Who Keeps Their Horse In 24/7 ?

xRobyn

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I personally wouldn't get a horse if circumstances meant it had to be in 24/7.

I would personally never have a horse if I could not provide it with year round good grazing.

Ditto.

I have accepted it is near impossible for me to find a yard that caters for 24/7/365 turnout and has good facilities. I want a school. Phil wants turnout. I refuse to stable him to keep myself happy. He was stabled as a colt and when he had lami in 2008. at that point he was stabled for 24 hours a day but spent about 2 hours with him, twice a day lunging and walking out. He hated it. Box walked like no tomorrow, had to be mucked out fully twice a day because he was so messy etc.

If your horse doesn't mind being stabled then fine, I personally could not look after a horse who WANTED to be confined for over half it's life, not because I hate the mucking out or don't have time/money (I don't right now because I'm a student but I'd hope that when I manage to get a job I could be at the yard twice a day and afford the huge prices), I couldn't bring myself to believe that a highly social herd animal that covers hundreds of miles daily (yes in the wild, but domestic animals don't just loose all their 'wildness') would be happy in a 10x12ft box for 23 hours a day. Personally.

As for turnout, we have a small herd of 8 individuals on 8 acres. The only mud we got was at the gate. All the horses are out all year long. I do often wonder if the amounts of mud are not just based on soil type, but management too. Ours are out all year and therefore being turned out is not cause for celebration or stress (ie pacing). They seem to maintain minimal mud despite not being rotated or restricted.
 

FrodoBeutlin

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Well I don't - mine are ridden 6 days a week and get up to 6 hours in the field every day (though Frodo has to go in a starvation paddock as he is obese). And I would hate to keep them in 23 hours a day as a general rule. But I know plenty of people who do - competition horses who are exercised once a day and then go in the horse walker - are walked in hand in the afternoon. As for the reasons, I think the two main ones are lack of or limited turnout and fear of injuries.
 

natalia

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Mine are all in 24/7, they get an hour or two out in a small paddock every couple of days. But they are all ridden and worked fairly hard DAILY, out to shows, clinics, schooling etc. at least twice week (this week my mare has been out 3 times and off out again tomorrow competing). They really don't mind, have ad lib hay, no vices and are often tied next to each other on the yard for mutual grooming time. Because they are in hard work they tend not to hoon about when turned out, just stretch their legs and mooch and are always happy to come back in!
 

NeedNewHorse

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Heidirusso - I don't think that I'm explaining very well :D My girl is turned out when it is not raining, every day. She is as good as gold, no messing around, grazes peacefully and is no problem at all. If it is raining, windy and cold she goes mental from the moment you turn her out and is a danger to herself, she hates it, she may not be human but she has got a very strong mind :rolleyes: and she knows what she doesn't like!! I have tried everything and spent a lot of time trying to 'cure' it. I am not willing to put her out when she is going to injure herself and she is much much happier in on those days. :D I think that each horse is an individual and you have to do whats right for each one :D

OH OK! lol. Well firstly, your not classed as one of the owners i have a problem with. You have tried to put your horse out, that's completely different to refusing to put your horse out, and on nice days as you say your ned goes out perfectly well. Which is good.

However, my main issue is with people who say their horses prefer to come in. Now, I do not know you, your horses history etc etc so I couldn't begin to explain what I would do, as I do not know the full ins and outs. All I could say is that, I find it hard (and when I say this, I do not mean at all that you are not stating the situation how it is) that a horse wants to come in because it's raining! What I mean is horses as a rule really do not care so much about the weather as we do. So I can only assume that at some point your horse has been brought in or something when the weather goes and this is routine. Now to change routine you have to make adjustments. I don't know whether your turnout is different in winter to summer. I mean as an example, if it's in the middle of summer and it's good weather then the next day at lunch time it starts to rain...Does your ned suddenly want to come in?

All I am saying in, as this is something I feel strongly about I would do a trial and error and do all sorts of options and whatnot to gain my horses need to want to be out no matter what the weather. So I find that somewhere, somehow the need to want to come in was caused by something/somehow... Hmm.. Very general I know but that's what I would do.. lol
OK, I think I have now not made much sense at all, so god only knows if you can understand what I mean!
xx
 

FrodoBeutlin

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I mean as an example, if it's in the middle of summer and it's good weather then the next day at lunch time it starts to rain...Does your ned suddenly want to come in?

Ah, this is interesting, Rauti is completely like this - as soon as he can feel raindrops on his ears he goes crazy, galloping like mad by the gate and neighing to go in! Irrespective of how long he's been out.

