Turning a horse out in a field

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MochaDun

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What's your method?

a) Do you always walk through the gate and let it close behind you and make the horse turn round and stand so it's facing the gate before you take the headcollar off?
b) Or do you push the gate open onehanded and brace it against you, so you and the horse are standing in the partially open gateway whilst you awkwardly pull the headcollar off over the horse's ears... before it shoots off forward up the field?

I was always taught to do a) so that the horse learns to wait and stand before going off as in it's good manners for the horse to learn.
 
...it depends if it is my horse or not!!

With my young horse, I walk into the field, make him stand then take the rope off and with the other two, older, sensible girls, I just let them go vaguely near the gate and they wander off....

If it was someone elses horse, I would make sure the gate was shut before letting it go!
 
Depends, if im turning out in the paddock, then ill just take the head collar off at the gate and the horses will calmly walk through the gate into the paddock. However, if i'm turning out into the field then they're taken in, turned around and then released and I step back and out.
 
Our field opens onto our yard, so I just open the stable door and shoo them in the right general direction. If we're using one of the other fields then i sling a lead rope over their necks and lead them down, open the gate then let them go through it on their own. :p

If I was turning out an unknown horse in a separate field, though, I'd do it the BHS way. And from time to time I do it that way just to make sure the horses still mind their manners!
 
:o If it's my horse he walks beside me without a lead rope or headcollar and he stands beside me while I open the gate and he wanders through...then he gets the carrot that's in my pocket.

Leading anyone else's horse and I do a!! :D
 
When I'm turning out a horse into a seperate padock in amongst the horses that are loose, I always shut the gate first ;)

My horse goes out through his yard, so I just open the gate :p
 
With my own horse as a rule i will get her in the gateway turned to face the gate and then let her go with the gate still partly open but we only have a pedestrian width gate so difficult for her to get back out and nothing else can squeeze past. If i think she's in the kind of mood to bugger off before i get a chance to remove her headcollar (its been known :)) i'll close the gate first!

If it was a horse i was looking after or one i did not know i would always shut the gate behind me.

I was always taught to face gate to fence but have learned in the past you can still nearly get a hoof in the face if they have a tendancy to spin around on a sixpence and boot it off down the field :rolleyes:
 
I either do A as it is or do A but shut the gate with me on the outside and him in the field. If I don't have any sweets for him I do A-revised as it enables me to get away quicker and make me feel less guilty as he pulls "I'm starving" faces at me.
 
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If it was a horse i was looking after or one i did not know i would always shut the gate behind me.

I was always taught to face gate to fence but have learned in the past you can still nearly get a hoof in the face if they have a tendancy to spin around on a sixpence and boot it off down the field :rolleyes:
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So true. I never make the horse face 180 degrees away from his field mates, if he tanks off, especially with a flybuck, you might get a boot in the head. I tend to stand them at 90 degrees so if they are rude, I'm out of the way.
Mine are taught to stand calmly and wait for permission to go after the headcollar comes off.
Cob is a dog, therefore he ambles down himself and goes in once gate is opened, except when there's no good grass in the field, then he needs a slap on the rump to get in.
 
I do (a) even with my own horse who is a donkey. And after undoing the halter I ask her to bend her head towards me for me to finish taking it off so she is focused on me not on leaving.
And catching - I stand on the other side of the gate and wait for her to come in. I don't want to go in the field any more since I was walking up the field at my friend's yard and got run over and kicked by a horse I didn't know.
 
I know I should do the turning round gig but tbh I just tend to let them go vaguely near their paddocks (In my defence the paddocks are within a larger field so if they did 'go the wrong way' the only place they could get is another paddock.

BnBx
 
Always A - not so much because i think he will run off ( he loves his turnout) but hes a bolshy cob who i have had to work very hard with to instill some manners.
I have to insist on manners all the time otherwise he takes the mick - i also do A method when i bring him into his stable - i make him turn and face the door and stand still while i bolt it - then i take his head collar off, give him a good head rub and let him go to his hay - i insist he stands while i do this - he used to be a terrible one for barging out of his stable (and havign a 15 hands sturdy cob coming straight at you is not nice) - this consistency has really paid off xxx
 
Ppen gate, lead in, shut gate (absolutly always, am paranoid of any accidents with a legging it horse!!). Then I ask mare to woah, if she doesn't woah to my voice then she is asked to back up (she has a tendency to be a bit bargy so we keep up on manners reminders!). Then she will be standing calmly so I slip her headcollar off, my hand gently on her nose, I kiss her on the cheek and move my hand - off she ambles to eat! If she trys to push or barge off then I keep my hand there until she waits then she is allowed to walk off. I don't turn away from the gate as I think I'm more likely to get smacked sideways by a barging arse than I am from a horse going straight up the field!!
 
we put them out with a leadrope round her neck and lead them to the field...99% of the horses on the yard have manners (mine included) then just let them go at the gate

or on weekends normally from a headcollar and that way - the days i use a headcollar i make her turn round and stand before i let her go.

never had a problem.
 
