Or, it may end up with certain horses having to find a new home. I’ve seen that sort of thing backfire which is why I always offer to problem solve when something comes up. So far offering problem solving/the know how to make improvements or repairs has worked out well for me.
In my area, the vast majority of turnout for boarded horses is in (mostly well-curated) groups. People will actually have to hunt down places that have ‘recovery paddocks’ for horses needing limited turnout alone.
Update Post Trainer
The trainer came out again, this time during turn-in which was SOOO helpful. I am a bit of a literal learner/thinker and he said I was doing everything a bit too exaggerated and not enough get-on-with-it. We worked at bringing my energy down and re-directing Dobbins. Trainer also gave me some tools to use on the other horses to get them backed off the gate including leaving an old dressage whip out there. It worked beautifully all weekend. I am feeling much more confident in both my understanding of the training methods and handling a rank horse should that happen.
Trainer did push my horse a bit to see where his reactivity was. Dobbin postured to bolt but didn’t. We are to have one more lesson at home before shipping out for the highline as the trainer really wants it to be a positive successful trip for my gelding and he still feels there is a bit of reaction under the surface.
Lastly, the trainer really praised me on my use of the chain but he feels that in the wrong hands it could be very damaging to my gelding and he’d like us to move over to a rope halter.
If you’re familiar (decades of knowledge) with various ways to use a chain, your trainer will adjust. I went to a Mountain Trail clinic years ago - one of the only ‘English’ riders and the only dressage rider. We spent the entire morning in hand. I got some disparaging remarks from the clinician about how I wasn’t going to be able to do the required work with a chain. At the end of the morning, he retracted his remarks and praised my training and my horse. I know darn well if I had borrowed a rope halter to try to fit in, it would have been a disaster because I know my abilities, know how my horse was trained, and have 40+ years of using a chain successfully 
YMMV, but just saying, if you don’t want to change over, don’t. The equipment doesn’t train the horse, the handler (you) trains the horse.
I took that comment to mean that the OP was skilled with the chain but whatever people are regularly bringing in and turning out may not be, and a rope halter is a more appropriate tool for those people to use when they handle the horse.
I faced the same thing a couple times when boarding–a horse that sometimes needed more than a flat halter at either end of turnout–and 110% also was never going to leave a chain for barn staff. It’s a tool that can absolutely be misused, and there are nooooooo promises that those bringing in can manage the nuances of it.
A rope halter is often a good middle ground, though.
And glad to hear the other horses are respecting a dressage whip, @Against_All_Odds2!
Oops. My mistake. I totally read that incorrectly.
They do stick with horses.
I think horses can be traumatized, and they can process it in different ways - some never forget. Sometimes people go looking for trauma where none exists, or write off bad behavior as past trauma. Horses are smart. It’s a survival skill to remember where something almost killed you, and avoid it. It makes zero sense for a large prey item like a horse to evolve without this ability.
Regarding the OP’s situation, are people just opening the gate and leaving it open? Are they allowing crowding at the gate?
This boils down to, IMO, poor gate etiquette – both on handler and horse side. I find most handlers are too casual about group/gate conflict, and most horses have zero manners.
The first thing I would do is make sure the handlers are being smart about this. The gate in a herd situation is IMO the most dangerous place a handler will be all day. Start by bringing in the dominant horse first - most horses won’t crowd him. Carry a stick, whip, or another lead – go in there and chase them all away from the gate. Don’t let any horse near you or the gate while you’re leading the dominant horse. If a horse tries it, make them get out of range. Be ballistic if you have to. A bargy horse is a dangerous horse. The reason you pick the most dominant first is because if you go with a lower totem member first, you may find that horse is more worried about getting away from the boss than listening to you – another training issue, but you cannot be responsible for training other people’s horses. Go in there and make all of them get away from the gate. And, lead each horse independently in and out.
That gate needs a more secure latch.
It’s generally not latched when this happens. 
It ought to be. Open gate, enter pasture, close and latch gate. Catch horse, halter, unlatch and open gate, lead horse out, close and latch gate. Repeat for each horse. Easy.
Thanks for the advice I didn’t ask for; go outside and hug your horse.
I have certainly seen horses develop excitement about busting out of turnout with no trauma inviting factor.
Years ago my mare once figured out how to jiggle open a sagging gate in turnout and blast back to the barn. And she tested that gate every single day after for a couple years. Once this herd got loose a few times it became learned behavior because it was so much fun.
In fairness to @Rackonteur, why is this not the case? I bet leaving the gate unlatched and/or open is contributing to this issue.
It’s pretty good advice to lock the gate behind oneself when catching a horse. Takes 5 seconds to do it.
Agree w/ @beowulf and @Rackonteur, definitely a contributing factor to this issue.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/150890906979775/permalink/763704482365078/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
Who leaves a gate unlatched in a pasture with loose horses? People who don’t understand how horses get loose.
i have three horses and about 50 sheep in a 15 ac pasture together right now and they would most definately like access to their winter pasture and cushy barn/loafing shed. I have to travel through that gate daily with their alfalfa and i make all of them wait on the other side of the creek. (about 20 feet from the gate). What works so well is that the creek is a natural, understandable barrier. And it took them only a couple of days to learn The Rules. I commanded and made myself big and walked toward them until they were on the other side of the creek and wait, and held them there. I turned my back and walked back to the gate…and it took three or four times going back and facing the offending sheep (always a sheep) back out of the creek. Then i went to the gate where i had the gator running on the other side and unlatched and opened…and had to move three or four of them back. Took a few tries before i could get the gate open and the gator through and the gate closed. And then i made them wait more. Eventually : GOOD SHEEP…Let’s eat! and drove off into the pasture a ways to make our feeding ground a respectable distance from the gate. Now, only two or three sheep and two horses come and wait on the other side of the creek. It’s kinda cute.
Insistency. Persistency. Consistency.
This actually sounds incredibly cute.
Add me to the “always close and latch a gate when you go into a horse area – especially one with multiple horses” – club.
My husband use to go through the gate into the corral driving the tractor, and just give the gate a good shove. Most of the time it closed and latched itself, but occasionally it didn’t. I didn’t think it was that hard to back the tractor along the gate to shut it, but evidently that was too much for him. Then I’d get calls from my neighbors: your horses are out. Usually they would just go next door and chow down on the lawn.
Rebecca
Love this!
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