Frodo conversely couldn't care less about the rain. So it's definitely down to the individual, but there are, most certainly, horses who demand to go in if it rains.
 

MagicMelon

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I hope very very few people do keep theirs in 24/7, horrid life for a horse IMO (unless of course it has to be short term for vet reasons). But then again, I dont see why people religeously stable their horses AT ALL!!
 

UnaB

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Mine are out 24/7 as I have no stables now! But when they were on the livery yard, they had to stay in for about 10 days in the winter because the ice was so bad in the yard it was lethal. YO didnt grit or anything. I attempted to put mine out in their field after about 4 days as they were starting to look like they needed a run! But my old boy slipped and fell and I decided it wasnt worth the risk. But under normal circumstances I would not keep a horse in 24/7 and would never move to a yard that didnt offer turnout.
 

AdmiralTroy

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When I first got my horse back at the start of November last year he, unfortunately and not by choice, was in 24/7. He was on a very large yard in Falkirk, and this place, being such a big establishment, could not provide the horses in the three stable blocks with constat turnout.

Over the winter he couldn't go out as the walk across a main road and down a very steep hill to the small paddocks was too unsafe for myself and other people who attempted to put this boysterous TB into the field. He was not the only one that was never out.

It got to a point that I used to have to put him in the outdoor school for an hour or so everyday, but eventually they stopped that also.

I have now moved from this yard as this was not good enough for me and far too expensive for a service I was not receiving. He's much happier at his new home at Babbithill in Avonbridge. Doesn't like to come in, but he is much much happier, a pleasure to ride (As we couldn't even lunge him at teh previous yard cause he was wired to the moon) & a much funnier, loving horse.

I wish I had put him there in the first place rather than having him confined to his stable everyhour of everyday at the previous yard.
 

tabithakat64

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I would personally never have a horse if I could not provide it with year round good grazing. It's a pre requisite to horse ownership IMO.

Being on clay is no excuse for no turnout, we are on heavy clay, and our horses are out EVERY day no matter what.

If your paddocks are hidiously poached, then you don't have enough land to support the amount of horses being kept on it (or the land you do have is badly managed).

What she said ^^^

When it's been thick ice or snow we have dug our horses paths to the field and put shavings down in the gateway to stop it getting slippery.

Daily turnout including socialisation with other horses is the most important thing for a horses welfare in my opinion and if you cannot provide this then you shouldn't have horses.

Box rest due to illness or injury is the only reason I would keep my horse in 24/7.

I do realise however that some horses with behavioural or socialisation issues are unhappy out.
 

AdmiralTroy

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I agree with the above.

The yard that I was at previous made no attempts to make paths to the fields or anything, and being on top of a hill we had very, very bad snow in the winter. The car park was deadly because they cleared the snow and then left it as ice - when they should have just left it as snow - we could have parked in the cleared car park across the road.

The roof in the barn leaked and when it rained and then became cold ice formed on the yards also, and snow all over the stable.

Was a blooming nightmare!!
 

HarrietLong

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NO way - my horses are out from 9-5 in summer and 9 until it starts to get dark in winter. They would hate to be in their stables all day! I know my mare couldn't go out (due to HORRIFIC yard management - hence we left) and it was heartbreaking to see her in, everyone else on the yard thought so too.

I would never take a horse to a yard where there was not ample all year turnout? I don't understand why you would go to a yard knowing grazing and fields were not sufficient?
 

AdmiralTroy

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It depends on how they sell it to you. They sold it to me very very well, and even lied and said that the two massive feilds next to the arena belonged to the yard for extra turnout. Lie.


Its not just me that was fooled by this yard as now half of the DIY yard have left or are waiting out their notice period and several members of staff have left/given their notice also.
 

FionaMc

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NO way - my horses are out from 9-5 in summer and 9 until it starts to get dark in winter. They would hate to be in their stables all day! I know my mare couldn't go out (due to HORRIFIC yard management - hence we left) and it was heartbreaking to see her in, everyone else on the yard thought so too.

I would never take a horse to a yard where there was not ample all year turnout? I don't understand why you would go to a yard knowing grazing and fields were not sufficient?

Excellent year round grazing isn't actually a good thing for some of our horses. My mare is never going to have a 'normal' turn out regime ever again because I will not increase her risk of another bout of lami. So for me, grazing isn't a priority because I know for her, too much of it would be deadly anyway.
 

