I mean, I have worked at a WP barn in Florida with ample turn out where NO - the horses did. Not. Go. Out. They got lunged. They got ridden. Back in their stalls. All day, every day.
There is a local H/J barn that does turn out some, and also drugs their horses. At. Home.
It’s wild.
[quote=“Rumorhasit93, post:144, topic:788669”]
There is a local H/J barn that does turn out some, and also drugs their horses. At. Home
[/quote] 
I fail at formatting…
I know of at least two barns where the horses have 12x12 stalls with a 12x12 run. They get out for an hour a day, 5 days a week to be ridden or worked by the trainer or owner on lesson days. There is no turnout. There is no eurociser or aquatred. Some owners come out and ride or hand walk or what have you, or put them in the 24x24 “sun pens” for a couple hours. Other owners come out for shows and their one lesson a week.
Of course it varies, but there are absolutely horses at these barns whose only exercise outside of their stall and run is one hour-ish a day 5 days a week. Yes they have a 12x12 run to go and see the parking lot and they can see each other (no touching, electric wire runs on the panels between runs).
It’s no life for a horse, as far as I’m concerned, but in the HCOL areas where land prices are sky-high and a facility may have 700 horses (speaking of a specific facility in Southern CA, here), it’s a fact of life.
The bastards were biting through my breeches and socks today - awful!
I do the “zoom in on overhead view” thing a lot. In the photo you posted, there may be 2 or 3 horses turned out in the areas at the bottom. Maybe. But there is clearly way more turnout available.
There’s a very high end dressage barn in my area that actually does have a small turnout pen for every horse… but almost none of them are turned out. This barn does have a eurocizer… but it’s for keeping horses conditioned, not anything like turnout.
Yes, someone (horses) is making the wear at the gates that is clearly seen in that photo.
Or sadly, that is what’s funding the “industry”- keep the riders dependent and charge em through the wazoo
I was pushing back against the notion that they were standing in a stall 24/7, which was the assertion.
Getting them out, putting them in a slightly larger pen, etc are all variances to that. Which I also clearly acknowledged.
The original assertion was dramatic hyperbole, and I find that highly irritating.
Yes, I’ve seen something similar at western barns. But that’s still not standing in the stall 24/7 which was the assertion.
I’ve been to saddlebred barns where they only get turnout in the indoor for a bit, worked for 20 minutes, and long lined every day. That’s still an effort to provide the horse with some stimulation and exercise their muscles. They don’t get drugged, and injuries are actually surprisingly rare. They can socialize through the stall walls, and there are surprisingly few stall vices in that group.
Again, I’m not arguing that it’s the same as turnout.
I shall repeat. Never have I ever seen a horse out. I just drove by the place a few seconds ago, and also drove past it earlier today. Never.
The picture you shared in your earlier posts shows obvious signs of horses being in most of those paddocks enough to damage the grass.
Not sure how things are elsewhere, but in this area, barns often turn out at night during the summer. My experience is with dressage barns though - it has been a long, long time since I boarded at a hunter facility. The last barn I was at (dressage facility) turned out at 7 pm mid April - mid Oct and brought them in at 7 AM. From Oct-April, they turned out at 7:30 AM depending on weather and brought them in in late morning (because by then, they were hungry since grass wasn’t as lush in the pastures). In the case of thunderstorms or winter storm weather, they would wait until things eased a bit, but horses in general were out even in light rain or snow. Horses were happy - they had nice roomy, airy stalls with fans and windows, they got high quality feed and ample hay, and they got a decent amount of turnout every day in good sized and well kept pastures with good grass. It’s sad that all barns aren’t run that way.
I’m at a A rated barn. 3’6+ hunters, 1.20-1.30-1.40m jumpers. They go out 12 hours overnight in summer and those staying home go out 9am to about 3:30pm in winter during the day. We let them be horses. They’re in fields in pairs or smaller solo fields but they all go out and roll and graze and play. It is preferable to me, and my horse really benefits from being out as much as possible. I know a few others in Mid Atlantic that do the same/similar. I don’t find it to be that uncommon, honestly.
Who knows when that aerial was taken.
