Just curious what everyone’s practice is for turnout with their competition horses. I’ve always been a big fan of group turnout, but do you think it is more stressful on the show horse when he has to leave his buddies to compete and is taken from his usual routine and kept in a stall? I used to do 24/7 turnout for mine but noticed that he was getting clingy with one of his buddies and decided he needed some time away from his friend. So now he is out during the day (night in summer) and in at night (day in summer). I feel like that way it’s not such a big change in routine when he goes to shows. What does everyone else do? Btw I’m asking because we are about to build a new small barn for our 3 personal horses on the other side of our property and rent out the big barn to a trainer. So I’m deciding whether to incorporate individual turnout or group turnout options.
My 3 horses all have pastures that connect to their stalls and I love that everyone has their own space. They can interact over the fence but I no longer have to deal with the little nicks and bites that come with group turn out. They still behave as a herd too - go out to graze together, come inside together. Everyone is happy and healthy! No issues when I take one to a show or lesson either.
At one time we had two upper level horses in competition. We never did group turnout. We had (still do) one gelding who never kicked --and who had a wonderfully long thick tail. We alternated him in pastures with the two rock stars so each one could benefit from some out door time, and have a quiet friend who was great at swishing flies. Ummm, at one point we DID have a third horse --he was a little on the simple side. Where every other horse on the place stood nose to tail to swish flies when outside in the summer, this fellow always stood head-to-head with the other horse --then looked confused as to why mutual fly-swishing never worked for him. He was only here a short time --never did catch on to jumping well —sold as a dressage horse and seemed very happy based on his new owners web photos.
Perhaps because we are always taking horses in and out for work, leaving others in the barn --buddy sour hasn’t been an issue here . . .maybe just lucky.
I mix it up all the time for my two. Sometimes friends, sometimes not, sometimes out by yourself because you won’t stand nicely tied. Keeps them from expecting X for turnout situations.
Your horses, fine.
Client’s horses when you are the trainer, not such a good idea.
If a client really prefers group turnout and is willing to live with any mishaps, why not.
Then, if something happens, especially something serious, a broken leg, that you agreed to group turnout is what you will hear, not that said client insisted on it.
Thankfully, most you get is no harm and/or some chewed up manes and tails and a few harmless bites and kicks here and there.
Also consider if your horses really like company or are more relaxed when they can walk to a fence for company, but don’t have to keep playing musical chairs with their personal space.
Mostly younger horses like “playing” with others, older horses, not so much.
Mine are in group turnout. Horses are not meant to be solitary creatures.
Mine live however they need to, but my preference is group turnout and out 24/7. But my big guy is a bit of a nut and so he lives on his own. My mares all live in a herd. Both seem equally content in life in general.
When we go to shows it is indeed a big change from out 24/7 to in 24/7. But to date, I haven’t had any horses seem to care greatly. I try to get everyone out for a 5-10 minute “loose lunge” in the morning where they set the pace and get a chance to just move freely however much they want to. But none of them seem to “need” it. I tend to keep my alpha mare at the far end of my aisle away from her other mares, because she will get clingy. But the other mares act completely normal at shows. My worst actor is my gelding who lives alone. He’s a nightmare about getting attached to the other horses at shows. For the last 7 or 8 years we’ve been doing the FEI GPs, which has been fantastic because it means he’s stabled in FEI stabling on the other side of the show grounds, and stays completely focused and content when his buddies are too far away to see/hear. But at non-FEI shows it’s a process to keep everyone happy mostly because of him.
Horses, like humans and so many other critters, are meant to be who they are.
Average doesn’t mean much when you don’t fit the average for your species.
When caring for others, is best to always cater to what each needs.
Caring properly should mean not try to fit square pegs in round holes at any cost, insisting they be what they are not.
Been there, tried for decades to make that work, it didn’t.
Know better today, happy to adapt to what each needs, when it does and to change when what we are doing needs changing, regardless of what we think it should be.
Um, what?
Obviously do what’s best for your horse and of course there are going to be some situations where individual turnout is best but I’m not sure how that negates the fact that horses as a species are herd animals.
Being or not being on pasture is not the definitive factor in if a horse is anxious at shows or buddy sour.