Sol

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If horses are 'just in a routine' and so just get used to doing something every day... why does my horse, who is usually turned out early morning, brought in in the evening, for the majority of the year, choose to stand at his gate waiting to be brought in immediately after being turned out when the weather is awful??
Just maybe because he /knows/ that his stable is more comfortable?! :p If a horse can learn that a whip is scary, or that the saddle coming out means they're going to be ridden, surely they can figure that stable = far more comfortable than being outside in the rain/sleet/snow?
And if horses 'prefer' being turned out, why did my pony choose to go and stand in his stable (open 24/7) when it was raining or miserable, rather than eat grass outside? I do wonder.

Dan had to stay in a lot of the time last winter - we couldn't get horses across the yard, one horse actually went down when someone tried and ended up pulling muscles. Didn't do Dan any harm at all. He never seemed fussed, got worked every day in the indoor school for 40mins/1hr. On one day where we did turn him out as there was a bit of a thaw, he was rugged up well and came in miserable, shivering and not feeling great. Now we just don't bother putting him out if that's going to happen.
However, he does love going out to play with his friends & munch grass as horses should any other time :) I'm fine with that, so I don't really care what other peoples horses prefer - I don't have to worry about them, just my own!
 

HarrietLong

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Excellent year round grazing isn't actually a good thing for some of our horses. My mare is never going to have a 'normal' turn out regime ever again because I will not increase her risk of another bout of lami. So for me, grazing isn't a priority because I know for her, too much of it would be deadly anyway.

Sorry - i should have made it cleare, I am talking about the people who have horses in due to yard insufficient grazing rather than for medical reasons or for choice.
 

gable

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mine is in over winter as we don't have winter TO (apart from an hour a day) when he just stands at the gate to come in where it is warm and dry with fresh hay.

He is excercised daily with long hacks at the weekend
 

mystiandsunny

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OH's pony cannot go out if it is wet, for medical reasons (had canker in 3 hooves, on preventative regime/treatment).

My Laminitic cannot go out on grass at all, she is incredible sensitive (some sort of weird allergy thing going on too) so we have a woodland paddock for her. If it's too wet and muddy her hooves would literally rot standing in that all day, so she has to be in. We do what we can, putting straw down etc, but it's not always enough.

New pony has paper thin soles, special shoeing and not allowed turnout at all in case the precariously nailed on shoes (also thin walls) come off. When her hooves have recovered (thicker wall is visibly growing down from the top) she'll be out 24/7.

So what do we do? Work them/turnout in the school, make sure they get out twice a day and do what we can.

We nearly lost OH's pony, and I'm sure she'd rather live than go out when it's wet. Her life is pretty much back to normal and she is SO happy, bless her.

I have also seen SO many laminitic ponies turned out regardless, to come down with it time and time again because it's 'cruel to keep them in'. Really? I'd have thought it was cruel to make them suffer incredible pain, personally. It's interesting that my girl is the only survivor of the 5 or so similar (extreme sensitivity) cases I knew of when she first became ill, and that she is 100% well, sound and enjoying life and has been for the last 3 years without any problems.

Also, with trial and error, we have found what stresses our horses out most about being in 24/7 - the lack of company. So we have half height stable walls and they can groom/watch each other, be together even when they're in.
 

TicTac

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I work at a stud where the stallions dont go out and some of the liveries only get 4 hours turnout a day and that's in the summer! In winter there is no turnout at all!
 

pocket

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Ralphs on restricted grazing, goes out for 4hrs a day, would love for him to go out longer, but I worry he may get laminitis, he lives on fresh air......so for his own good, seems quite happy with this, once the grazing has gone down a bit, he will go out for longer
 

Sarah Sum1

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I think in an ideal world horses should be allowed out part of the day. Keeping any animal cooped up in a square box IMO could easily be percieved as cruel, i'm also talking rabbits etc. If the only time a horse gets to stretch it's legs if being in 24/7 is when it has someone on it, telling it what to do, then the horse is never truly 'free' to do as it chooses. I apprecate some people have horses who prefer being in (although i think some of this is down to routine) and others who can't turn out due to field/ problems etc and would never say those people should not have a horse.

If an owner chooses to keep a horse in 24/7 becuase it is easier for them as the owner then i think that is not on. The horses welfare should come first and although some horses may be content kept in, horses were not 'designed' to be kept in a man made box and will never be truly happy (think of the way horses (majority) act once released into a open space, it's a moment of freedom that a 24/7 stabled horse never gets to feel, i find that sad, a horse should have time to be a horse. You wouldn't keep a dog caged for 24/7 with just a walk.

But this is not a judgement against anyone as i'm fast learning that this world is far from ideal :(
 

TicTac

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I agree Zefragile, but unfortunately there is not alot I can do about it. I always try and do my best by the horses that live there and give them as much attention and fuss as my time allowes.
 
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