Calling a Horse In Rather Than Leading a Horse Into a Space.

[PeteyPie]

I have read many comments criticizing the practice of opening a gate and letting a horse through, rather than catching the horse, haltering it, and leading it through. Some examples are when posters say they (or someone else) open the barn for the horses to come in from a paddock into their stalls.

Why is this bad?

I board at a place which has a catch pen built into the corner of the paddock. It is about 10’ x 24’ and there are two gates, a ten-foot gate opening to the paddock and another ten-foot gate on the opposite side of the catch pen, which opens/exits onto a dirt driveway in the middle of the property.

I frequently have had to doctor one mare’s foot because she has had a chronic abscess, and lately, I just open the inside gate, call her, and when she walks in I close the gate and halter her inside the catch pen. Then I lead her out to a nearby paved area where I can have a clean unmuddy place to work. Sometimes I groom her there and sometimes I groom her in the catch pen. She enjoys these sessions and behaves well. Occasionally, I give her a treat when we are done, either in the grooming area or the catch pen.

So why is it a bad practice to call her in? She walks in sedately and it is easier for me to close the gate behind her and keep the other mare in the paddock if I am positioned at the gate, rather than at her head leading her into the catch pen. There are many things I do not know about horse care, I learn more every day, and I would welcome comments on this topic. In addition, I wonder why it is a bad thing for people who have barns to train their horses to come into their stalls at feeding time? Is it because they rush and get too rowdy? Wouldn’t that be part of the training, that is, to train them to walk in nicely?

[NoSuchPerson]

I do the kind of thing you’re talking about all the time. I have a horse who I tell, “go to your pen” at feeding time. He walks in, I close the gate behind him, then feed him in the pen and his pasture-mate outside.

But, in my experience, just allowing a barn full of horses to run in from outside and sort themselves into their own stall never works well, even if all of them know perfectly well which stall is theirs. You’ve always got one a$$hole horse (and I say that with the greatest affection ) who insists on either ducking into someone else’s stall, leaving the rightful occupant milling around in confusion in the barn isle, or entering an already occupied stall and trying to chase the rightful occupant out.

[Graymaresrule]

[QUOTE=NoSuchPerson;7906561]
I do the kind of thing you’re talking about all the time. I have a horse who I tell, “go to your pen” at feeding time. He walks in, I close the gate behind him, then feed him in the pen and his pasture-mate outside.

But, in my experience, just allowing a barn full of horses to run in from outside and sort themselves into their own stall never works well, even if all of them know perfectly well which stall is theirs. You’ve always got one a$$hole horse (and I say that with the greatest affection ) who insists on either ducking into someone else’s stall, leaving the rightful occupant milling around in confusion in the barn isle, or entering an already occupied stall and trying to chase the rightful occupant out.[/QUOTE]

I’ve been doing it for years. With 8 horses. Yup some will duck into the wrong stall…Bozo I’m talking about you…but they aren’t starving when they go in and they are used to eating from the same round bale. I get some pinned ears(Lottie) but nothing worse.

Lottie is almost always the first one in and I shut her door as soon as she goes in otherwise she will guard the door.

ETA: My aisles are dirt/bluestone and the barns are in the pasture. It’s a pretty low key, non event, not a cavalry charge.

[GoodTimes]

I worked at a barn (20 stalls), and they had 3 large fields - broodmares, schoolies & boarders, and young horses. There was a chute of sorts set up from the barn door to each of the 3 gates.
Turning out was very simple. Bringing them in could be a little more exciting if the whole herd came running, but then I would just close the barn door until everyone was standing and waiting to come in, then I would open the door and let everyone in, closing doors behind them.
Sure every once in awhile horses would head to the wrong stall, but it meant that 1-2 staff was sufficent, vs 3-4 people.

Now keep in mind this barn didn’t have a lot of horses coming or going, when horses did come in for training they would often be in a fourth paddock and were led in and out. There was a well established pecking order so they usually calmly entered the barn in the same order.

So to answer your question, as long as the horse isn’t rushing, slamming you into the wall, etc. then I don’t see a problem with it.

[furlong47]

When it is your own personal horse and will be living at the same property and handled by the same people forever, do whatever you like. If it happens calmly, great. But more often I see this type of thing used as a time saving shortcut at one facility, creating poor ground manners that become someone else’s problem when the horse moves to a different boarding barn.

