No turnout horse very unhappy

[amandap]

Ok so for those that did not miss the point of my thread and are not too busy arguing.

I would like to just say that I have been walking my boy out in the mornings for 10 mins, leg stretch, and I have been riding everyday (albeit in a bog) but interestingly enough, my pony's best friend has come back from being away for two weeks and he has been going ride and lead every afternoon (with said friend). He is back to his normal self.

So I think with a little bit of a bigger pen for kick around at the weekend and his mate home we are back on track!! Very relived.

Thank you to those that have been helpful. and I am taking him ot at the weekend to be turned out!!!!

I hope that everyone else that find themselves in difficult situations at this time manage to get things sorted too! (I sympathise with you all)

I so glad he's settled. Well done for doing all you can to help him.

 

[Tnavas]

I really don't think anyone said that horses should have no turn out -ever -. Worse existence for them is to be standing fetlock deep in mud, no grass worth grazing this time of year and with wet heavy muddy rugs on. Horses in work used to always be stabled in the winter, fit, fed and in a routine. When did horses become so neurotic that they cannot be stabled? Is it a *new age* thing?

So agree with you there! Horses are creatures of habit they enjoy a set routine - and that is a natural thing too. I remember when I worked in the New Forest a mare and foal who would be in the same place everyday around the forest. We'd see her several times each day, in a different spot but the same spot at the same time.

In the winter if the horse is in a comfortable stable, in the dry, with a deep bed and a net of hay they are usually happy. The box should be big enough that they can move around freely. Horses spend hours in the field just standing around shifting weight from one foot to the other. They don't spend all their time grazing and racing around.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

RE 'neurotic' horses that can't be stabled. I can only speak for my late mare, in her youth she had been a racehorse and was stabled full time then (bar work). She had then been a broodie and after that a companion for many, many years, never coming in ever. I got her as a nanny for youngstock, which she was perfectly suited to. I had enough land available for her to live out, so her aversion to being stabled was never an issue (I knew about it before she was gifted to me). You could leave her alone in the field with no fuss.

Well meaning horsey friends never did believe me that she hated being stabled that much (and sometimes gave me unsolicited advice on how to solve the issue), until they saw her waiting for the Farrier (the only time she ever came down to the yard) and they would generally say that they didn't expect that she would be that bad. Just being in the yard would cause constant shaking and teeth grinding.

She never wore tie-dye rugs or badly knitted items in bright colours, so I don't think that she was a 'new age' hippy... but I could be wrong.

OP - I'm glad that you have found a way to help your horse cope with the current situation.