker as they need it, and as they are taken off, they have a pick of grass in hand, and, if they're sensible enough and their injuries can hold up to it, they get turned out for half an hour in a small pen.

It has been fantastic for us to take the edge of idiotic TBs, and occasionally I'll use it to cool down my old boy if he's working really hard, or to dry him off after a bath as he gets so cold standing around - even under the solarium, SUCH a wimp!
 
I worked on a pro yard and everything got put on the walker - most taking to it instantly.

I believe the walker was priceless on that yard as there were so many horses to do a day.

Ive only heard of a few accidents on them - one was fatal - horse was titting around and fly bucked high enough to get its back leg above the grill behind - resulting in a flip and a broken neck / leg.

Just intersted in views really as you hear so many differing accounts on them.
 
They are a great excuse for not turning out. As such I dislike them intensely. How often do you hear people say 'he doesn't get turned out but he goes on the horse walker twice a day, so that's okay'. Not okay, not okay at all. They are completely unnatural, unhealthy and unnecessary. Just turn your horses out!
 
I like them. The last yard I was on had one although it didnt always work properly. I would put my horse on it while I mucked out. Especially useful in the winter. I also used it as a warm up as my horse was a bit cold backed and a cool down and on her days off being ridden I would put her on it for 20-30mins while mucking out.

My new yard doesnt have one but the stables are huge so easy to muckout while horse is in stable and there is a big indoor school instead so swings and roundabouts!
 
We could not function in the winter without the walker. Ours has a rubber floor, not sure I would ever use one with a concrete floor, I don't consider that safe in case they prat around and slip.

We have limited winter turn out, and if the horses cannot go out then at least we have the option of putting them on the walker. For example, when we had all of the snow and ice, there was no way we could get them off the yard, but we managed to make a safe walkway to the walker so we could exercise them, and it kept them slightly more sane for when we got back on ;)

They are invaluable for taking the edge off horses at times before riding. Also fab for getting the horse out of the box when mucking out.

We do not use ours for gaining fitness, more maintaining, and I would never, ever want to see anyone using theirs for trot work, that is a huge no-no to me.
 
I love the horse walker at my yard, its a good aid for warming up and cooling off the horses, as well as general stretch of legs when stabled and also if you want to give your horse a ''day off'' however keeping the horse doing something.
I do however like to be able change direction off it for the muscle developement
 
Having a walker was invaluable for my boy after his two leg injuries - he had to build up to an hour a day on the walker. Unfortunately he is exceptionally clever (when he wants to be) and learnt to sit on the partition untill the whole thing breaks. We tried tying him to the front partition but he learnt to lean all his weight against it and broke it again, so we've given up with walkers now. That said - I've not met another horse who's figured out how to break them so quickly, and they're very useful for horses who like to be 'out and about'.
 
They have their uses.
I hate them being used in replacement of turnout, it is just not the same, but I suppose if the option is between nothing and half an hour on the walker, the walker is better as they can stretch their legs and get some fresh air. But not a replacement for giving them chance to be horses.

I used one on my boy when I took him to college, it was of course all very exciting so to take the edge off him before riding I popped him on it for 5 minutes each way to just let him get his gawping out the way and stretch his legs. He soon learnt how to stop it tho and sadly it was one without the zapper!
But my mum has found it to be invaluable. August last year her mare tore her hind tendons and was on box rest until April this year. As you can imagine she lost all her muscle and after that much time in, wasn't even field fit & liable to go loony when 1st turned out, being so unfit meant she'd have probably put herself straight back to square one. Equally my mum didn't feel it was fair to ask an unfit horse or safe to take a spirited one that had had 9 months off to go straight into ridden work. So she went onto training livery at a nearby yard with a walker for 3 weeks where they built her up to going on 3 times a day for however long and she's come back looking fit & well enough to be turned back out- has also been beneficial in reminding her what work is and starting to get her a little fit before riding again.

So in terms of increasing fitness/sole measures of exercise for anything more than field fitness or maintenance I don't think it would be of much help or my preffered method of choice but it can have it's uses.
 
I have a similar story to chaps, in that my horse was so naughty after box rest he was in danger of re-injuring himself, me and the general public. Vet thought it was a good idea for him to go to a rehab yard where he could be re-introduced to work on the horse walker. He was built up to doing 3 sessions a day. The insurance company paid for a proportion of it too which was a nice surprise. This walker isn't huge and it is round and has a rubber floor.

Most horses seem to take to them easily and well and I haven't heard of many accidents, although I did hear of 2 stallions being put on the walker at the same time and one jumped into the other stallion's section. I didn't hear the outcome though!
 
As mine had soft tissue damage to the back of the foot, I was advised to keep him off them as the constant turning can make that sort of injury worse.

But I can see where they can be useful.
 
I had never been on a yard with a walker until I moved to this one 18 months ago and now find the walker invaluable.

I wouldn't use it at a substitute for turnout however, like Weezy, we sometimes have to limit turnout in the winter so the walker gets a lot of use then. During the worst part of the winter (snow & ice), ours stayed in for 3 or 4 weeks so they all went on the walker two or three times a day. It was in constant use, with 12 liveries and 15 race horses needing to go on twice a day!

Other than that, I use it when my horse needs more exercise than I can give him. He tends towards being a porker so despite being on a starvation paddock and coming in during the day, he also needs a lot of work which isn't always possible with work. He is worked 6 or 7 days per week as it is (and not just pootling around the block or endless circles in the arena - he is schooled with hacks to cool off, hacked for around an hour in the week, does canter work / interval training on the fields, jumps, hacks both weekend days for around 2-2.5 hours each time) so the easiest way for me to increase his exercise is to have him put on the walker in the mornings when YO brings him in for the day. He doesn't go on every day but even 2 or 3 sessions in the week means he's getting extra work to help me keep the weight off.
 
well the one at my old yard was ****. I didnt put my horse in it it wasnt safe! We are half way through having one instaled on my new yard and it is electrified so the horses wont try and stop it or anything, and it like beeps after a set time and goes the other way and the horses learn to turn around at the beep before they get a shock. I think its the only way you will keep some horses from breaking them.

For some people they are a waste of time if all they do is hack at a weekend but for some people its a good idea really. great for cooling off or just as a second exercise each day.
 
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