leaving horses unattended at home

[vxf111]

[QUOTE=spacytracy;5329272]
My two are at home, and out during the day while we are at work. No problems.

Biggest thing is to make sure your fence is secure, and to get to know your neighbors.[/QUOTE]

This.

Mine have shelters, water access at all times, and are behind secure fencing. If something happened, any of my neighbors would call.

At many less-hectic boarding facilities, horses are left alone for long stretches of time. At most places I know, horses go totally “unsupervised” all night long.

I tried watching them when we first moved to the farmette. There’s nothing to watch. They don’t do a whole lot

[vxf111]

[QUOTE=1alicious1;9024502]
I’m currently looking for property to build on, but was wondering if anyone has left their horses in a small pasture (1-3 acres) for a couple days at a time?
I was thinking to put a large round hay bail and of course plenty of water and a shelter.
Ideally, I’d like to put a couple horses on the property since it’s only 1block away from my house (also I work from home). I have horse friends in the area but not right next door.
I sometimes have to leave for 2-3 days at a time for business–so I guess my question is if you’ve made a safe fenced area with food and water for the horses, how often should someone check in on them?
I’ve always boarded but I see my horses nearly everyday and have also taken them camping, so I feel like I know them pretty well. What’s everyone’s opinion on this?[/QUOTE]

This I would not do because god forbid a horse get injured, it would go a few days before being discovered. Or they somehow knock over the water and ended up without for several days. I would pay someone to come once or twice a day to water, feed, and look the horses over.

[Mukluk]

When I am out of town I have my horse sitter come by twice a day (same as my twice a day checks on work days). Mostly because they get locked up at night and let out in the am. But also to be sure they are good for hay and water.

[LittleblackMorgan]

Mine are home alone more often than not. I work in another state FT. Stalls are open so they can come and go. New fencing (woven wire) no electric. Neighbors have horses too.
Ironically, surveillance is part of my industry and I don’t have cameras. Mostly because if something is going to happen, it doesn’t matter if I can see it. People have had horses for way longer than CCTV existed.
Mine have 4 slow feed haynets, 4 water buckets and 2 16g water tubs. No issues.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

Yup. I do. Although I usually go home at lunch to let the dogs out. But I have traveled overnight and left them home (so 24 hours). Mine live out 24x7 with two shelters.

I paddlock the main gates when I am gone. There is a stretch of wood fence someone could slip through to aide a horse if need be, but I had a gate get opened once (we were home, but my horse and donkeys ended up on the highway). IDK how, but I know it was securely latched when I did my night check.

[PlanB]

Mine are alone all day and it doesn’t bother me nearly as much as I thought it would.

[FatCatFarm]

I have a horrendous commute, 62 miles each way, 5 days a week so am gone 12 hours each day. Basically my husband is as well. I rarely leave the horses in stalls during the day because of this. The weather has got to be pretty crappy for that to happen. Mine are generally out 24/7 in decent sized pastures; my three draft crosses in a 10 acre pasture and my 4 minis plus a POA and ISH yearling are in a 5 acre pasture. We usually have decent grass during the summer and I keep round bales out in hay huts otherwise.

The 3 big guys have a loafing shed, big oak trees and woods in the back of their pasture. The minis, POA and ISH, have big oak trees and it gets very shady up at the top of their pasture but no loafing shed. They get to come in more because of this if it’s rainy/stormy/cold and wet, or terribly hot, in which case I have fans in the stalls they go in. Because I’m gone so long during the day and because our 17.5 acres sits back off the road so neighbors are highly unlikely to notice anything amiss, I don’t like to keep them confined to stalls when I’m gone. I’ve been doing it this way now for 21 years.

Yes, I’ve come home to a few surprise injuries over the years and a few colics but only 2 were catastrophic (broken shoulder in a yearling colt; intestinal volvulus in a broodmare 3 mos post foaling; and one stupid mare who decided she didn’t like her pasture mate and proceeded to go through virtually every fence on the property - that was at our other property and she went over the one section that had t-posts and caught a leg, the rest was smooth wire. Her injuries were ugly but she eventually healed). Some things are going to happen no matter what, I mean because, they are horses after all and it happens anywhere it seems. Our property is gated, perimeter fenced and lined by woods on three sides, so when we’ve had a jail break, it’s been contained within the property.

[FatCatFarm]

As to going off for a few days and leaving them in a pasture with shelter, food, water and a round bale, that should be fine. Horses get pasture boarded this way all the time and do fine. However, in that situation, usually there are people on site who could at least observe that a horse is in distress and make a call. So if it were me, I’d probably have a trusted friend go check once a day to make sure all was well; that or pay a local pet sitter to do so.

When we go out of town, I pay either my farrier or a local college student who has horses, to go out to my place twice a day and take care of the cats, dogs, horses, minis, mini pig and 3 shetland sheep, and no one gets boarded. Makes going out of town rather expensive though.

