This is for my own education. I will not attempt to convert these people, as it’s an effort in futility.
There’s family with three horses where I board. One’s a leggy/fine paint, another an appy, another a walker. They do not turn them out, ever, because they don’t want to pay for it. They only come to the barn once a week to let them out.
All three horses are barefoot. All three horses have contracted-looking feet with high heels, they almost look clubby.
Are the contracted feet caused by lack of movement? Or bad farrier work (they use a trucker who does farrier work on the side)? Does stalling contribute to foot conformation?
There should be rules about how to keep horses in the barn, that they go out to be ridden or turnout should be a given, part of how to care for horses properly?
If that is not happening, management should be on the ball and demand owners see to that, by paying for turnout or someone to exercise the horses.
As for the hooves, that would depend on more than just being stalled.
Many horses have to be on stall rest for injuries and their feet will fare in whatever manner each individual horse’s feet are, what the horse’s nutrition is, what bedding, etc.
They don’t all get contracted, but you are right, that is a bad situation that could be affecting their hooves also.
Tall heels on all 3 tell me it’s largely a trimming issue.
Tall heels cause heel contracture over time.
Lack of movement definitely causes some degree of contracture - feet need to be landing heel first (at least flat), on firm surfaces, for at least a few miles a day, for health.
Poor horses. How about sell 2 and pay for turnout for the 1. Why the hell do they even have them if they only come to the barn once a week? :mad: :mad:
A BM/BO who charges for turnout isn’t going to care if a horse doesn’t get turnout. There are SO many barn situations where management doesn’t know or care about actual horse health or good management.
@Bluey and @JB, let’s just say that these people and I don’t get along. Their lack of knowledge (with no desire to learn) is infuriating, and they’re constantly almost injuring my horses by their lack of care for theirs. Why do they own three? I have no idea. They can’t ride any of them. They aren’t particularly well off. One is “for their daughter” who spends her whole time at the barn on her phone with headphones in.
The board is extremely cheap at this place in comparison to all the other barns in the area, with 5 day/week turnout add-on only $40/month for each horse. They are literally the only people in the whole barn who don’t pay for it. Other people are fussy about mud, weather, or what have you, but every other horse gets turned out. These people in general are total POSs - I don’t even speak to them when they’re there at all. Not even a hello.
This is a hands off barn. Not a full service, we don’t have a trainer, we don’t go to shows, we don’t do any of that. I do wish turnout would be required, but these guys don’t want their horses getting dirty, either. And then they wonder why the horses are so poorly behaved… duhhh. They have said of my horses that I “got lucky” having ones that are well behaved. HAAAAAhahaha.
Was just curious if the constant stalling causes foot issues. You don’t have to tell me what jagoffs these people are, I know.
Oh oh, and… they can pay for a mile long Smartpak strip for the horses for calming supplements… but they won’t pay for turnout. The appy is lame, they can’t see it or don’t care. The walker has been having issues, and they are literally giving her aspirin and haven’t called the vet. They let their last horse, an older mare, lie on the ground for DAYS while she died, unable to rise. The vet was begging them to let her go, and they wouldn’t do it.
I can’t stand them. I’d have kicked them out long ago. Not my call. I just don’t speak to them unless its “I want to ride, get your loose horses out of the arena and put them in one of the 15 paddocks we have outside.”
This just sounds like they don’t know how to care for them, and don’t care to learn how. As ThreeFigs said, not your circus not your monkeys.
Ps if they are turning out in the arenas, I would talk to the barn owner/manager about how that wrecks the footing. I do not turn out horses in my arenas unless we have no other choice (IE the flooding this spring prevented us from turning out in pastures, so we turned out in the indoor arena). I do not allow my boarders to turn out or free lunge in the arenas period. It causes too much damage to the footing and base.
There’s a few ways they pull that off. They’ll take a horse that hasn’t been out of a stall for a week and try to “lunge it” in the arena. Several times the horse has understandably exploded, but with their poor handling also gotten loose, leaving me to either get off or get out of the way of a white-eyed bronc fest straight at me.
