This drives me bonkers, so I just want to know if there are other goofball horses out there who won’t go in the run-in with a fan. My previous horses would stand plastered next to the fan in the run-in. (he has a super nice bucas fly sheet, maybe thats the reason?)
Thanks.
Does the shed make noise? (wind, rain, tree branch scraping against it?) Does he go in if the fan isn’t running?
It may be that the fan is making noise or moving something that is spooking him (creating a flickering shadow perhaps), if he usually goes in when it isn’t on.
I feel for you! I have a horse who refuses to go near the shed on windy days (the trees nearby spook him) and refuses to go near it when the bear has been nearby and on other days for no reason. Which wouldn’t bother me, except that is a) where the water tank is and b) he is a dominant horse so he keeps the other two away as well!
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Wasp nests?
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Horses have opinions just like everyone else. Your horse has a choice but chooses not to go into the run in. Up to him. There is an old saying “… take a horse to water…”
I once met a man, leaning on a gate to watch his five horses, who commented that he had built a handsome new field shelter, perfectly positioned for wind and sun protection, but not one horse ever went into it. Instead they all really liked to stand beside one outside wall, for some horse-understood reason that their loving owner could not work out. He continued watching them trying to puzzle out why. He is likely still leaning on the gate.
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My 4 stand in their stalls with their faces pressing against the fans on their stalls. They are only in for a few hours during the hottest part of the day. Like the old horse owner, in the winter, I used to watch the smartest, cleverest horse choose to stand on the outside of the three sided run in shed–carefully set for maximum wind/sun exposure. Then I realized he had chosen the spot where two walls and 3 horses stood between him and the bitter wind. As he was still under the extended roof, he was likely in the warmest, most protected spot in the pasture!
Darn @ytr45, I totally get why you are so frustrated.
Horses do the weirdest things.
Is this horse out alone? Maybe it is simply that some other horse has told him that he is not allowed in there?
My one mare will not allow my other mare into the run in when they are out together. When the mare that is not allowed in the run in is out in that area alone, she still does not go into the run in. Stands right next to it while getting soaked in a downpour.
He is out alone, so he could have the whole shed to himself. Even in blizzards, he stands sideways under the overhang at the front of the shed, as opposed to inside the shed.
(Also related to crazy-making behavior, when its blistering hot, I go out and fill a fresh cool drinking tub for him. Does he drink it? no. He drinks the hot water… )
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Lols, I feel your pain!! My pony had his comfy bedded stall, 2 buckets of cool water and 2 fans going for him, one right above his fully filled haynet the other evening. It started storming, hard. What does the lil punkbutt do? Stands under a damn tree in his lot while still getting soaked, stands under the tree when it is sweltering hot out too. Whyyy am I charging fan batteries and changing them out twice a day for this lil weirdo!!??
I almost get the storm thing, the rain is loud on the metal roof of my barn so it probably scared him, but the sun n heat…fans dude… super charged cool air blowing fans, and hay! Yet he would rather stand under a tree and not eat…smh. All I can say is horses do the dangedest things…and then laugh n shake my head.
He might feel insecure either losing sight of the other horses on the farm or just losing his full view of his paddock.
Supposedly there are multiple studies where horses prefer warm water over cold. The versions of the study I have read were conducted in winter temps, but I’ve been told the trend is seen in summer too. I never fact checked that statement, but your last part made me think of it.
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I feel your pain. My horse has anhidrosis, so it’s literally life-threatening for him to stand out in the sun here when we’ve got a 100-110 head index with suffocating humidity. Thankfully, he’s at a place now where he and everyone else is brought into the barn during the heat of the day to chill under their fans. When I had my own place the horses had a huge run-in (whole side of my barn) with fans. He came in then too (because his buddies did). He spent two years at a barn that had run-ins but no fans. He was pasture boarded and NEVER went in the run-ins when it was hot. He stopped sweating and I had to go out before work, at lunch time, and after work to bring him in and spray him down with cold water. My thinking is he just didn’t feel comfortable out of sight of the rest of the horses…who also never went into the shelters.
Anyway, as long as he’s sweating properly and seems happy…I say count your blessings and accept that horses are gonna be horses.
