Interesting FB page

nikicb

nikicb

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Was Surrey, now West Berkshire
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Anyone heard of these people? A FB friend posted a link to one of their threads so I looked at the page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samsara-Equitation-Ltd/160166097468272). Whilst I am not against their rehabilitation efforts, they have some interesting philosophies:

"In my experience turnout is overrated. Whoa you say!! Horses have long legs and are used to being out and about. Well, the long legs are for running and the moving about is what they have to do in order to get the nutrition they need. Try it. Open up your stable and let your horse take herself out into the field or stay in the stable. Make sure the stable has hay of course. Especially if your horse's pals are also in stables they will far prefer this over roaming in the field. Of course this does mean that you need to exercise your horse properly. "

"TFTD 16/03/2013. TO CASTRATE OR NOT TO CASTRATE. There is no earthly reason why you should castrate stallions. It seems these days it is even considered 'irresponsible' to keep a stallion whole. As a man, I for one, appreciate being kept whole. A castrated male is only half a horse. Most top horses in dressage are stallions. Also, if your horse has a career stopping injury he is still of use if he is whole. Yes, of course they take managing but that is first of all in the upbringing like any horse. We have a 6 year-old German/Dutch warmblood and my young daughters can happily lead him. Let's stop blaming the horse and look at our own short-comings. Of course stallions are not for everyone but then nor are horses."

Thoughts?
 
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Each to their own I guess I personally live by the 'lop them off, they don't need them' way of thinking. I'm never going to breed and geldings always seem much more content with life.
 
nikicb said:
Anyone heard of these people? A FB friend posted a link to one of their threads so I looked at the page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Samsara-Equitation-Ltd/160166097468272). Whilst I am not against their rehabilitation efforts, they have some interesting philosophies:

"In my experience turnout is overrated. Whoa you say!! Horses have long legs and are used to being out and about. Well, the long legs are for running and the moving about is what they have to do in order to get the nutrition they need. Try it. Open up your stable and let your horse take herself out into the field or stay in the stable. Make sure the stable has hay of course. Especially if your horse's pals are also in stables they will far prefer this over roaming in the field. Of course this does mean that you need to exercise your horse properly. "

"TFTD 16/03/2013. TO CASTRATE OR NOT TO CASTRATE. There is no earthly reason why you should castrate stallions. It seems these days it is even considered 'irresponsible' to keep a stallion whole. As a man, I for one, appreciate being kept whole. A castrated male is only half a horse. Most top horses in dressage are stallions. Also, if your horse has a career stopping injury he is still of use if he is whole. Yes, of course they take managing but that is first of all in the upbringing like any horse. We have a 6 year-old German/Dutch warmblood and my young daughters can happily lead him. Let's stop blaming the horse and look at our own short-comings. Of course stallions are not for everyone but then nor are horses."

Thoughts?
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I guess I can see both sides. Yeh if I opened the stable door my horse would most likely go for a short wander.....but he would defo go back to his stable soon enough. So perhaps it is over rated in some cases....and if a horse can't be out for 24 hours a day it's not such a big deal. But then again I do like them to get out in the field. It is a horse and it actually should live some of it's life in a field!

There is a big difference between an Olympic stallion and your bog-standard everyday amateur horse! I own a bog standard horse....and if he broke I wouldn't want to breed from him (as much as I love him he wouldn't 'progress' breeding). A stallion also has a more limited 'horsey' existence....it can't be as much of a horse as a gelding can be.......although I thoroughly agree that a stallions behaviour is all in its upbringing! And I've seen this in action!
 
Hmmm - almost reads like they are using Google translate to post! Rather unusual ideas; especially the bit against using bute to treat pain.
 
nikicb said:
"TFTD 16/03/2013. TO CASTRATE OR NOT TO CASTRATE. There is no earthly reason why you should castrate stallions. It seems these days it is even considered 'irresponsible' to keep a stallion whole. As a man, I for one, appreciate being kept whole. A castrated male is only half a horse. Most top horses in dressage are stallions. Also, if your horse has a career stopping injury he is still of use if he is whole. Yes, of course they take managing but that is first of all in the upbringing like any horse. We have a 6 year-old German/Dutch warmblood and my young daughters can happily lead him. Let's stop blaming the horse and look at our own short-comings. Of course stallions are not for everyone but then nor are horses."

Thoughts?
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so this person would agree with over-breeding then
 
I do think the turnout comment is a load of rubbish... Horses conditioned to being stabled may associate stables with food and safety as they know no different but I hazard a guess that most horses eventually given the choice of being in a stable or being in a field, if you make all things equal eg food, comfort, warmth, companions, would choose being out...

As for being left entire, I don't suppose the horse cares one way or another!
 
Hmmmm.... wish we could extend gelding to certain species of the two legged kind....

Is that wrong?? Sorry if it is but you know, just a little musing really....
 
