Dani Waldman admits to never turning out horses

If she were wearing eagle feathers in her hair or a warbonnet, it might be an issue for me.
Feathers in and of themselves used for adornment are not particular to any one specific culture.

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I’ve dug in a bit deeper to the basis for the “horses need free turnout” comments that seem to be “common knowledge”.

I’m quoting this from another study, but I’ve seen the 5 freedoms mentioned before.

“However, in animal welfare, we focus on the physical and mental health of the animals with reference to the ‘5 freedoms’. The concept of 5 freedoms are (1) freedom from hunger and thirst; (2) freedom from discomfort; (3) freedom from pain, injury, or disease; (4) freedom to express normal behavior; and (5) freedom from fear and distress”.

It seems as though many people on this thread advocating for “free exercise and who cares if they get hurt” (I’m paraphrasing, clearly) are looking at #4 in that five freedoms and thinking that normal behavior equates solely to free movement and thus are ignoring #2 and #3. Which is interesting because #4 also should include socialization and other aspects of equine behavior.

Edited to add:
This is an interesting study about the risks of turnout - https://beva.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.2042-3306.2011.00387.x

Overall, the five freedoms are a nice framework for thinking about your own housekeeping practices as it relates to your own individual horse. At least more objective than a one sized fits all metric!

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Some redneck stalls too! My last board barn had home made stalls with solid half walls in the fronts. Neighbor horses could poke their heads out and snuggle/scratch/play bitey face. Had woven wire for top half of divider walls.

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Lots of stallions go out in groups with geldings. Lots more stallions could go out in groups if their owner’s would entertain the idea.

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As a kid I rode stock horses. It never occurred to me that stallions would get any different treatment than mares or geldings. They either behaved themselves all the time, including turnout in groups, or they got gelded. Obviously they weren’t turned out with mares unless the intent was to breed but every stallion I knew growing up was turned out with a gelding. It was only until I started doing USEF shows and switched to a hunter barn that I ever encountered stallions who were treated completely differently.

In addition, non solo turnout doesn’t have to mean another full sized horse. A turnout companion could be a mini or a goat.

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Since 18.5 m is just over 60. feet, our assorted rounding errors cancel.

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Oh true!! I wasn’t contradicting you just trying to picture that amount of space in my head. That was cited in the study as being adequate per horse in a group to reduce group related aggression. Although I know some horses that won’t get along on 5 acres so that’s neither here nor there :joy:

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@Alterration
Knew you weren’t trying to contradict me.

Always nice when errors cancel.

Now if only I could consistently get the new board to do my bidding.

I’m still adjusting to the board format. I’m finding it hard - sometimes following a thread feels like I’m reading a book and someone wrote notes in the margin.

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I hear you on the turnout burner horse! I use treats after the halter comes off on my three. One hangs around a bit to see if there will be anything else offered, one waits to grab the treat before taking off, and one sees more value in the turn out than the treat and will wait, but as soon as there is an inch of space between his head and his halter he is off! I don’t feel every horse behavior can be “trained” out of them completely.

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I agree, but she has referred to herself as an Indian and Pocahontas in past Instagram posts which she was called out for multiple times. As far I know, she never addressed it.

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That is an entirely different matter.
Feathers themselves are a pretty universal adornment.
(and the added info reinforces my impression that the woman is a twit.)

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Indeed. I have had a horse that lived the 24/7 outdoor dream life, except… HIS idea of a dream life was (something like) 2000 acres and 70 horses to play with. A very, very, ,VERY precocious fellow who found a mere companion or 3 to be simply insufficient to the full scope of his ambitions. Took 2 ulcer feeds and 3 drugs to get the problem under control. This animal had a very lovely life but his Elon Musk temperament had him pining for colonizing Mars.

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Dani has started the story she promised showing a day in the life of her horse. Supposedly she’s adding to it through the day. There is nothing about it so far that makes me feel any better about what she said. Her horses’ time is micromanaged and really no time just to be a horse. :frowning:

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I just forced myself to watch it. To me, the look in that horse’s eye throughout the video was very telling, and the only time the eye started to soften was at the end of the day when there were those moments of being able to eat some grass for a few minutes in a paddock (albeit attached to a human).

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There’s more that’s been added to it since the grass. The horse is swimming in an exerciser. I’m sure there will be more added, and it will be just as depressing

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Her story doesn’t change anything for me. As I stated before I’m sure all her horses can’t wait to go be forced to exercise :roll_eyes:

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Wow yeah that story was depressing af to watch. Zero time to be a horse at all!!!

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Just watched it as well and I’m disgusted. Does anyone know who her sponsors are? I do not wish to support brands that support her.

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Looks like GPA, Havens Feed, Eurostar, Flair nose strips, Alberto Fasciani, Equicrown Canada, Equipe, Ogilvy, and Stubben.

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