IF this is your own property, IF that property is set up to make this safe, IF you have a calm bonded herd that can do this without running, and IF these are all your own horses, then yes this is one of those cool things you can do with a herd that knows and respects you as the herd boss.
If it’s a boarding barn with turnover or horses prone to run and fight for food it is a very bad accident waiting to happen.
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If the horses are a consistent group that stay, this will work just fine. I learned to ride and was 5 years at a stable that did this for 10 horses, every day, and did it for its entire run of maybe 30 years.
A new horse would be led to his stall for a time until he figured it out and could be allowed to follow the others in. If he after that he made a mistake, another horse would correct him quickly. The barn manager would be nearby with a longe whip to intervene if necessary. Eventually every horse went straight to its own stall.
When visitors watched the horses going each to their own stall, they would marvel at how each horse knew where to go. The BM would joke that they were reading their names on the plate on the beam across their doorway.
One key to the process was allowing the herd to enter the gate to the barn almost in a single file. The herd hierarchy had to be respected, with the dominant horses going in first, the others following in their order. The BM with a longe whip or long dressage whip would adjudicate any misunderstandings between the horses. But once they all knew the routine - and they picked it up very quickly - they did fine.
I do this with my horses. However, the way the barn is set up I can let them in and monitor who goes where. Everyone knows their stall and calmly walks in.
In boarding barns I have seen this done successfully when each stall has a run out, and that backs up to the pasture. Each horse can be let in to their run without any leading.
if you can do it safely, it saves a ton of time. If you have 3 YO horses who have way too much energy, it won’t work. And letting horses run a long way from pasture to the barn is NEVER a good idea.
We do it with my four. Once everyone knew who ate where, we went to the model. I dump feed in two stalls, in a bucket on a tree, and in a lot for the donkey. I open the gate and the 2 stall horses go to their stalls, toppy the boss goes to his tree and donkey takes a hard right into his pen. I shut his gate then go latch the stalls. NBD. In a stable (haha) situation with minimal hazards (pavement, etc) it can work.
My barn does it, they open one gate at a time with about 2 - 4 horses in there and they run to the barn, but they know to only WALK in the barn and they go to their stalls and eat, and so on with the other pastures. We have never had problems with it, now for turnout, some need to get led due to the fact that they aren’t the brightest bulbs in the bunch and after a few years still don’t get it. lol. It is a boarding farm and all the boarders like it, not once has there been a fight because there are all good horses and do have problems with each other.
I’ve seen it done and done it myself plenty of places where I have boarded and/or worked. It’s also what we did growing up. But I don’t think it’s ideal. It always works… until it doesn’t. You get a new horse who likes mayhem, or someone goes rogue one day, whatever. Maybe you’ll be one of the lucky ones that never happens to. It’s definitely easier to control the chaos potential at your own farm as opposed to a boarding facility with a lot of turnover.
I have to say, I’ve had dutch doors that open into the pasture at both of my own farms. That was not necessarily intentional, but I’ve grown to love them. I don’t have to halter my horses and lead them in/out, which I GREATLY appreciate. But the dutch doors also eliminate the potential for wandering at feeding time that comes with letting horses walk freely into the barn: wandering in the aisle, wandering into the wrong stall, wandering into an occupied stall, etc. I keep the dutch doors shut until feeding time, then open the doors one by one to let the horses in.
Just my two cents.
I do it with 3, but i have dutch doors to the outside. I open each door separately, most aggressive to least, and close the door after each is in. So never 2 horses in a stall. I don’t think I would let them go thru the barn aisle as a free for all.
The BO had a wonderful elderly Morgan with Cushing’s. His name was Teddy Bear. He was quite something. He knew when it was 3:30 even though there wasn’t a clock on that end of the barn. We’d open the gate, he would trot to his stall and start on his hay. Everybody else was on a lead rope.
We have used this for 50+ years with a generally consistent herd of our own horses. They know their stalls really well and it looks synchronized when they come in. When we add a new horse to the herd, that one will get led till they learn the routine. A couple of keys: feed is in their stalls when they come in so they are motivated to get right to their stalls; none of our horses have shoes behind; and our center aisle is a soft, not slippery surface. Horses are so fond of routine that they really “get” this set up and know to turn the correct way for their stall. We could not have a many horses as we do if each one had to be individually led in and out due to the time commitment and labor expense.
Exactly. In my own barn with only 3 horses (and two little ones that don’t get fed in stalls) it’s worth the risk. If a horse gets injured, it’s MY horse, MY fault, and MY risk.
But at a boarding barn? Not sure I’d think the saving of 15 minutes is worth risking an injury, fight, or loss of reputation. Of course it’s easier/faster, so long as it works. If it doesn’t - probably not easier or faster that day.
Letting the horses come in the barn on their own is predicated upon how well the person bringing them in can communicate, verbally enforce the rules and point.
when I had to board there were 14 horses in two separate pastures. Seven came in on their own, then the other seven - who were lined up quietly at the other gate . The only time there were hiccups was when a new horse came and needed to be shown the drill. Otherwise things went smoothly.
When I had four horses, I never brought them in. They always came in on their own and went to their own stalls. It was a thing of beauty to watch them:)
when I turned everyone out in the AM, they went into the paddock one at a time, as I finished brushing each one. They politely passed the time, waiting for me to come down and open the paddock gate.
