I’m probably not careful enough. I would have walked the fenceline with her the first couple days to show her the boundaries, and then after getting aquainted with my quietest horse over the fence, I would have turned them out together and let her figure it out. And then slowly introduce the rest of the herd.
Eventually, you have to just let her go!
Have you tried her without any dorm or other tranq? Is it possible she won’t settle down because she’s fighting it?
I’ve had some (WBs, if that matters) jump out when they were first turned out (I’m not sure if they were in their previous barns or what their set up was), but we caught them and put them out again (and eventually the barn built higher fences and hot wire). We did not have large pastures so they were in smallish paddocks – it doesn’t make it harder for them to injure themselves or jump out, which they can do it from a stand still if properly motivated (heck, I’ve even seen a pony leap out of a stall that only had bottom door). The TBs stayed put, but none were fresh off the track.
I had another horse who was used to turn out, but mostly in a small space. When he got to new owner who had like 20 or so acres just for the horses, he ran and ran and ran and ran for the first day (and was out with several others who were unimpressed by his antics). He was VERY body sore the second day, but was fine after 2 or 3 days (still outside for at least 12 hours) and hasn’t repeated that spree again. I would agree with everyone saying that sometimes you have to let them figure it out on their own.
My former barn got a young mare who had never been turned out. She was born at a barn where turnout was extra and was in tiny paddock and her owner didn’t want to pay for it so she was turned out in the arena with her mom and then eventually in a paddock until she was 4 for 1 hour a day.
The barn I was at did 8 - 12 hour turnout in a group pasture. The mare dropped a lot of weight at first and we did make arrangements to bring her in early for the first month since she paced the gate so hard. She eventually acclimated and would go berserk if left in a stall due to bad weather. Last I heard she’s out 24/7 with a run in shed and is blissfully happy.
I got my TB Makeover horse direct from the track last October. He had not been turned out since he went to the sale as a yearling and he was 4 when I purchased him. We literally unloaded at midnight in the dark and threw him in an isolation field alone with some water and alfalfa and called it a night. We came the next day and he was standing in the run in and would only come out to graze or see us. He’s been on 24/7 turnout since that day and is happy as a clam! He’s perfectly fine being in a stall as long as he knows I’m around and not abandoning him! Throw the horse out…they figure out how to be horses fairly quickly and easily! Best of luck!
Potential injury.
Sure. But healthy horses can and do run without hurting themselves. No need for bubble wrap.
Umm… no. A leasirely canter around is one thing but if my horses or clients horses were frantically running the fence line, bucking and twisting etc, for more than a minute or two, nope. They could quiet down and munch some hay or would be brought in. Not worth the risk.
No one is talking about horses running the fenceline, just horses being horses.
Most healthy horses do not get hurt from an occasional gallop, or bucking around for a few minutes on a cold morning. Is there risk? Sure, I guess. Probably more risk if they don’t have room to do it safely.
I cannot imagine dragging my horses back to the barn because they decided to have a gallop around their pasture.
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