Introducing turnout to the horse who's never been turned out

[simc24]

I did a search on this but couldn’t find quite what I was looking for. If anyone knows of another thread that deals with this, please point me towards it!

I bought a 6 y/o OTTB straight from the track (well, she lived most of the time at the owner’s farm, and he hauled her back and forth to the track I guess, but he kept her stalled 24/7). He told me she has never been turned out since she was a weanling. She has been with me now for 2 weeks, and unfortunately I just don’t have access to very small paddocks or a round pen. There is a smallish pasture, probably 60x120ish, that is a bit isolated from the other pastures, but is well within sight of the rest of the pastures.

She is hot and sensitive, but sensible and easy enough to handle most of the time. I have been hand-walking/grazing her about 2.5 hours per day for the last 2 weeks and the only thing that sets her off is when the other horses run in their fields (quite a common occurrence). I can keep her under control with a chain during these episodes, but not without one. I’ve been doing increasing amounts of ground work with her, and I have seen a change for the better. She’s tolerating “excitement” in the fields a little better and she comes back a little more quickly. It’s easier for me to get her attention than it was the first few days.

So my issue is I really need to get her turning out as soon as possible. My goal has been trying to get her out and expose her to other horses being horses as much as possible and have attempted turnout a couple of times with some light dorm on board. She wakes quickly out of the dorm if a horse starts running and she goes running and bucking wildly. She is very food motivated, and I’ve used that to get her back quickly those couple of times she’s gotten a bit wild. Is there anything else I can/should be doing besides just getting her out for long periods while being ground worked and grazed? I don’t really want to just let her go in the pasture, I’m not sure that she’s the type to settle down after kicking up her heels for a few minutes.

Thanks

[joiedevie99]

Do you have an ancient/bombproof horse/pony that you can put in with her? Start small - give tranq, turn her out for 30 minutes with good hay or something to keep her interest, then bring her in before she gets distracted.

[simc24]

I do have a really quiet gelding that would probably be un-interested in her antics, but I was a little worried for his safety since I really have no idea what she’ll do. She has been sweet to all the horses over the fence and through the stall bars so far, but not sure how much of an indicator that is as to how she’ll act outside with them?

[beowulf]

@simc24

I did a search on this but couldn’t find quite what I was looking for. If anyone knows of another thread that deals with this, please point me towards it!

I bought a 6 y/o OTTB straight from the track (well, she lived most of the time at the owner’s farm, and he hauled her back and forth to the track I guess, but he kept her stalled 24/7). He told me she has never been turned out since she was a weanling. She has been with me now for 2 weeks, and unfortunately I just don’t have access to very small paddocks or a round pen. There is a smallish pasture, probably 60x120ish, that is a bit isolated from the other pastures, but is well within site of the rest of the pastures.

She is hot and sensitive, but sensible and easy enough to handle most of the time. I have been hand-walking/grazing her about 2.5 hours per day for the last 2 weeks and the only thing that sets her off is when the other horses run in their fields (quite a common occurrence). I can keep her under control with a chain during these episodes, but not without one. I’ve been doing increasing amounts of ground work with her, and I have seen a change for the better. She’s tolerating “excitement” in the fields a little better and she comes back a little more quickly. It’s easier for me to get her attention than it was the first few days.

So my issue is I really need to get her turning out as soon as possible. My goal has been trying to get her out and expose her to other horses being horses as much as possible and have attempted turnout a couple of times with some light dorm on board. She wakes quickly out of the dorm if a horse starts running and she goes running and bucking wildly. She is very food motivated, and I’ve used that to get her back quickly those couple of times she’s gotten a bit wild. Is there anything else I can/should be doing besides just getting her out for long periods while being ground worked and grazed? I don’t really want to just let her go in the pasture, I’m not sure that she’s the type to settle down after kicking up her heels for a few minutes.

Thanks

I haven’t yet had a TB that never saw turnout. Most of them see 24/7 turnout from birth to yearlings. If she was a “low end” racing horse she probably saw multiple owners and saw different routines. Take it with a grain of salt.

I think that you might be creating the dragon by bringing her in once she gets worked up. So, she learns if she runs around, she gets human attention and/or food…

It’s hard to ignore, but ignore it. I find a lot of them settle quite quickly. Make sure there’s a spot with plenty of hay and that she also has shelter. If you really need to feel like you are doing something, turn her out, wait until she starts running, and then dump grain once she shows signs of being a bit tired.

BTW we have gotten them from the track and just let them loose right away (in their own separate quarantined paddock). Some of them are so old-hat they settle right in, others need to kick their heels a bit for 5-10m and then they settle. Unless the horse is galloping dangerously close to fences or repeatedly testing the fences I do not bring in, ever.