They also decided to introduce the appy to gigantic fairy wings while he was in the cross ties. I saw that one coming and quickly got my horses off the ties and into their stalls. On cue, the appy wigs out (duh), breaks the ties off the wall, and goes flying down the aisle. If I hadn’t seen the impending disaster, there would have been a bad wreck.
They leave their horses in the arena (center arena, with aisles on sides) while my horses are tied in the aisles, and let their horses bite and torment my tied ones. I have spoken up about that, was ignored, and now just put mine in a stall when they arrive.
They will also take all three horses into the arena, and just stand around when I’m trying to ride. I know they know I don’t like them, and they intentionally do a few things they know will piss me off. Standing around in the arena when I’m trying to work a horse is one of them. However, it’s not explicitly against the rules so I can’t say anything. Another is if I set up poles, they will just keep handwalking all three horses over them in a 15m circle so I can’t use them.
Argh. So aggravating. I really hate people. These three are the most inconsiderate I have ever met, both to people and their horses. However, with them only showing up once a week, it’s a “better the devil you know” situation.
I was just trying to learn if perpetual stall rest can impact foot structure, and ended up venting about some super annoying people… sorry. They really know how to wreck a relaxing evening though, haha.
ETA: Oh, no worries about me saying anything to them in regards to this. That ship sailed long ago, I have no interest in speaking with them. The BO knows my disdain, as we are friends beyond the barn, but I’d never put him in a position to try and correct it due to my annoyance. If they’re following the rules, there’s not much he can/will do.
In short, yes feet need movement. Period. The less movement, the more unhealthy the feet are, and not just internally - the digital cushion suffers too.
It’s a thing around here I guess. The larger barn up the road does the same. The plus side is, if the horses cant go out for weather/ice reasons, you owe less.
If there is nowhere for turnout to happen, unless the owner does it in an unused ring, or hand grazes the horse, why is there an issue with a barn that wouldn’t include turnout in the monthly board amount?
Some barns charge extra for a horse having access to a stall. I can see a barn charging extra for either limited turnout space, or having people do the taking out and bringing in and all that entails which is, hopefully, hiring someone reasonably competent at handling a bit of a rambunctious horse.
Actually it only “works” when the owner pays for turnout! Otherwise you are in the situation you posted about right now.
For the owners who were basically MIA 99% of the time the BO ( lived on site) would routinely put those horses out in the arena for exercise in the hours when boarders weren’t usually there. He didn’t charge them , he just did it for the horse’s well being . I always admired him for that quality…
We have 15 paddocks that are only day time turnout, differing sizes. There are barn hands that do the turnout and stalls, and yes they get paid extra for the the horses they turn out. Basically every dime I pay for turnout (which you just add to the board check every month) goes straight to the barn hands’ pockets.
The horses are on morning/evening rotation for the paddocks. No one gets turnout overnight (to my chagrin, I would love that).
Big turnouts are not a thing around here, anywhere you go. The places that do have big pastures to turnout all day in do not have sacrifice lots, and I personally don’t feel ok with a horse standing inside for weeks waiting for a wet spring to dry up.
The barn I board at may not be a conventional set up, but it works for me. I would manage it a bit different if I owned the place (turnout required, and I’d fence a few more areas that are currently mowed, etc).
From this thread, I will gather that it is primarily a farrier issue, compounded by standing too much. Thanks all for the input.
I’d say it’s a trim issue. The sedentary lifestyle certainly doesn’t help though.
My horse is prone to tall and contracted heels. He gets plenty of movement. His hooves just want to grow this way (he’s a PRE) and my farrier does the best he can with them. We can only “correct” so much, as he shouldn’t have a super wide flat hoof/low heel anyway due to his comformation and type. But he also doesn’t need to walk on stilts.
If 3 horses all of different breeding and comformation have this issue, but all have the same farrier, then I’d suspect the farrier. We have a few horses at the stable that don’t get turned out for a variety of reasons, and from what I recall, all hooves are actually decent looking.
I’d imagine it’d be hard to correct since, IMO, regular movement is crucial just as a good trim is.
It is a trim issue, but as others have said, feet need movement. I am betting they are not getting trimmed nearly often enough since there is a cost involved.
