Does no one leave their horses out while they’re at work? God forbid horsie poo expects a human to appear to bring them to “safety” when the owner is at the feed store or doing other property maintenance. Or, at work.
2 Likes
I’m not taking it personally at all and am at complete peace with how my horses are cared for, and have been, from east to west and back again. But the black and white thinking of anything other than endless green pastures is horse cruelty is just not the case. Frankly I think my horses were happiest in California with temperate weather, few bugs, big airy barns, runs off their stalls where they could nap in the sun and touch their friends, and endless room to ride around the training centers or hack out on the park land directly adjacent.
3 Likes
She stated her boundaries for horse keeping. What does that have to do with you or anyone else?
My horse hates California. Hence why I’m moving her. She’s used to those big green pastures. My horse’s preference isn’t a slight on yours. My preference (hatred of the west coast) to not be in California or west of the Mississippi isn’t a slight on the millions of people who live there.
It’s what we know and are comfortable with and what our horses like. My horse hates it here. Hence me sending her away.
And you are taking it personally because you think she’s a martyr
1 Like
Yeah, that’s just personal boundaries and not judgey at all 
And again, I’m not taking personally. I don’t really care what she or anyone else thinks about how I keep my horses. I do think as stated, it’s both absurd and offensive to people who take good care of their much-loved animals in places other than this east-coast nirvana where she lives.
4 Likes
She’s not wrong and that’s her preference. Obviously you have always been an urban horse keeper. Those of us lucky enough to grow up in New England and the Mid Atlantic have a different experience.
I’m the idiot that was selfish and followed your logic which I regret.
No one is hating on your horse keeping but understand asking those of us who grew up with the idyllic hesitate to move. I’m the asshole who did it.
And if you weren’t taking it personally we wouldn’t be having this conversation. But keep on thinking otherwise.
My horse is happy where she’s at. But I know she could be happier
1 Like
The only one taking anything personally is you, because it seems you made a bad decision for your horse and are regretting it. I truly hope they fare better when they get back wherever you came from.
3 Likes
Some people full board so there’s staff available to bring horses in (and out.) My mare used to be “done” with turnout around 2:30, so she’d get brought in then. Other horses were out for 60 to 90 minutes more.
Now she’s out 24/7, and is happy that way, and it’s certainly better for her arthritis and heaves. She spends very little time in the barn, and has only been in overnight once, when we had a night with -30 windchill. But she’s in her own paddock because she does not play well with others when it comes to food, and needs to be on a dry lot so there isn’t enough space for horses to get away from each other.
I greatly prefer having her out 24/7 but it’s very, very hard to find that in my area, as a boarder.
3 Likes
That’s fun! I agree with @vxf111 who you took issue with so your comment is fun.
My horse is fine unless [quote=“wanderlust, post:67, topic:788669”]
I truly hope they fare better
[/quote]
Are you admitting that maybe how vxf11 and I keep our horses is better???
Oh stop!!! 
But it’s not personal or anything right? Lordy the whole east coast west coast thing has always been about the west coast pitching a fit and falling in it. It’s hilarious. Ffs get it together. A man got murdered over it and here y’all white women pitching a fit.
1 Like
If they indeed love their stalls, why would you need to close the stall door to keep them inside?
11 Likes
The point of my post was that there is really nice, ample, verdant, well organized, peaceful turn out with very happy horses available at my place, and it through me for a loop that anybody would view that as a detriment because the way they grew up (in the same verdant part of the U.S.), they have only ever seen 1-2 hour turnout and are convinced that’s How It’s Done.
5 Likes
I would look at this as a success. You are now not going to have to deal with a bunch of people who it seems do not agree with your boarding style.
9 Likes
That is very true!
Um, to keep them out of everyone else’s stalls?
I do like the setup I’ve read about in some European barns, a large area indoors where horses are kept together. But it requires horses that play well with others, and seems to mostly be for young unstated horses and/or broodmares/foals.
1 Like
I don’t see any Martyrdom. What I see is, when presented with ideal horse keeping conditions, people saying they’d still prefer to stall their horse the majority of the time. I’m not talking a barren mud lot with no shelter and a moldy round bale (if any), or turning your show horse out into the Nevada desert to run with the mustangs. I’m talking safely fenced grass pastures, fresh water, adequate shelter from storms or bugs, and managing mud in the winter and people STILL not wanting their horse to go out.
You don’t live in an area where that is a possibility? Then no judgement.
It is also entirely possible to adapt a horse who “hates” turnout to being turned out in a safe manner that will end up being better for that horse’s physical and mental well being. I had a horse that had NEVER been turned out since it was born aside from a couple days a week in an indoor arena with its mom. Even that horse adapted with a proper program and went to a home where the buyer had a run in shed and that was it.
11 Likes
I step away from a thread for a little while and it goes haywire.
First of all, reading comprehension. I have said SEVERAL times that I understand that there are places where, due to climate or urbanization or other, there simply IS no space for turnout and no grass for grazing. That’s not what I’m talking about (nor what the OP is talking about—it’s just kind of a straw man people keep throwing out there for some reason). I’m talking about places where there is space and grass and yet barn owners choose not to turnout for reasons unmotivated by horse welfare.