Depends which horse.

With Cappy I do it the proper way, which is imho open gate, go through, turn around, shut gate and take off head collar, mainly 'cos he has to have firm boundaries and likes to know where he stands, not because he is badly behaved but he will push his luck if allowed or is he is feeling a bit frisky.

But with Fany we just open the stable door and she follows you to the field, then when she comes in just open the gate and she takes herself back in.

ETA there is about 10 feet from barn door to her field gate so no issues with her possibly p*ssing off. Also her "baby" is usually with her and she is anxious to catch up with her or one of her boys.

FDC
 
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With ours our fields are about 30feet from the stables so I put hay out, leave gate open and then open the stable doors one by one! Any other horse I open gate, lead horse through, turn round to shut gate and then with horse facing into the field I let them go so I don't get kicked in the face if they spin!
 
A.

Ours are taught manners, and to wait on whoever is handling them for instructions etc.

But then again.....Bruce is too lazy to try running off before I'm ready....far more interested in eating :)
 
I always turn a horse towards me and the gate, not only does it teach them to wait but also it keeps you out of the way of flying feet as much as possible if horsey does decide to career around the field from a stand still.
 
Definitely a) don't want to get booted in the head!!

Normally put 2 out at a time so they have to turn around really. :)
 
A - appart from i close the gate as it doesnt swing closed!! As said previously teaches manners, cant stand rude bargy horses. Friends tacktics are as follows - pony bouncing towards field, followed by a "OPEN THE GATE QUICKLY" and pony let off as it steps a foot in the field.
 
Always A. Annoys me when I turn other peoples' horses out and they don't turn round after going through the gate - my two do out of habit.
 
Always a for my 2 also, Big fell/dales gelding Jack goes down the middle of the 2 fields if he is not turned back towards the gate, I learnt to always turn him and then walk and turn into field then take headcollar off, spent 35mins one frosty morning trying to get the big bugger back up to the correct field!!!
My little girly has just walked off down the middle a couple of times but she thought she had actually gone into the field!! so now the same for her:
turned at gate, close gate, lead into field and turned, headcollar off and away!!!
 
Always take in, close gate, turn to face the gate, headcollar off. Anything else can cause an accident - I have seen enough horses take off and kick out when bombing off.
 
We always do A, more for manners than anything else as they all live out so tend not to race off when they go back in. This is the way I was taught to do it as a child and it has just stuck.
 
Whether into an arena or a field I always walk in make the horse turn around, close the gate then take the headcollar off and step back, and I always make sure I have room to step back incase they buck. A bit paranoid but I used to work with some bolshy horses.
 
Depends on them and their moods! Generally I turn the around when they're in chifneys!! and stop and let them walk off when in headcollars!! LOL!
 
Funny story.... I used to have three horses kept at a farm down the lane. During the summer months they hated all the flies so I used to bring them into the barn for the day. Every single day I would walk down the lane with the dogs, into their field at the top gate where they would be waiting for me, we all wandered down to the bottom gate which led out onto the road and then literally five paces into the barn. Every single day I would leave them at the bottom get, go in to get headcollars, put them all on and lead them into the barn.

One day I decided (God only knows why) that it was pointless going to get headcollars and that they would all just follow me in anyway (like a herd of cows!). How stupid could I be - I opened the gate to let them through, they took about two strides onto the lane (note this is a dead end lane - no traffic) and they immediately realised their freedom and all buggered off full pelt up the lane :eek:

I raced into the yard to get the headcollars, flagged down the postman who conveniently was driving past, threw all his parcels into the back and lept into the passenger seat and we raced off after the horses! Fortunately they didn't get very far and turned off into the car park.

So the moral of the story is...... always use a headcollar and always shut the gate!
 
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I undo the tape for dotty, walk in with headcollar on her, make her turn approx 90 degrees then let her go. Don't do up tape, go and get puzzle with headcollar on, go in to field, 90 degrees, give kiss and let go. Then I do tape, let down franks tape, open his box door and he sorts himself out!! Then go up and shut tape after him and put electrics on etc.

Saying that, the only place they could go is down to the school or to the gate which all in all is about 30m so hardly running off. Also there are always two secured 5 bar gates between them and any access to the lane/road!!

Have never understood the concept of turning to the gate, ime that encourages them to spin and bolt and flybuck, whereas even when ours are excited if I'm stood to the side of them I'm not gonna catch a hoof. Xxx
 
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