[DHCarrotfeeder]

I’m fine with leaving them unattended. But for 2-3 days at a time, I get nervous that something comes out of line (water supply is my main concern) and then they go days without anyone available to correct the situation.

We do 8-10 hours unattended every day. We have come home to an overturned water tub or human error of the same nature and a thirsty or hungry horse. Or goodness forbid, an injured or cast horse. In those cases the average time of duress is 4-5 hours. I can live with that. Even non-horse people can understand a full day unattended. But 2-3 days makes me nervous.

David

[LadyB]

Horses go out at 6am and come in when the sung goes down, no one is on the property. I work 730-430. During the weekend they go out at 8 and in whenever the sun goes down.

[LadyB]

ETA: Property is double gated, and gates are doubled chained. I only feel bad when its nasty weather and I can’t go home. But they do have run ins!

[Parrs_Gold_Bar]

DH and I have 9-5 jobs, we’re usually gone at least 10hrs a day. The field has page wire fencing with future intent to electrify, but so far so good. Horses have access to shelter, a trough, back up pond and plenty of grass.

One day I was walking the back field and found a gap where a deer had jumped the fence and broke it (rusty wire snapped when the deer hit it) there was a good 10ft expanse that was totally open to the woods behind us, there were hoof prints that lead right up to it, then turned away. Luckily my guys prefer grain and shelter to freedom

Just make sure you have good fences and always latch the gate. The only time I’ve ever had a horse “escape” on me was when we only had electric without a solid barrier-- our guess is he tried to graze under, hit the wire behind his ears and flew forward.

As others have said- they don’t need babysitting.

[clarity]

As someone else said (I can’t use quote for some reason!), make sure your fences are secure, and know your neighbors. Most importantly, the neighbor with the nicest lawn. When my husband and I were renting a farm we lived down the road from a couple with a gorgeous lawn. Bought a lovely TB mare to accompany my gelding and she would do ANYTHING to get to their lawn. Over, under, through the fencing. Be prepared for everything. Cameras and electric fencing are a good start.

[Garnet_Z]

Horses are left by themselves all the time on a lot of big ranches. My horse lives out on a property where there’s a cabin but no one lives in it permanently. I do see him every day and the other horses’ owners are out there daily as well. There’s a trail camera set out in case anything weird happens.

Basically, it’s not weird to leave horses unattended. People do it all the time, but personally, I would worry if my horse wasn’t checked daily. Get a trail camera or video camera if you are worried about things.

[candyappy]

[QUOTE=nashfad;9024546]
GET A WIRELESS CAMERA SYSTEM SO YOU CAN CHECK ON THINGS WHILE YOU ARE GONE…HAVE SUPER DUPER FENCING…GATED ENTRANCE…POST SECURITY SYSTEM SIGNS AND BEWARE OF DOG SIGNS…JUST USE GOOD HORSE SENSE AND MAKE IT ALL AS SAFE AND STRONG AS YOU CAN FOR THE HORSES…THEN LEAVE IT TO GOD BUT CHECK ON THINGS FROM YOUR PHONE[/QUOTE]

These are HORSES not children. They don’t need 24 hour supervision.

OP- While I personally see my horses at least 2x in person every single day, they don’t need me to. If they have food, shelter and good fences you should do fine if you need to be gone a couple days every now and then.

What would concern me most is the time of year , weather and power outages especially in winter .

It would also be best if the horses coexist in their living set up very peacefully. Mine do, but if you have bullying or one with special needs , they should have someone to check them 2x a day.

[purplnurpl]

Never thought much about it. Horses are left everyday for 10 hours.

I’ve left for vacation as well and just had someone come by and drop grain every other day.

My biggest fear is fire.
So as long as they aren’t shut in stalls I’m good.

[SonnysMom]

I wouldn’t want my horses to not have eyes on them at least once every 24 hours to check for colic, injuries, half pulled shoes. I would prefer at least twice a day but could live with once a day if push came to shove.
I used to keep my horse at a co-op barn and the horses came in to eat twice a day and were mostly kept outside other than to eat unless the weather was really awful in the winter. They were all fed/checked twice a day.

I would not be comfortable leaving my horse for a few days. That would be the one time a year he partially pulls a shoe and is walking on the clip, or gets a cut that should be sutured, or gets an eye injury that needs the vet. None of that is stuff I want to not be noticed for a few days- especially the eye thing.

[jdobbs64]

LOL I am not going to obsessively watch via phone to ensure A is having his 11 am nap, and that O is rubbing is butt on the cedar tree.

[spacytracy]

Mine are outside all day, weather pending. Fencing is as safe as they get, and gates are secure. I live on a well-traveled road, so horses are visible from road. I have thought about leaving a note with my contact info at my gate just in case (where they would only see it if they went on the property). Just haven’t gotten around to it!

[spacytracy]

Also consider that at night, they are left “alone” for 10 hours. And most people don’t stay up all night monitoring them.