I gave the example of Salt Lake City. Where I went to the undisputed only real A circuit hunter barn (at least at the time). Where there was a lovely grassy turnout (thereby demonstrating that there was space for turnout and the climate did support grass) but the owner chose to use that turnout only for HER OWN HORSES because she preferred the visual appeal of pretty grass to rotating the boarded horses through that turnout. This is an example of a place where turnout is possible but a barn owner chooses not to for non-horse-welfare reasons.
I couldn’t do it. So I decided if I moved to SLC (which we didn’t do for a myriad of reasons, not only because the horse situation was the pits) I would have preferred to sell my riding horses and leave my retired horses retired back East. I felt that my horsekeeping standards didn’t align with the horsekeeping standards in the area (and for the record I looked at many barns and none of them did significant turn out, despite many of them having grassy turnouts).
Second, I don’t know why any of you are pressed about how I keep my horses. Why so defensive? What I do affects you… absolutely zero. What you do similarly affects me absolutely zero. I’ve called out NO ONE on this thread. Several people have called me out. Why do you care what I think if you’re so convinced your brand of horsemanship is great? Soul search that question in a genuine way. Really.
Third, a majority of the “yeah I know the SCIENCE says this is good for horses but my horse doesn’t need/want it because XYZ” are not situations where the horse REALLY prefers being stalled to turnout with a companion. They’re situations…
-where the companion happens to not be a match (not every horse is going to get along with every other one and I’ve seen situations where if the first pairing isn’t a match the assumption is that the horse just wants to be solo when in actuality the horse might just need to try a different companion)
-where the horse has spent a lifetime without a companion and so needs much more time to acclimate to turnout with another and at the first sign of the horses trying to work things out the nervous owners separate them (trust me, I get it, it’s scary to watch horse figure it out but you wouldn’t take a dog who was raised in a kennel its whole life and let it loose at a dog park and expect it to be friendly with other strange dogs right off the bat)
-where the turnout is unenriching and the fun is happening back at the barn (look if you only fed me back in the barn I’d want to be there all the time too, but that doesn’t mean I hate the outdoors, it’s just FOMO)
-where the turnout is stressful in some way (close to the street, far from the horse’s barn buddy, close to the riding ring where horses keep leaving, can’t see other horses on turnout, lacking shelter and shade, etc.)
I keep retired horses at my home barn. I’ve had several come and was told “this horse won’t want to be out much, he likes to be stalled.” Every single time, that horse saw MY horses who are out a lot and decided almost immediately he’d rather be out with them than in the stall. I’ve never had one that ended up wanting to be in more than mine. And every single one of them ended up sounder with me than they were when the came. Several of them were retired due to lameness and became serviceably sound or better just with lots of turnout.
Of course we ask our animals to compromise for us. And we all have different tolerances. I wouldn’t crate a dog all day long. Other people think that’s a perfectly fine way to house a dog. I wouldn’t expect a horse to do anything for me during the hour I ask for it to be MY TIME if I didn’t do the best I could to make the other 23 hours as healthy and comfortable as possible. That means making sure my horses have ample enriching turnout with a friend. It’s not something I’d compromise on. If it’s a compromise you’re willing to make then it’s a compromise you’re willing to make. And I get that. But there’s no science backing up that it’s GOOD for the horse. It’s just that it’s a compromise you’re willing to make. I make compromises too. I make my horse do things he’d rather not because it’s in my interest (and not his). We all do. But be honest it’s a compromise, that’s all.
24 Likes
Years ago at my old place I had a retiree boarder whose owner wanted him to get more turnout than he could have at the barn she kept her other horse at.
He was an elderly OTTB who’d had a rough life before his current owner.
He came to me on bute, and I asked if she really wanted me to kep him on it. She said since I was a DVM she felt fine with me making the call.
Horse had to step over 3 thresholds to go out–if he hit 2 of them, he got bute in his dinner.
Six months or so in, he was off bute and serviceably sound for light riding, and she began to trail ride him.
He was with me until she bought her own place nearby.
I was familiar with the boarding stable where she kept him prior to me. The management was quite decent, but there was limited turnout due to space and number of horses.
9 Likes
Huh? What are you talking about?
7 Likes
I have a horse that can open his stall door and will let himself out if someone forgets to secure the extra latch. Yesterday he did just that (he doesn’t go anywhere, just wanders around the immediate vicinity of the barn) and he also opened the door of one of his neighbors. So I found him hanging out under the attached overhang, the mare’s stall door was wide open, and she was happily inside her stall with no evidence that she took a step out.
Edited to add that my horses stay in during the day and go out all night. With the bugs this time of year they would all “throw a tantrum” if I tried to keep them out during the day.
2 Likes
when it’s really hot and buggy I can open the stall doors and open the barn door and mine will play musical stalls but they will refuse to leave the barn - I guess it’s freedom in a some ways? 
1 Like
Having acquired a horse that ran wild-eyed when loose and was terrified of being outside (with the combination being one step short of going through the fence), I understand that sometimes keeping a horse in a stall/in very controlled situations can be a necessity. (Issues from prior to us getting him.)
[We worked through these phobias over a lot of years (and with lots of praise and cookies), tho it took about a week of extreme tough love for the loose/outside combination - after which he loved being out and about, to the point that he barely needed to be on a lead going in or out. His other major phobia (wash stall (enclosed space) with water) - never really got him over that, but it became manageable.]
1 Like