Many many trail riders and western rural riders keep their horses on a pasture and catch one up for a days work or to go for a long trail ride or even a competition. It’s just assumed the horse will be fine with it and if they are not, then you work on that as a specific issue. There isn’t some big difference between “competition” horses and other horses psychologically except to the extent you need to deal with a TB or mostly TB WB being high strung.
Some people don’t give their competition horses turnout because the horses are so expensive they want to bubble wrap and micromanage them.
IME those horses have more of a tendency to break down because they don’t get to self exercise at all.
How many stressful hours at a show, vs how many stressful hours at home in solitary turnout?
IME, horses in general learn to handle the show days pretty well, when given the opportunity. Many may learn to live , but not be really happy, with solitary turnout.
I used to do 24/7 turnout for mine but noticed that he was getting clingy with one of his buddies and decided he needed some time away from his friend. So now he is out during the day (night in summer) and in at night (day in summer).
Clingy as in getting and staying upset when taken to a show, or clingy as in anxious when taken from his buddy still in the pasture, when he’s asked to come in and work? IME, the latter doesn’t necessarily translate to the former. I know of many horses who were buddy sour at home, but totally fine at shows, because the environment is totally different.
Btw I’m asking because we are about to build a new small barn for our 3 personal horses on the other side of our property and rent out the big barn to a trainer. So I’m deciding whether to incorporate individual turnout or group turnout options.
I think the ability to have solitary turnout is never a bad idea. Sometimes it’s necessary - recovering from illness or injury, where movement needs to be somewhat limited.
I strongly disagree with solitary turnout at home just to make show life easier. They spend WAY more time at home than at shows.
Sorry I didn’t clarify. He’s not actually on solitary turnout now, he is in a group of 4 and he stays in part time with 3 other horses. 2 from his turnout and 1 from another. When few was on 24/7 turnout he was acting buddy sour just when I would take him out of the pasture to ride and he was extremely anxious in his stall at shows. He’s a pretty high strung type anyway, but he is better at shows now and I don’t know if it’s because of how I’m managing him at home or he is just maturing.
I’m just thinking forward as we are in the planning process of building our new barn and now is the time to change things if we decide to do so. Even if he was in solitary turnout it would be in a paddock next to other horses. Since he’s currently out with other boarders he doesn’t seem as attached to them (they come and go) but when he moves into our private barn he’ll always be with the same 2 so I hope that doesn’t create issues.
My group of four go out as a herd. I never have any problems with the horse that’s being taken away. One or two of the horses left behind sometimes get upset, but it’s short-lived since their other friends are still there. Three of my four will travel and 1-3 times a year will spend several days in a stall at a show facility. They always seem pretty happy to have nice fluffy shavings and a fan to themselves, and so far have adjusted very well to it. The only times I’ve had trouble is if I take two of my horses somewhere, then they get really buddy sour with each other.
Also sorry, I didn’t mean to imply he was in solitary now 
I was just comparing the 2 situations.
Being better at shows is not uncommon. When my WB was young, he was in a mixed herd of horses. Occasionally I would take a big mare and her rider with us to some local shows. Neither were attached to each other, they didn’t hang out together, but obviously they knew each other. The 2 of them were total jerks at shows together, seriously buddy-sour, calling, dancing, it was ridiculous. But they were total angels when taken separately to those same show grounds.
I still think having the ability to set up a solitary turnout situation is something you’d never regret. You can use it for injury recovery, or to help with any buddy sour issue that might pop up.
Two horses alone will get bonded and it doesn’t really matter if they are in the same paddock or adjacent paddocks. You might need a stay at home donkey.
@Appy Mom
Since you are building your own barn this might be possible for you and a good solution since the horses would never have to be shut up in a stall all day/ night.
It honestly depends on the horse. We have individual day turnout, small group day turnout and 24/7 group turnout at the barn where I board. Who gets what is not a factor of the level they compete at, but rather their personalities, their needs, and the preferences of their owners.
My gelding did fine with one buddy but my mare is better alone. She also wears hind shoes and I would hate for her to cause an injury to another horse.
My competition horses are out 24/7. The two share a paddock during the day and spend the night in adjacent paddocks. Makes it easier to feed them separately. I have no issues with either one when taking them to shows together or separate.
In my experience, being out 24/7 at home doesn’t really translate to stress at horse shows or at another barn. However, none of them were at the show/other barn for more than 3-4 days. The only issue I found was that if their barn mate was also their show mate, then there was a lot of yelling between them…