I was fortunate to have a strong and fair alpha horse (RIP Duke) who kept everyone in line, until I opened the gate. Nobody rushed the gate either. They walked quietly to pasture like the gentlemen I asked them to be.
If a person thinks they can see problems with this type of liberty, then you will and don’t do it.
I let my older babysitter horse bring himself in, but then sometimes he gets distracted and goes rogue, so we go back to halters/leads for awhile. I’d never let my young horse attempt it, as he would definitely start some problem.
One person cannot verbally enforce the rules with 14 loose horses in a barn aisle, no matter how good they are. If it works, it’s because the horses know the routine and follow it, not because the single handler has done it. As many have described, they “open the gate and the horses go to their stalls.”
I took over as BM on a co-op barn that used to let 12 horses run into their stalls from the pasture. One in particular would canter in/out. I modified the routine and would let a few in at at time. Shut them in, let in a few more. Same in reverse. For the one that cantered in he wore a neck collar and I would lead him in with that. The first couple of times he tried to drag me down the aisle. After about a week he learned to walk calmly down the aisle.
I also made sure everyone else doing chores did the same routine. It worked pretty well after the first week or 10 days.
I feed mornings M-F and did pm chores one day a week. We had 2 other people that split the rest of the times.
We actually had one instance where one of the co-op people went to get his gelding who was low on the pecking order and bring him in first. His mare who was top dog went to kick the gelding and double barrelled him in the abdomen. He spent a few days in the hospital with a laceration to the spleen. That was a teen-age boy with not many years handling horses mistake.
But most of the people in this co-op had only a few years of riding as experience. Letting the horses calmly come in/out without be handled by people was safer. One of the co-op people actually put a halter on a horse upside down so the strap that runs between the noseband and throatlatch was down the middle of the front of the face. Yes, that inexperienced.
Hey I was young and poor. It was a good fit for my situation at the time.
We built/fenced our place for “non-contact” feeding so that the kids and I could feed before school in our “school clothes.” But we only have four and all are very used to the routine.
I’ve seen it work fine but it all depends on your set up and your horses. My retired mare walks herself to her stall everyday- she has a very set routine. My two other mares, I can do it with but the grain better be in their stalls already or they’ll just turn around and leave lol. My gelding- no way. He’s an asshat who would probably rather chase the cats and go on a merry walkabout if given such freedom.
As a kid, the lesson barn I rode at, let the whole field in that way. You put their feed in their stalls, then opened the chute into the barn and let like 3 or 4 in at a time and someone else closed their doors, then you let in the next 3 or 4. It worked really well actually and wasn’t chaos because of the chute.
I have never thought this was a good idea but it depends on your situation. Horses running into the barn at full speed is dangerous for everyone IMHO. I would never do this but I don’t have the set up for it either. I would never want it done with high dollar horses at all.
The other thing is that the horses don’t get “handled.” All horses benefit from learning to walk quietly to and from the field. Yes it is time consuming but it depends on the situation. I am a trainer. If the horses come to me not leading well, they certainly will go home doing so!
I also don’t have grain in their stalls when I bring them in because I don’t want them to rush in. It is an opportunity for me to teach them to be respectful of me going in their stall with a bucket of grain, backing them up and dumping it in their feed tub so they don’t learn to be pushy!. I like them to eat a few bites of hay first anyway.
It all depends on your situation.
This system can work but the horses have to be TRAINED to it. For a time we had Walkers in a mixed herd with a stallion. We would let stallion go first and he would, at a dead run, go right to his stall. Over and done.
The mares were a charlie foxtrot when we started, but we figured out the “small group release” program and once THEY “got” the program it was not a big deal.
This is not a program that is without risk but, then, anytime you move horses there is a risk of injury that is proportional to the level of general training in the horse. An ill mannered horse on a read rope presents it’s own level of risk and we can argue all day if that ill mannered horse would be less dangerous if allowed to take themselves to the barn.
So, as with so many things, it depends. A stable herd of well trained horses is one thing. An unstable herd of ill trained or badly mannered horses is quite another.
G.
We first started leading the boss horse, the others following.
Eventually the boss horse just walked on his own while we closed the gate and walked behind them and into the courtyard type barn.
Each horse went to his feed pan and started eating the bit of grain there and we went along haltering each one and tying them to the rail.
Horses were handled extensively, just not haltered and led in the barn.
That was part of how we managed them, a handful of quiet geldings not rushing anywhere and they were not going into stalls, but to buckets along a rail.
It worked well for several years, never had any problems.
Like everything else we do managing horses, use common sense and if it doesn’t work, don’t do it.
My horses have access to their stalls 24/7 (shed row style barn that divides their paddocks) and put themselves up at night. They calmly walk into their stalls and wait for the doors to get shut. It did take some work to teach them not to rush the stalls but now they have it figured out. If they do attempt to rush the stalls they get turned back around, they somehow figured out that I want calm walking into the stalls.
I wouldn’t do this if I didn’t have a well established small herd that listens to me. My three have a solid pecking order and are fed in the same order every time to ensure they know the routine (boss mare, retired pony, middle of the pack mare).
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