I think you would be surprised. I have had many people claim their horse won’t settle and needs to be brought in. They all do. The horses that gallop until they are brought in have been human-conditioned to do so.

You can start small if you think she truly becomes upended without routine. Some race horses really value the routine… personally… I just turn them out.

[joiedevie99]

It the quiet gelding won’t get upset when other horses run around, I’d start by hand grazing him right outside her field while she is turned out.

[simc24]

@beowulf

I haven’t yet had a TB that never saw turnout. Most of them see 24/7 turnout from birth to yearlings. If she was a “low end” racing horse she probably saw multiple owners and saw different routines. Take it with a grain of salt.

I think that you might be creating the dragon by bringing her in once she gets worked up. So, she learns if she runs around, she gets human attention and/or food…

It’s hard to ignore, but ignore it. I find a lot of them settle quite quickly. Make sure there’s a spot with plenty of hay and that she also has shelter. If you really need to feel like you are doing something, turn her out, wait until she starts running, and then dump grain once she shows signs of being a bit tired.

BTW we have gotten them from the track and just let them loose right away (in their own separate quarantined paddock). Some of them are so old-hat they settle right in, others need to kick their heels a bit for 5-10m and then they settle. Unless the horse is galloping dangerously close to fences or repeatedly testing the fences I do not bring in, ever.

I think you would be surprised. I have had many people claim their horse won’t settle and needs to be brought in. They all do. The horses that gallop until they are brought in have been human-conditioned to do so.

You can start small if you think she truly becomes upended without routine. Some race horses really value the routine… personally… I just turn them out.

I appreciate your response. I didn’t say that I bring her in when she gets worked up, just that I get her attention back and stop her from racing her around. (Sometimes I can get her attention with ground work, a couple of times I’ve had to resort to grain.) In fact I do the opposite- I don’t take her back in the barn until she’s calm and munching grass again. And when she’s been free in the pasture, I get her back on the lead until she’s de-escalated, then let her go again. I try to catch her before she acts up, then let her go again and continue that cycle. The issue is she can and does stay relatively calm unless another horse starts running, and obviously that happens very quickly.

One of the times she has been loose in the pasture she ran into the fence twice and was clearly contemplating jumping the fence with her chest butted up against it, so I definitely do not feel it’s safe right now for her to just be let go. I’m sure a smaller paddock would be a lot easier to do this in, but I just don’t have access to that.

[S1969]

I would just go ahead and put her in the 60x120. Ideally with a quiet horse nearby that won’t get running. The bottom line is that at some point, you have to give it a shot. I think 60x120 is pretty tiny and anything smaller might actually be dangerous.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she did nothing but trot back and forth a couple of times. But even my old horses buck and snort on occasion and don’t hurt themselves. Unless she is recovering from an injury I would just let her be a horse. Pick a dry day when the ground isn’t sloppy and slippery…hand graze her for a while and then unclip her and step out.

[tabula_rashah]

I’d ace her, then put her out with someone calm and let her figure it out. Oh and leave a breakaway halter on her

[Cocorona]

If you’re looking for a way to give her experience outside without the room to get a lot of speed have you thought of putting panels in her paddock and slowly expanding her space over a few days/weeks?

[PNWjumper]

I bought a mare many many years ago who the trainer swore could not be turned out because she wouldn’t stop running.

I turned her out with my old soul pony and just left her out. The first few days she ran and ran and ran (never tried to jump out over the fences, but then my fences are all tall 4-board with electric wire on the inside and I think she was clever enough not to test them). After the first couple of days she would eat grass nicely enough when left alone, but any time a human would walk down to the barn she would lose her mind - screaming, run, literally begging to be brought in. It took her 4 or 5 days to figure out that it was okay to be out in a pasture.

So I guess my point is that beyond what you’ve already done, and absent a different set-up of pastures/horses, there’s no real way to “test it out,” you’re just going to have to turn her out at some point.

But also, you mentioned that the other horses running is what gets to her. Can you feed all of the others so that they stay calm and then turn her out? I’ve had a few issues over the years where a running herd can mess with what I’ve got going on. And in those cases I dump out big piles of hay and keep the calm through bribery. I suppose that’s a no-go if they’re not your horses and it’s not your farm, but if possible, might help.

[Simkie]

So you’ve tried to turn her out, she’s gone to running, and you grain her to get her attention back?

That’s pretty much 100% the opposite of what you want to do. Not only are you reinforcing the behavior you don’t want with attention, you’re reinforcing it with FOOD. Yikes. If you wanted to teach her to run in turnout, that’s how you would do it.

So step back. Turn her out, hopefully with a quiet buddy, if you can. Drug her if that makes you feel better. Then walk away.

A larger field can actually be safer, as it’s usually stopping and turning at fencelines that gets them into trouble.

But you really need to stop giving her all this attention when she runs, or you’re going to create a monster.

[PlanB]

Can you lunge or work her first, then turn her out when she’s a little bit hungry?

[TCA_Arabians]

Poor horse. For five years, before you bought her, she was stalled 24/7 except when she raced. She was cued to run when other horses ran. She’s still doing what she was supposed to do. Is it possible to feed them all at the same time on opposite sides of the fence right next to one another? I think others here are right. She’ll calm down. It sounds like she’s already responding to you. It also sounds like she has a happy, new home.

[Princess_Sparkles]

You need to stop hovering over her and leave her alone. It can be hard, I have dealt with plenty of owners who do not handle new herd introductions or turnout well and I tell them to leave and let my business partner or myself handle it. Nine times out of ten they settle in fine after a few minutes, or a few days at most (and they aren’t running for a few days, some might pace the fence/call/go off their feed a bit).

Turnout is supposed to allow the horse to move freely and interact with other horses. If you are trying to restrict her to just standing and eating she might as well just be in a stall. Let the thoroughbred get her beans out in the pasture and don’t panic when it happens.

Look, I get that it’s scary. Put some bells and front boots on if she tolerates those, pick a quiet buddy that isn’t going to join in in her shenanigans, put several piles of hay out (really tasty stuff if you can swing it) and walk away. Ask someone else who is knowledgeable about herd dynamics to watch (from a distance) and stay in the barn so you don’t fret.

You cannot run in there and stop her just because she is running around. She has to stop on her own, or she is just going to do it the next time you turn her loose, and the next time, and the next. I also wouldn’t automatically think she is going to jump the fence just because she has chested it a few times. Someone does need to be there to watch her, but it doesn’t have to be you if it freaks you out too much.

[trubandloki]

I am confused. Why is her running in turn out a bad thing?
Why is her getting excited because the other horses are having fun a bad thing?

[LookmaNohands]

Does it seem more like she doesn’t want to be out alone? I would either put someone in with her or set up a pen next to your small turn-out area and put the horse there. Horses will definitely go through a fence in a panic at being alone but shouldn’t do that just because they haven’t been turned out.

I always stall a horse next to a horse for a few hours before I put them out together. I just bought another one off the track this summer and transitioned slowly but mostly to get him used to the grass which we have so much of. He is doing great now!

[S1969]

@trubandloki

I am confused. Why is her running in turn out a bad thing?
Why is her getting excited because the other horses are having fun a bad thing?

Agreed. I’m assuming that the fear is injury, and in that case I agree that the larger the space, the better. I might not turn her out with a herd of other gallopers on the first day, but I don’t think running in a bad thing unless they are injured. I love watching my TB mare gallop. My others will run on occasion but she really enjoys opening up and blasting around sometimes.

[bt1]

I vote for the 60x120 with buddies as close as possible spread piles of hay with a little grain around for both her and the buddies BEFORE putting her out there, walk her right up to the first pile or around to all of them for just one bite then let her go back at the first one.

[4LeafCloverFarm]

There are times when you just have to let a horse be a ninny, for it’s own sanity/well-being. Move your gelding to a stall right next to your mare if possible to ensure they get along. Start turning the mare out (as @Princess Sparkles said) in her splint boots/SMBs and bell boots in whatever the largest paddock/field is available (the larger the better) by herself. Then leave her for the entire turn-out time the other horses get. If you can’t catch her for a day or two, not to worry, she will figure it out. She will settle in, settle down and be fine. Then, once turn-out is working well, introduce turn out with your gelding.

The best thing I ever did was ignore the original owner/breeder of my horse, who insisted my horse couldn’t be turned out until he was a perfectly behaved citizen (she insisted on a chain all the way around his nose, a whip in one hand and well, it went downhill from there…) . He’d just arrived from across the country from a barn with no turn-out, where he’d been for 4+ years. He was clearly distressed being in the barn all by himself (her other horses were on day time turnout). I turned him out anyway (own pasture, hay/water, run-in, break-away halter, in boots). After he spent a good 2 days intermittently running around like he’d lost his mind, he was fine. Perfect citizen after that - no chains, no whips, no slapping was needed. I also moved him to a new barn shortly afterwards. He still comes right to me, at a gallop, when I go to the pasture and call his name.

[danacat]

@simc24

I
I don’t really want to just let her go in the pasture, I’m not sure that she’s the type to settle down after kicking up her heels for a few minutes.

To echo what others have said: I would turn her out with a quiet friend and let her do her thing. She sounds to me like the kind of mare who will get her ya-ya’s out and then settle or at the worst have settled moments and then some run and buck moments like all horses who are having a fun time. Give her a chance. She knows the fence is there and she has respected it. In all my years turning out real racehorses after a lay-up period, I have only seen 1 jump a fence – got scared by a deer.