You get horses that were allowed to run in and out of the barn at prior locations where pasture was attached to the end of the barn. At new barn, though, the paddocks are separate and horses needed to be led to them. Horses eager to go out are trying to bowl you over as you halter them, want to drag you all the way to the gate, then prepare to bolt as soon as you have them through. Or you have horses used to heading into their own stall where feed was already present. Now they are barging down the aisle and into the stall. Now you have staff needing to retrain horses with dangerous behaviors. And working in boarding barns over the years, I encountered many.

[Janet]

It is only bad if the horse DOESN’T ALSO learn to be haltered, and lead in politely.

[PeteyPie]

Thank you for your replies and advice.

I think my take on this so far is that I need to halter them in the paddock often to reinforce their training; then, intermittently calling them into the catch pen will cause no harm.

[DJohn]

I halter/lead rope my horse, open the gate and allow him in. My expectation is that he stands (butt facing me) away from the gate. I don’t want him to turn around. I want him to stand there while I do up the gate, without pulling.

I was at a barn where the horses were “run in”. Ex, open the barn doors and let the horses in 3 at a time. Well, some horses can’t handle the excitement and they run in the barn (unsafe). I would rather lead 4 horses at a time in from the paddock and put each in their stall.

I can bet that if I let my horse out of the gate without a halter (into the yard) he would stand there and wait for me regardless. It’s all about the respect.

[BeeHoney]

I’ve known places where the horses would come trotting, cantering or galloping into the barn and down the aisle into their stalls. There would be slipping on the pavement, hips knocked on stall door frames, kicking, horses going in the wrong stalls, multiple horses going in the same stall and fighting, etc. That’s totally unacceptable. IMO, it’s more about HOW you do it. Peteypie, what you are doing is totally fine.

[PeteyPie]

Does anyone remember that video of the ranch horses lining up in a big circle? I think there was a rope on the ground and they ran up and lined up to the rope which was laid on the ground in a circle (like maybe a 30’ radius circle – don’t remember exactly). The horses then stood perfectly, waiting to be roped by the cowboys in the middle. Sort of on the same topic, about horses being taught to go or stay.

[merrygoround]

[QUOTE=NoSuchPerson;7906561]
I do the kind of thing you’re talking about all the time. I have a horse who I tell, “go to your pen” at feeding time. He walks in, I close the gate behind him, then feed him in the pen and his pasture-mate outside.

But, in my experience, just allowing a barn full of horses to run in from outside and sort themselves into their own stall never works well, even if all of them know perfectly well which stall is theirs. You’ve always got one a$$hole horse (and I say that with the greatest affection ) who insists on either ducking into someone else’s stall, leaving the rightful occupant milling around in confusion in the barn isle, or entering an already occupied stall and trying to chase the rightful occupant out.[/QUOTE]

Why, imagine that! Who would imagine that they would do such a thing.:lol: :lol: :lol:

Things can remain peaceful for weeks and then one or two develop amnesia.

But otherwise, carefully managed it can save a lot of walking and work.

[fordtraktor]

It is all fine, until one gallops in, slides on the floor, and breaks a leg.

Or, as happened to me once at a barn that did this, horses gallop by mine while I am riding, my horse rears and slips on ice and falls over backward on me. gee, thanks! Appreciate that gratuitous concussion!

I lead mine in 2 at a time, European style which I know many people don’t like, so I am not the world’s most conservative turnout person…but I don’t do free on my concrete aisle. If yours always walks and it is a couple of feet, I could probably live with it.

[merrygoround]

Again, careful managing. Bringing them into a close by paddock and allowing them in one at a time.

[Plainandtall]

I think the catch pen must be very helpful with cantankerous ones, hard to catch ones, and when there are lots of horses turned out who aren’t coming in- who may not understand that. Frankly I’d love to have such an area- for nothing other than giving myself a clean unmuddy place to do turnouts- rather than having horses churning around at my actual gate and causing me to have to wade out through the worst footing at the worst possible moment (holding two horses and an electric gate handle?) and getting splashed with semi frozen mud. Twenty feet away from the gate the pasture is great footing- it’s just right there that’s the problem- wish I could push 'em back off it.

Now- if you question is that this mare is going to not learn her manners because she comes in from the pasture willingly into the catch pen and politely lets you halter her? That’s just crazy talk. She’s got great manners.

