For the horses. Does anyone do this, if so why? I sorta think they like the quiet. So wondering if I am missing something.
I do if they are in during the day (during the summer when it’s hot or in the winter when we have a particularly bad weather day.) I think they like it and breaks the boredom up a bit. I sometimes accidentally leave it on at night but don’t mean to do that. I agree that at night they like the quiet so they can sleep in peace.
Have you ever slept in a horse barn? At home or at a show. There are more kicks, snoring, water bucket banging, other bodily noises then you can possibly imagine. The horses don’t seem to care at all. I would doubt they would care about a radio on all the time or not. I don’t think quiet enters into their world. Ever.
I know a lot of people who do it. I find it incredibly annoying, because I like the quiet. I don’t know what the horses think of it, but judging by how spooky they are on windy days I’m guessing they are not fans of background noise.
I also find it extremely annoying. Though this could be because the barn would play the worst classical/jazz music ever on a grainy old stereo that jumped tracks and made horrible noises. :lol:
Add me to the list of people who can’t stand it. Drives me crazy!
I only leave music on in my own barn when it is the 4th of July (or New Year’s Eve) and I’m trying to mask the explosions. Otherwise, I just don’t think they need or appreciate it. We’ll have the radio on when working in the barn, but that is usually NPR.
[QUOTE=Garythesquirrel;8801558]
Add me to the list of people who can’t stand it. Drives me crazy![/QUOTE]
Me too.
I wouldn’t play any music at all.
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/20881/risk-factors-for-gastric-ulcers-in-thoroughbreds
Having a radio on in the barn–talk radio was correlated with a 3.6-fold increase in ulcer risk, while music radio increased risk 2.8-fold (this statistic brought chuckles from the audience). Lester noted that radio could be a surrogate factor for a more urban setting (known to increase ulcer risk), and that race radio with constant yelling of race status might, indeed, be more stressful to horses stalled nearby.
Bah. I might listen to the radio while I’m noodling about in the barn on my own, cleaning stalls or braiding or cleaning tack or something, but it drives me barmy when I walk in and everyone is there and the radio is going full tilt and everyone is yelling to make themselves heard over it.
That’s got to be stressful for the horses.
I will generally just quietly turn it off–and no-on notices, they just stop shouting. (Either that or they are too intimidated or polite to say anything. Whatever. I’ll take it to get away from the noise!)
[QUOTE=Miss Woodford;8801594]
I wouldn’t play any music at all.
http://www.thehorse.com/articles/20881/risk-factors-for-gastric-ulcers-in-thoroughbreds[/QUOTE]
This article suggests the complete opposite.
http://www.paulickreport.com/horse-care-category/playing-music-stress/
We used to keep a radio on in the race horse training barn, on a soft music station, not very loud.
Every barn I was in did that.
We thought it did help horses not to be so overly alert and jumpy to every little noise out there, that it made for calmer horses.
Don’t know if that was true, because we didn’t try to go without music and see if they became more or less hyper-alert.
I had read that one article in The Horse and wondered what they may have missed, their conclusions just didn’t seem quite right.
It conflicted with others I was aware of.
My poor horses are subjected to NPR whenever I am in the barn.
Since they are stalled only for vet/farrier visits, the choice of radio is for my amusement & relaxation, not theirs.
Add me to the List of folk who find nonstop, overly loud, radio in a barn annoying.
I have a classical music station on at low volume all day, every day. I like it, the mares are used to it.
star
[QUOTE=gumtree;8801711]
This article suggests the complete opposite.
http://www.paulickreport.com/horse-care-category/playing-music-stress/[/QUOTE]
i was about to link that.
what is probably causing the ulcers in the thehorse article is, idk, the stalling?
i remember another study done a while ago that said horses were quieter/less restless when certain types of music played: IIRC, jazz and classical music were favored, with rock&roll and country being distressing. i’d have to look for it once i get home.
If I’m at the barn doing something physical and monotonous than I like to have music on. Otherwise I much prefer the quiet. I really don’t think horses care one way or another
I have a country music station on in the barn 24/7. I hate not having music playing.
I like a quiet country station on. Last boarding barn had it on 24/7, I hated country, give me some Zep! But as the years wore on, I knew all the songs, sang along, appreciated the values espoused (Usually)- I hate shake your money maker! What are we? Hos? Grrrr
Now Im at home, no lec’jucity yet, so no radio at all. Next month I’ll have power! And I want me some Merl Haggard! I think the horses get used to the quiet sounds of a low country station, no rock n roll for them.
One BO left off the old rock and roll stations with pretty quiet music. The kids, as soon as she left the barn, put on rap!:eek: OK so I did not want my horses listening to rap.
But it was worse at another barn when the barn worker from New York State would always put on country music. My horses did not need that!
Worst was one BO at private barn who put on the Fox hate radio talk shows.
I want my horses listening to rock and roll, even the old stuff, but mostly the new stuff. I do not want them listening to hate radio or country music or rap. And yes, the horses know and like music. How do I know? Because they go over to the music and listen to it close up.
[QUOTE=invinoveritas;8802054]
And yes, the horses know and like music. How do I know? Because they go over to the music and listen to it close up.[/QUOTE]
short story, but one that coincides with your experience. I used to truck over to an indoor and ride my TB, ‘Spooky’ in their indoor to practice our dressage. He had about as much talent for dressage as a pig has for formal plate-setting, but he was an excellent jumper so made a decent eventer. Anyway, we used to go after hours or close to it (with permission from B/O) so it was always real quiet and lonesome, so I’d pop my iPod playlist into the speakers and have myself a nice, focused ride. Music helps me concentrate.
Anyway it was always the same playlist I called my ‘riding playlist’ which had mixed songs on it mostly R&B, not a lot of angsty stuff. Well I started noticing during one song especially, he’d get really ‘up’ - not spooky up, but moving out and forward up and just really ‘bopped along to the beat’. He didn’t do it with the other songs, so I added it a few more times to the playlist to see if it was just a fluke… it wasn’t. He’d find his little ‘metronome’ and just get very sashay-ish and strut his stuff, and he was not much of a dressage horse but he always seemed to try harder when that song was on. He’d just perk up and I got some of the best rides from him out of that song:
