Does he let you catch him at turn in time? Or is this unique to BO?
On the nights he has refused to come in, I’ve offered (begged) to come out to try to catch him myself, but BO and her husband don’t want him to learn that he only has to come in for me. So I don’t know if he’d let me catch him when he’s in this mood.
On nights I’ve done turn in for all 3 (rare), I haven’t had an issue. They all walk themselves in. On days when I catch him to work him and then he doesn’t go back out, no issue, but he probably doesn’t equate that catching to turn in.
YMMV but I’d say it might be more about the person bringing him in (ie. if she has an energy of being frustrated with him I do believe he could sense that and be less likely to come in). If it were my horse, I’d be there for several consecutive days at bring in, bringing him in myself and making it a pleasant experience and then observe the BO bringing him in for a few days. I’d also make sure he hung out in his stall for 10-15 minutes before being ridden.
This could be part of it, which is why I tried oatmeal cookies and “please get really excited and happy to see him.” BO is in a period of medical crisis though and can only control her inner life so much. Other boarder and I have standing offers to do evening chores including turn in whenever requested, but BO likes to manage her farm and be hands on. So doing the best I can to support while respecting the boundaries of the property owners.
Have you asked the BO for suggestions? This sounds like a her problem if she doesn’t want you to come and get him, doesn’t want to leave him out, doesn’t want to open his window (this would really irk me unless it was COLD cold) etc etc. I’d kick the can for a solution over to her and try to be “collaborative”.
Our first barn, my gelding was out in a 20 acre field that had a front/back section divided by a trickle of a stream and a lot of mud. If he didn’t come in at meal time, the BM would just leave him out and Id get him when I got there. They also went out overnight so that was not an issue either. Most of the time the muddy spot was too muddy for the 4 wheeler. Easy enough, I lived on the property so not a solution for everyone.
Can you really blame him? Is there any way to give him a stall with attached paddock type of living situation? Some horses don’t mind being stalled but there are some who just can’t be happy.
Even a 12X24 combination would make a huge difference.
She and I agree the problem is that he thinks his stall is boring. She has not asked me to do anything specific, but she does vent freely ( 
) about it when it happens, and knowing what she’s going through, I don’t want her having to deal with extra issues. My thread was mostly aimed at ways to make his stall more engaging, which is something I can control without asking anything of the BO to try to help the situation.
I do get it! Part of my excitement to move here was the 12-16 hour turnout rather than the 7 hours he was getting before. The only option I was able to find in the area that had attached runs lacked what I would consider safe arena footing, and I would need to be already in the barn to get on the waiting list for a stall with a run.
I could send him somewhere to live out 24/7, but he does actively want to come inside when the weather is gross or the bugs are bad.
This is really a dream boarding situation for me. I just don’t want pony to make himself unwelcome by causing trouble!
As the owner of a small barn with a couple of boarders I understand it her wanting to manage it, but it does not seem to be getting better. My boarders only come out once in a blue moon since the horses are retired, so it’s on me to make sure the horses behave as I need and I do have good results with this because I’ve handled a huge variety of horses during my stint as a pro. But I also have experience prior to farm ownership with BOs who do not have the same toolkit and my horses started having issues and acting like they could run the show.
Just as a side note, but do be sure that he has hay that gets him all the way through the night, double netting if necessary. I have one in right now who is an absolute hoover and air fern so I have to get creative to keep hay in front of him. Double netting works best for me.
Edit, just to add - I’ve had some come in who had unsuitable behavior either develop or be apparent right away (fence jumping, geldings who becomes very possessive of mares over the fence, etc). They politely get asked to leave. Not being caught, barging through the gate, and other similar issues tend to resolve quite quickly here.
I hope the link works.
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I was thinking about this part in particular…have you seen the bo and her hubs try to catch him? How’s that go?
The absolute LAST thing I want when trying to get hands on a horse is help. Multiple people just so often leads to a game of keep away.
Is it possible your horse just finds this game SUPER FUN? Two people playing tag is pretty exciting!
Not sure what the answer is if that’s the case. Can you just … happen to be there at turn in for a week or two?
My delightful little nugget (you can read that with whichever substitute words you like lol) used to do this and still, nearly 12 years later will try it on for size about once or twice a year. But, now on the days she considers perfect, instead of turning tail, she looks at me, rolls her eyes, and says, "Fine. You can come get me. But, I want you to know I am not pleased so I will not come to the gate like I normally would. Not even for a … wait, is that watermelon liquorice? Hmm, no. Not even for that. You will come get me if you want to disturb me having the best day of my life. "
What worked was walking her down - basically just being a royal pain in her grazing/hooligan agenda. I would just walk and walk and walk, throwing the occasional verbal tantrum* in her exact direction when she’d decided she’d walked enough and would rather graze now tyvm. The game got old fast (didn’t feel like it to me!) when she realized she wasn’t going to be allowed to graze when she stopped. If she stopped and let me start to approach, I’d let her know I had a high-value treat with her name on it. The moment she turned tail to wander off, I’d follow again, verbally freaking if she tried to graze, heaping praise on for allowing me to approach.