I usually halter and lead my horses in to the barn for dinner. But sometimes I just halter and lead one. And rarely- I let them both get into the barn on their own. If they get used to going on their own- their manners can get “rushy” when you are leading and need them to wait while you close the gate. So I wouldn’t do it all the time and I’d make sure to remind the horse what method we are doing in case he forgets.

[charismaryllis]

I ride at a large boarding/schooling facility where they used to let the horses run down a chute to mill around the barn door, paddock by paddock. Worked fine until there was a bit of a melee at the paddock gate, and after the horses ran out, the one left in the paddock was three legged lame on a broken leg.

They lead them in now. Only problem is making sure they come out of the paddock in the right order; some go into hysterics if they’re left alone in the paddock for more than a minute.

[PeteyPie]

[QUOTE=Plainandtall;7906822]
I think the catch pen must be very helpful with cantankerous ones, hard to catch ones, and when there are lots of horses turned out who aren’t coming in- who may not understand that. Frankly I’d love to have such an area- for nothing other than giving myself a clean unmuddy place to do turnouts- rather than having horses churning around at my actual gate and causing me to have to wade out through the worst footing at the worst possible moment (holding two horses and an electric gate handle?) and getting splashed with semi frozen mud. Twenty feet away from the gate the pasture is great footing- it’s just right there that’s the problem- wish I could push 'em back off it.

Now- if you question is that this mare is going to not learn her manners because she comes in from the pasture willingly into the catch pen and politely lets you halter her? That’s just crazy talk. She’s got great manners.

I usually halter and lead my horses in to the barn for dinner. But sometimes I just halter and lead one. And rarely- I let them both get into the barn on their own. If they get used to going on their own- their manners can get “rushy” when you are leading and need them to wait while you close the gate. So I wouldn’t do it all the time and I’d make sure to remind the horse what method we are doing in case he forgets.[/QUOTE]

I think the dirty paddock is the reason I started doing this. Usually, it is dusty, with the kind of grit that packs into the treads of my shoes. Sometimes, like now, it is quite muddy. Occasionally, I forget to bring a change of shoes or discover that my husband has taken my special floor towel out of the trunk, so to avoid making my car filthy I try to stay out of the thick dust or mud. I can do this if I just enter the catch pen which has remnants of clean, dry bedding – enough to cover the dust. When I have the clean car shoes or floor protector, I don’t worry about getting dirty and catching her in the pasture.

The catch pens are a brilliant idea, one which I had never seen or heard of before I boarded at this barn. I’m sure it’s a common thing but it was new to me. You can use them as intended, as a safeguard when entering or exiting with a horse to prevent others from escaping, or as a grooming stall. I have used them to feed supplements to a horse so it can eat in peace, and as a place to dry off after a bath so that the horse doesn’t roll wet when I put her back into the pasture. Sometimes when the farrier comes the youngster will get the zoomies and be distracting, so I will put her in the catch pen and the farrier will do the other horse in the pasture. Of course a barn or a stall would serve some of the same purposes, but since there is no barn here I am really grateful to have the catch pens.

Plainandtall, your comment makes me realize what a good idea it would be to have a clean surface in the catch pen. Even here in So. California where mud is usually not an issue, a finished surface can really cut down on the dust.

[secuono]

What is leading European style?

[LookmaNohands]

I can’t imagine boarding and actually paying for this kind of “bringing in.” Too risky for me.

I have a training barn. If horses come in and are not good about being led to and from the paddocks–some which are a good distance away, they are taught to be good pretty quickly. Horses are learning all the time. I want them to learn good things always!

[Beverley]

It works just fine in my experience. I boarded at a great place where the horses were out all day or all night, depending on time of year. They came in to their appointed stalls with little fuss. One might have to steer those whose stalls had been changed for a few days but I liked the setup just fine.

In the mid 60s as a camp counselor I had to take my horse and herd the lesson horses in from the pasture each morning to groom and tack them. They would go to their spots on the hitching rail and wait patiently while I got their halters and tied them up one by one.

[JBD]

I know someone who never leads her horses in or out of the pasture. Depending on what gates are open, her horses often have the run of the barn also. Over the years, I’ve seen close calls as horses ran and skidded through the concrete aisle. One day the tame older mare, chased by the jerk gelding ran over the owner at feeding time (in the barn aisle, of course). Result: compound arm fracture that required at least two surgeries and a long time to heal.
So I think this is like most bad habits that you can get away with 99% of the time but that 1% is catastrophic