Re the being able to breed using your stallion if it is retired due to injury... Would depend on why that injury happened. If it was due to conformational weakness then breeding from it may not be the best idea.

Agree with TandD about the differences between the average person's stallion (or gelding, as they'd keep them all as, so we might as well include all the boys) and Olympic/grand national stallions. Two totally different kettles of fish!
 
My three live out with constant access to their stables. I put hay in at some point during the day and again in the evenings. All three horses use their stables differently. One spends more time in overall but wanders in and out uite frequently. She's 22 and no longer suffers from the stiffness she had when stabled overnight. Other horse will go in for longer periods of time, often just resting and will happily share a stable and the hay with either of the others. The pony who until last year had never been stabled will hardly ever poo in her stable so wanders in and out. She also likes spending time sheltered alongside the stables but if it rains she's the first one to go inside (only one not rugged!).
The weather plays a huge part in their routine and in high winds they won't come in even for hay. Rain is less of an issue in winter but when it rains in summer when they are all unrugged there is a mad dash for shelter at the lightest shower.
As you can tell I've spent some time watching them and am fascinated with how they choose to spend their days. I'm also aware that they are very fortunate to be able to live in such a way.
 
My retired competition horse has a large airy stable, 30 x 18 ish. Bedded with deep wood chip. Door is open at all times to his paddock.

He puts himself to bed each evening in the winter and stays in bed (camera in box). He has a sleep on his chest around 11pm the eats all night before going down and on his side 5am ish, occasionally I catch still in bed in the morning. During the day he goes out and sunbathes on a nice day. As soon as it rains he goes in.

In the summer he grazes over night and sleeps in the day. He is happy as Larry as long as I don't shut him in or out.
 
I suspect that the problem here lies primarily in the communication. I think that the bute comment probably relates to horses which are "kept sound" on bute and then injure themselves further as they have no natural indicator that they should be taking it easy.

The turn out issue is a personal preference but given previous posts on the importance of exercise, I think he may be trying to say that if your horse is kept in, it isn't a problem- as long as they are properly exercised. And as for the stallion issue, I think (or rather hope) that this comment is in defense of people keeping sports horses entire and not a promotion of the local mixed breed donkey spreading it's genes.

I genuinely think this is a perfect example of why "the English language will best serve you if it's used properly."
 
LadyGascoyne said:
I suspect that the problem here lies primarily in the communication. I think that the bute comment probably relates to horses which are "kept sound" on bute and then injure themselves further as they have no natural indicator that they should be taking it easy.

The turn out issue is a personal preference but given previous posts on the importance of exercise, I think he may be trying to say that if your horse is kept in, it isn't a problem- as long as they are properly exercised. And as for the stallion issue, I think (or rather hope) that this comment is in defense of people keeping sports horses entire and not a promotion of the local mixed breed donkey spreading it's genes.

I genuinely think this is a perfect example of why "the English language will best serve you if it's used properly."
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Agree.

Ours have a large field shelter. Sometimes they're in it, sometimes they're not.

IME the result of opening all the doors on a yard is something like this:
One or two will stay put eating their hay. Most will mill around the yard being horses. One will pull all the tools onto the floor and trash them. At least one horse will go find the feed room and probably get stuck. One will go from box to box, looking for food. Three horses will put themselves in the same stable and a massive squealing match will ensue. If there are no gates on the place, at some point one will persuade the others that they should go exploring and they'll all leg it. Apart from the one who is stuck in the feed room.
 
EstherYoung said:
Agree.

Ours have a large field shelter. Sometimes they're in it, sometimes they're not.

IME the result of opening all the doors on a yard is something like this:
One or two will stay put eating their hay. Most will mill around the yard being horses. One will pull all the tools onto the floor and trash them. At least one horse will go find the feed room and probably get stuck. One will go from box to box, looking for food. Three horses will put themselves in the same stable and a massive squealing match will ensue. If there are no gates on the place, at some point one will persuade the others that they should go exploring and they'll all leg it. Apart from the one who is stuck in the feed room.
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Ha, ha, this would be the likeliest result with most of the horses I've owned over the years :-)
 
EstherYoung said:
Agree.

Ours have a large field shelter. Sometimes they're in it, sometimes they're not.

IME the result of opening all the doors on a yard is something like this:
One or two will stay put eating their hay. Most will mill around the yard being horses. One will pull all the tools onto the floor and trash them. At least one horse will go find the feed room and probably get stuck. One will go from box to box, looking for food. Three horses will put themselves in the same stable and a massive squealing match will ensue. If there are no gates on the place, at some point one will persuade the others that they should go exploring and they'll all leg it. Apart from the one who is stuck in the feed room.
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HAHA, this!

Mine lives out 24/7, and HATES being boxed for more than half an hour or so. He weaves, he kicks the door,, he tries to barge out past, he calls and spins round in the box, if very upset even does little hopping rears in the box.

If I opened, the door, even with his companions on the yard, he'd go to the field!!
 
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