Giant, and I mean giant pain in the ass, but it worked beautifully. I may still have to walk a ways to fetch her on days she considers perfect weather, but she will no longer bolt or try to start a game because the game we play is my game and its boring and always ends up with me winning anyway.
It works, but it takes time, commitment, and consistency.
Anyone other than me who had to fetch her was put through one day of nonsense if they took instruction - a week or more if they thought they knew a better way lol
*there may have also been safe, small projectiles (jelly scrubbers are great, small stones if your aim is safe enough to no actually ever hit the horse) thrown just behind her butt when she put enough distance between us that me merely yelling and flailing my arms/clapping were not enough to dissuade her from grazing.
I have not observed. They’re both experienced horse people and I know they just attempt to slowly walk him down (DH only helps when BO can’t walk him down on her own), but I haven’t watched.
Naturally, the windows were already open when I got there yesterday and BO was giving her horse the day off so we didn’t chat, but he did apparently come inside again normally, so maybe…just maybe…it’s over? I can’t go out Thursday so we’ll see what happens then.
I used to have to do the same thing with me late mare. She didn’t want to be caught to work but always came in for turn in and grain. I’m pretty sure this is exactly how BO is handling it, I just don’t want her to have to spend the time.
In the end, I think BO considers this a 1% problem in a landscape of much bigger problems, particularly since he doesn’t do it every day and we think it will solve itself as turn-in gets later and the weather gets friendlier for open windows. I just figured that if I can turn my friend’s 1% problem into a .25% problem by making his stall more inviting (making a snuffle box and buying a rubber chicken for starts!) so we reduce the “horse decides not to come in” instances, I would like to do that. Particularly when it’s my pet that she takes care of for not very much money that is causing the problem!
I understand completely. I was just wondering if they had anyway to accommodate him in that way. Never know until you ask. When I boarded we had both stalls and stalls with runs so I know in some barns that is an option.
Hopefully he will settle if you can find him the right entertainment for when he is in.
As someone who boards with someone who sounds a lot like your BO -
She also would tell me “no, no” when I would try to help out around the place. But for the stuff I knew I could do adequately, I just DO it and don’t let her tell me no. Filling fresh shavings buckets. Topping off water buckets at night check (and I note if anything seems different, in a text to her). Picking stalls at night check, so there isn’t so much in the morning. Heck, I’ve even picked the whole barn (5 horses) when I’ve been out early to give her a “surprise” day off. Picking the poop out of the paddocks.
If it is something you can do without any fear of getting it wrong, just do it. Some people get weird when they ask for or accept help, but actually deep down do want and sincerely appreciate it.
There’s a horse snuffle thing you can buy that’s supposed to be pretty durable, I think it’s called Snuffle Pasture. It’s on my list of things to buy for the heck of it.
How much grain does he get? Sounds like he sometimes thinks going to his stall just really isn’t worth it to him. I think treats are a good idea, but I’d be putting very high value treats in his feed or a bucket that he gets as soon as he gets in his stall. High value being something that is his absolute favorite (both of my horses will do literally anything for a German Muffin) that he only gets when he goes in his stall.
For toys: if he likes to make noise, an empty plastic milk jug, filled up a little with rocks and tied up, makes a very cheap toy that some think is fun to shake around and/or destroy. Some horses like stuffed animals, too. I’ve been playing around with clicker training and I’ll often do little sessions in the stall, an interesting side effect is that my two have been much happier about coming in to their stalls since starting that. I helped bring in horses at my barn today before the rain was supposed to start (naturally it didn’t rain), literally no one would come up to go in except mine, everyone else would either walk/run away or make you go to them and act like they didn’t see you coming up to them. So it’s doing something useful at least
Pretty soon it’s going to get hot and buggy, and your horse I suspect may be much more interested in coming inside.
Two things…
First is I think you should examine whether you are being a bit anthropomorphic about what your horse’s motivations might be for wanting to stay out rather than returning to his stall.
Secondly, if you do buy him enrichment toys, please make sure they are things he’s not going to bang around and make a racket with All The Damn Time he is in his stall. Apart from being incredibly annoying for barn staff who can’t get away from it and other boarders who come to the barn for their own quiet time, it must be highly disruptive to the rest and sleep patterns of the other horses in the barn.
