How long on a horse walker

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milo'n'molly

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Just wondered really as someone mentioned to me that horse walkers are evil, well she didn't say evil but that they caused all sorts of soundness issues an horses should never do more than 5 mins each way as the circle is too small. :confused:

Really? I can't see why, Mine is doing 15 mins each way twice a day to start building her up. Is that really too much?
 
mine used to do about an hour a day, 30 mins each way, on concrete, at walk. i even trotted them on it occasionally, if they got sluggish. (i know, i know, straight to hell i go. i know better now...)
my grey was on it for 3 hours once, i totally forgot i'd put her on there, ooops. she just plodded round... oh, and she was a tough old thing who retired totally sound (retired due to cataract, not lameless) after about 8 seasons of eventing... the hours on the walker did her no harm.
 
I do think some people put horses on walkers for too long, especailly if they don't do much. Mine are fit and go on for around 50 mins per day. It also depends on the diameter of circle and surface. I'm lucky enough to have a large one at 55ft.

A lot of Pro horses go on for 1 1/2 - 2 hours per day.
 
mine goes on for around 30-40 minutes a day.

at yards I have worked at usual time was 45-60 mins.

if you only did 5 mins before swapping directions etc you would need to employ someone just to man the horse walker! :)
 
Mine go one for 30-40 mins at night while I muck out, they have 15-20 mins each way, although sometimes I forget to change them over and so then just do them the other way the next night, doesn't seem to do them any harm.......
 
Mine will do anything from 20 mins, as a warm up before schooling, to 45 mins, if I am mucking out all three. We do try do make sure that they go in a different direction morning and night.

Someone who has grown up in the racing industry did once suggest leaving Stanley on there for over an hour to wear him out before longreining...

Someone on the yard the other night was having a particularly blond moment and switched the walker off when they took their horse off - switch the lights off and left one of my boys standing there wondering if he'd been forgotten. Its a good job he is such a sweet tempered horse... and that I found him after only a few minutes!
 
Vetwrap said:
Someone on the yard the other night was having a particularly blond moment and switched the walker off when they took their horse off - switch the lights off and left one of my boys standing there wondering if he'd been forgotten. Its a good job he is such a sweet tempered horse... and that I found him after only a few minutes!
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Aw bless.:D
 
Mine is a Kylix horse walker and every 5 minutes it automatically slows down, stops, then goes the other way. The horses soon got used to it and turn themselves round ready for the new direction! I put them on for 40 mins in the morning while we are mucking out! I couldn't do without it now - especially when we had all that show and couldn't ride in the arena.
 
milo'n'molly said:
yeah, thats what i thought :)
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Ah you need one with a Deluxe programme box..............you can vary the time, speed and direction. So you can make your own programmes up.............it's fab :D It even goes up to 16km per hour which is fast trot speed. So then the walker automatically does everything for you.

However, mine is also a Kylix and it has broken down numerous times, and Kylix are AWFUL with customer service. We're hoping we've sorted it now with a engineering company.
 
Our yard has just had a second hand one put in, YAY :)

The pointers go on for between an hour and a half, and 2 hours each day, split into 2 sessions, one each way, morning and evening.

Rocky doesnt go on daily, but when he does its usually just for about half an hour-45 mins :)

(Its a 6 horse [claydon] walker, so pretty big and has rubber flooring down which has quite a bit of give in it) :)
 
Has anyone used a treadmill? I am just speccing out my stable yard (woohooo at long last) and cant decide between a walker and a treadmill.

I have two horses at the moment (this might increase when they come home coz I wont be paying huge livery bills!) and plan on using morning and night at muck out times.

Treadmill takes far less space and means the horse is walking straight but obviously only one can go on at a time. I have used walkers and like them and they help no end with fitness and when the arena is frozen.

Thoughts??
 
No comparison!!! I would go for the treadmill 100% of the time if given the choice.

Most of the top yards in Europe have got treadmills, rather than horse walkers -- there must be a reason ;)

Much better for the horses as they walk in a straight line. Also they can walk uphill. And, invaluable for dressage horses, the speed and tempo remains always the same on a treadmill while on a horsewalker they can become sluggish and slow down, then speed up to catch up, and so on -- not ideal.

A treadmill has got all of the advantages of a walker and none of the disadvantages :)

ETA: I have never seen a horse getting injured on a treadmill, but I have seen /heard of loads of horrific accidents on walkers :(
 
Thanks guys, thats really useful. They arent cheap but so much smaller than the walker and it will allow me to put undercover whereas it will need to be a massive barn to go over a walker unless i got one with a hood.

I showjump and need to do lots of hill work with one of mine so the treadmill on an incline would work well.

Cheers.
 
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