I drive past that place at all hours of the day and night. Never have I ever seen horses out. Come by and prove me wrong.
I mean, I boarded at and worked at the barns that I know of that don’t turn out literally at all, and don’t touch the horses daily except to clean their stalls. Ride once a week or even once a month after lunging for an hour.
But our experiences are imaginary. Other people that have been to every single barn in the country know more than we do.
A neighbor told me that her mother in law’s boyfriend’s step-brother said that about 6 years ago, she heard of a barn with lovely grass fields that drugged their horses and then tied them up to the fence inside the grass fields. Can you believe that?? Me neither. This is the trolliest thread I have seen in a long time. What is the point of so much speculation and just plain incorrect information? How does this help anyone do better for their horses? I don’t deny that there are legitimate grievances noted here, but the rest of the crap makes the real posts unbelievable. That’s an actual shame.
Obviously I’m just horse blind when I drive past twice a day.
OP, I am with you 110% and people who don’t turn their horses out drive me INSANE. My horses LIVE OUTSIDE WITH FRIENDS. This is non-negotiable. This includes my AA circuit show horses. Heck, my retired string lives out with my pet bull (he’s polled, of course)! I have some that come in during the day in the heat of the summer because they either refuse to stand under their shade or aren’t great sweaters, but beyond that mine are out. I’ve even gone so far as to build farms in areas centralized to where I horse show (Ocala, FL and Dorset, VT) just so that my horses don’t have to spend time in horse show stalls. My farm in VT is still under construction, so I boarded with my trainer about 15 minutes away this summer and while I paid for two separate stalls and we had horse show stalls, my two shared an oversized stall attached to a large grass pasture so that they could spend as much time outside grazing as they pleased. And each morning they were showing, I’d grab them out of a field, pop them on the trailer, horse show, and then put them right back in their pasture. I didn’t need to ice legs, wrap legs, bute, dex, lunge, or any of the other things that we do to showing horses because mine were out and moving 100% of the day. They had unfettered access to grass pastures 100% of the day/night and they spent about 80% of their time outside enjoying it.
My newest acquisition is a perfect example of how much letting horses be horses can make a positive impact. She is a 10 year old 1.35 speed horse who has an FEI record longer than my arm and has been chronically on the road or in the air since she was 4 years old. She came to me in January to decompress and possibly be bred in lieu of a show career because she’d become such a basket case. Circumstances changed for her owner and I was asked to see if she could come back into work to either be leased or sold but I was warned she needed a big bit, draw reins, ear plugs, a calming mask, a 20 minute lunge, and maybe an exorcism. She’d lived out the whole winter and when I realized she was lonely, I gave her a friend. I then brought her back to work with none of those things, just a loose ring snaffle and having her turnout buddy hacked at the same time. She was a completely different horse. Her owner was so impressed she asked me to keep her indefinitely.
She now horse shows in the same snaffle up to 1.10 and a soft rubber mullen mouth short shanked pelham when the jumps get big. I have not lunged, dexed, plugged, or contraptioned this horse once. I personally have to wear a honking roller spur because she’s gotten so lazy and quiet that I had to pony kick her on a hack when I forgot a spur just to get her to canter! She’s put on 150 lbs and has developed the softest, most lovely eye and demeanor. In fact, my 15 year old working student who has jumped her a grand total of 5 times took her to a horse show cold last Saturday and then hacked her out on a massive XC course after. Apparently a year ago that would’ve sent her into the stratosphere!
She’s still in a training program, she still horse shows frequently, and she does come in during the day in Florida while it’s above 90, but the only major difference in her life is that she lives the majority of it outside in a small herd. I always turn out horse show buddies together because it really seems to reduce the travel stress when they get to go places with their friends. While my horses all travel very politely to and from horse shows by themselves without complaint, anytime they can go together that is what we do. I don’t have ulcers. I don’t have nervous horses. I don’t have sore horses or stalked up horses or tense horses. I have horses that have jobs they are expected to perform to the best of their ability and once they’ve done their job, they get to just be horses. I get that this doesn’t work for everyone, but I wouldn’t have it any other way and I am quite sure that neither would they!
Excellent!!!
Why didn’t I think of that?
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