So much anthropomorphism! My horse was on pasture board for 19 years and was the “alpha.” He hated stalls. The shed wasn’t anywhere near large enough for more than 6 or 7 horses; the herd was usually 10 or more. There was a regular group that used the shed. There also was an acre or so that was wooded, mostly pine trees, and provided good cover. They all were just as happy there as in the shed. They pounded paths all over the place through snow in the winter, weeds and seedling trees in the summer.
If they have a choice between A and B they choose where they want to be, which is probably C. It doesn’t matter where the fan is. We retired to a new barn which had 12x12 stalls with a back door, an overhang with a matted floor, and a runout. He was frantic the first few days. There was a window through the grill so they could stick their heads into the aisleway. I think he forgot about the back door. Once he settled in he had a favorite shady spot under the overhang. The stall functioned like a shed. He never paid any attention to the heavy duty fan blowing straight into the stall.
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I think the whole thread is more of - do the not appreciate any of the good things we try to do for them - more than "so much anthropomorphism.
It is a horse forum, that is where you whine that you spent all kinds of crazy time and money to build a lovely shelter that your horse never uses.
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We’ve had record breaking heat and humidity, and my old mare spends most of her time outside, only using the shed with its fan for a toilet. I tried putting her hay pillow in the shed on the hottest days, and she dragged or pushed it out.
She’s been treated for anhydrosis using Equiwinner patches for 10 days and 3 weekly acupuncture sessions, and she’s sweating fine. The acupuncture will go to every other week or monthly.
The other 5 horses spend most of the day in their sheds.
She is definitely a horse that likes to keep an eye on her surroundings, so that may be part of it.
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Then she doesn’t need or want a fan? I would just remove it.
My horses only come in under shelter in Summer when it rains heavy, otherwise they are happier to be out grazing no matter how hot it is or how bad the flies are.
They do happily use it in Winter as weather conditions dictate. Your horse may use it more than you think. You can’t be watching her 24/7.
Some horses love their fan and can barely be convinced to part ways with it. My old mare would go in the garage if you left it open and wedge herself between the car and the wash machine. We keep a fan next to the wash machine that we usually leave on so she would be standing there enjoying the air. I finally bought a timer and put it in the barn so the fans would turn on and off automatically. Her favorite thing was to go up to the fan and stand there with her nose 3 inches from it. She loved water too. Would stick her head in the bucket and blow bubbles.
My horses right now, might like the fan, but they don’t seek it out the way she did. They are much less sensitive to the bugs. I find the more bug sensitive horses tend to enjoy the fans the most. If they aren’t bug sensitive they don’t care.
Hi – if addressed to me, the shed fans are solar-powered so there is little to no fire risk – so no reason to remove hers. The fans are intermittent as there is no battery storage for the solar power source. BO is talking with the guy who installed them about adding battery storage.
BO lives on the property and has a view from her office of the paddocks, so I trust her report that my mare has been mostly out of her shed even on 100-degree days.
I would like to know what she’s doing at night, though. She does not sleep in her shed; she sleeps in the stone dust to one side, which is the most “protected” area outside the shed. She gets a hay pillow stuffed with hay in the early evening, and must spend a lot of time at night eating, as it’s usually mostly gone by 6:30 a.m. when morning hay is fed.
It wasn’t. OP stated her horse won’t go in the run in with a fan ( or in Winter it appears) so I just suggested he/ she remove the fan in case the horse wasn’t using the run in because of that, plus it is a waste of energy if horse isn’t using it.
I have nothing against using fans and we did at my BB for some horses in a box stall during hot spells and they appreciated it.
I feel your pain. My one horse won’t go in the run in shed. I build him a special solo shed next to one big shed in case his concern was not having his own space. He won’t go in that either. And he convinced my mare, who prior to being turned out with him DID go in sheds, to stay outside and keep him company rather than go on. There are three lovely, spacious, matted sheds and it doesn’t matter what the weather is— they’re empty.
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Happily my anhidrosis horse loves his shed! He is on night turnout right now and inside with fan during the day. His haynet is on the front post of the shed. I hung screens to shade the inside of the shed. He loved to stand with the screening draped across his back munching on his hay. Works well for him as he would destroy a fly sheet quickly!
