If I had my own barn with only my own horses then I would be fine with not leading them in or out. As long as they behaved well. Most horses do get it and will walk in quietly.
Boarding is another story. I have managed enough barns that I feel too responsible should something bad happen to someone else’s animal.
At that point it is my job to make sure the horse is not put in any danger while in my care. I don’t care if I’m leading in 1 or 20. I will take the time to do it right.
But when I was 12, I didn’t know any better. My first summer job was at a huge facility with a 40 stall barn for the lesson horses. We would throw open the doors, climb up the sides and yell “DINNER!”
The herd would gallop in. Thankfully 39 of them went directly into their stalls without any fuss.
A chestnut OTTB named Peter Pan was the exception. So we had to catch him somehow. Being very young and very stupid, the closet girl would jump on his back as he raced by.
I too boarded at a barn many years ago that did not lead horses in and out. They did, however, have a system that limited chaos. Two people were involved - one at the stalls and one at the barn door. Each carried a dressage or lunge whip for safety and direction. When horses were settled outside the door, it was opened to let four or so in. They went to their stalls and were closed in. This was repeated until all were in. Turnout was a little quicker as the horses seemed to be quieter about it. When a new horse came in, he was caught early and turned loose from the doorway to his (only) opened stall a few times.
This generally worked with the pleasure horses in this situation. One big catch was that the door person had to know what they were doing and it was time-consuming if there was not a second person to close stall doors and direct horses. There was only one boarder horse who didnt fit the program and caused upheaval while waiting to come in and he left before too long.
I have seen this work with a smaller closed herd and where the entire perimeter is fenced. With a large group, rotating group, or open property I think it is an unnecessary risk. Looking back, the first barn I rode at as a child did this method. They had a 20 stall barn of lesson horses. In my memory there was a stampede to the stalls. It was probably little more than a brisk trot but it seemed out of control even back then.
I designed my own property to allow this - all the pastures attach to the small paddock around my barn. If you can swing it on a personal level, it makes it much easier for someone to step in and take care of your place for a few days - don’t have to worry about someone having the ability to halter and lead multiple horses.
The girl who ran my barn before I did (when I just had a pony there) did this for many many years and it was fine. We had 4-6 horses, most of them mature, and paddocks were assigned so that my demon pony (only one who had to be led in) was at the end so she would halter him and walk by closing all the gates as she went. Reversed it every morning, no problems for decades as long as you didn’t switch stalls around.
15+ years later though? I can’t imagine doing this, with just my horses or boarders. Everything/everyone is too expensive and/or dumb to try this with now. At one point my horse would follow me to his paddock after a ride, about 50 feet to walk, very enclosed space, and he soon was a twit even about that and would just book it off to the end of the walkway to annoy the others.
It’s funny reading this, I got to thinking about herd bosses. Being middle or bottom of a herd is often mentioned as a positive point in sales ads. No one ever says, “fair and effective but undiplomatic herd leader” in an ad. But a really good herd boss is invaluable. During my life, I’ve watched the progression of herd leaders in my mom’s herd. Each one of the five I remember has been a step down. Like each apprenticed under the master but failed to surpass him. The fifth (being apprenticed/wild stallioned by the sixth) is just a bully with no quiet power.
Another poster mentioned a Duke. Boss #2 (and the first boss of mom’s own personal herd) was Big Bad Duke. And he was a gem! Never a bitchy face, just quiet and complete power. No underling skirmishes. He must’ve delivered some powerful whoopass once in a while out of sight.
So I was at one boarding barn with a Big Gelding Pasture alongside a Medium Mare Pasture, since there were far more geldings than mares.
The horses were led in from pasture to stall, but of course they all grouped up next to the gate in the 15-20 minutes before lead-in time to share some anxiety about whether or not they would be fed, and if there would be enough feed for all of them. Because horses.
So the big group of geldings, hanging around the gate waiting, would do what horses do - they became cranky with each other. Arguing about who would stand where, who was making faces, who was nervously pacing around annoying the others, how close you are allowed to be to me, I’ll stand where I want to stand and phooey on you, etc.
The lead gelding was a big 16.3hh very dark bay older non-nonsense type. He stood calmly at the front and didn’t allow any of the others to be beside him. When he heard enough squeals and fuss behind him, he would bend his long neck to give one hard look at the daily troublemakers, and they would all shut up and be still immediately. If he went back to watching for the humans and the geldings behind him started fussing again, he’d calmly but purposefully turn around toward them, and they would immediately walk away quietly pretending they hadn’t said a thing to anybody. Leader Horse stopped a lot of the biting and kicking before that behavior caused minor injuries. Maybe major injuries, too.
When the barn workers came out to lead in the horses a few at a time, the BM made sure the horses were brought in according to pecking order. That way the loose horses who had to wait their turn would not try to interfere with the haltering process and be me-firsters. Any horse that defied the order and wanted to be a me-firster was haltered and taken off to the side and tied, to be last in. A few days of that and those horses would modify their expectations and cooperate with the social order.
The point being, when humans know and respect the herd order it helps keep all of the horses calmer and at a measured pace. Not respecting that order when the horses are in a group, even if they are being led by humans, can lead to a lot of bad things, including injuries, because horses can be very excited, and rough on their ‘friends’, when their social order is disrupted.
It worked the last place I had my horse. Very small, 3 retired quarter type geldings. They all lined up and calmly walked to the correct stall. I don’t think I’d want to try it with a large herd though.
My horse got killed this way. It can go seriously horrific. I cry when I think about it.
He was new and followed the lead mare (who was very mean) into her stall
