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Discussion on Need turn out tips for enthusiastic youngster | |
Author | Message |
Member: 5691 |
Posted on Thursday, Oct 30, 2008 - 3:35 pm: Hi All,The suggestions were so helpful for our pulling problem that I thought I would venture to see what wisdom is out there for another challenge we are facing with our five year old warmblood/TB cross. He is stabled in a 12x12 stall with access to an attached paddock that is 36'x24'. Our boarding ranch has ten very generous turnout paddocks that are about a quarter acre per turnout. Most of them are delineated by electrical tape/wire. The two biggest are vinyl fencing. We can pay for regular turnout up to 5x week and the horses are out in the morning for about an hour. On our own we can turn the horses out for as long as we desire as long as we are around to watch the horses. Many of us will ride and then will turn out our ponies after a ride while we chat, clean tack and do whatever barn chores. On weekends many owners will give their ponies a couple hour turnout for a treat. When we bought our boy last April it was appearant that turnout was an event that was more than an opportunity to take a break from the normal stabling routine. This boy RUNS!!! My daughter worked at the barn all summer and we did everything we could to make turnout a situation that would let him "be a horse" without it deteriorating into watching him run laps. We have put calm horses in the other paddocks so he would have company. My daughter would put piles of hay around the paddock so he would have places to wander and find to graze since there is nothing but dirt. She would sit on a big muck bucket with a bucket of grain and do homework so that when he started running she could be right there to stop the running. All this after she has ridden him for an hour on our big bridle path and worked in the arena. We never turn him out without being ridden first. We boot him up on all fours and he wears big bell boots, but has still managed to pull the front shoes off twice. There is so much twist on the shoe that it makes us cringe to imagine the torque on his tendons/ligaments to grab that shoe off. The last time this happened was the day before a show and there was such a chunk of hoof pulled off that the show farrier wasn't sure he had enough hoof to nail the shoe back on. When the shoe comes off- it takes two to four days to get a farrier out to put the shoe back on.. Needless to say, not being ridden for more than a day makes him frisky for that first ride. For the last six weeks, we have not attempted to put him in turnout. My daughter dedicates her after school time and weekends EVERY day to riding him for at least a couple of hours to get him out of his stall. She always starts with a long ride on the 1/2 mile bridle path that is on the property. She will do incline work at the W/T/C. She has a choice of four different arenas to choose to work in. She has lessons two or three x week. She handwalks him after riding and lets him free graze for 15-20 minutes Our trainer is concerned that he is not getting time to "just be a horse." We have no argument with the benefits of turnout for horses.. We would love for him to have his own time in the turnouts, but his behavior suggests to us that it is more stressful for him to be turned out than it is to be in his paddock/stall. We frankly are afraid that he will hurt himself and then we are stuck rehabbing this youngster for a year or so. We have only had him for seven months and while he is a challenge he is very friendly, affectionate, talented and silly. My daughter and I want to do what is right by him, but his over exhuberance in the turnouts makes us reluctant at this time to just grit our teeth and let him loose. Winter is coming on.. There is rain predicted for the next couple of days and we definitly would not be turning him out after rain because the turnouts get pretty slippery. We were thinking that we would try turning him out in the spring when the grass is out in the turnouts and perhaps with more age and time getting use to this place and us, turnout might be less dramatic. Any hope of that? Any suggestions or thoughts would be most appreciated. Are we hurting him by not turning him out and letting him run like a crazy horse? I wish the turnouts were smaller, but they are not and there is not a possibility of a smaller turnout to be made. I apologize for the length of this post, but this has been a situation that is new to us and we have exhausted our efforts to make this work for both two and four legged critters. Many thanks! Debra |
Member: scooter |
Posted on Thursday, Oct 30, 2008 - 4:09 pm: Hi Debra, the barn I used to work at had a few horses like that, it was like they were scared to be out. Run the fenceline the whole time. We tried everything including the things you mentioned above...other things were a turn out buddy (which worked for a few) A smaller pen so they couldn't get any steam up...but I see that's not an option for you...and those horses paced the gate anyway. More hay didn't work either. We never really came up with a solution for them. One we figured out couldn't stand flies on him, so he got a fly sheet and mask which worked wonders for him.What's his diet like? Is he getting a lot of high energy food...grain, alfalfa? One seemed to settle after we adjusted his diet. Another thing that got a few of the horses going was we fed an afternoon meal, they knew they got grain when they came in so ran in anticipation. We stopped feeding the afternoon meal(grain part) until they had been in for an hour or better. That stopped a few. |
New Member: realtor |
Posted on Thursday, Oct 30, 2008 - 7:17 pm: Do you think it is the pasture change that is causing him to run?? I know the minute I change pastures (even if it is the next pasture)with my horses they are lunatics and I usually can't watch they race around so much! Once they have been in the pasture for awhile they settle down. I know lots of younger horses that live quite comfortably in the confines of stall/turnout you mentioned. If he seems comfortable with it why worry?? |
Member: 5691 |
Posted on Friday, Oct 31, 2008 - 12:47 am: Hi Diane and LeeAnn,Thank you so much for your thoughts and time. The impression we get when we turn him out is one of insecurity..He came from a very quiet, peaceful, in the middle of nowhere breeding farm and is now at a big busy boarding ranch with about 80 horses. Trucks, trailers, turkeys, deer, bridle path(he was never ridden outside an arena before we got him.) What really sets him off is when the permanent pasture ponies take off and gallop thru the huge pasture(20 acres)that is adjacent to the turnouts. He is very managable under saddle. He really enjoys his long walks and trots on the bridle path and I am very proud of the way my daughter has been building his confidence around all the spooky stuff that one can encounter at this place. He only gets grass hay(2 flakes am, one flake noon and 3 flakes pm. One pound of LMF Gold noon and 1 lb LMF Gold evening after hay.) The Gold has a high oil content to help keep weight on without giving grain. We have tried to keep him in the same turnout, but he is so alert that it seems to offset the idea that he is supposed to "relax" His stall/paddock is his "happy place". He does not fuss, pace, neigh or show any distress if any of his barn buddies are taken out for riding. His ground manners have improved by leaps and bounds since my daughter practically lived with him in the barn thru the summer. LeeAnn, I worry about this because so many people tell us that young horses need a break from riding and need to have turnout time. However, none of these folks (including trainers) have given us any real helpful ideas on how communicate to him that turnout is "good for him" and that he should just "relax". As my daughter stated, she would rather hand walk and hand graze him for 30 minutes than deal with the stress of watching him run laps for ten minutes and worry that he might do something to his legs or shoes. It has also been suggested to us that we sedate him with Ace, but that does not appeal to us at all. He could blow thru the Ace or he could stumble from the effects. It doesn't make any sense to us to sedate him for turnout. |
Moderator: DrO |
Posted on Friday, Oct 31, 2008 - 8:29 am: Hello Debra,I have read this a few times and scratched my head but the last post explains your concern: "so many people tell me..." Your horse is telling you something different and he is the one you should listen to. A good gallop for two minutes five days a week would be fine exercise. After the romp return him where he is comfortable. The size of his regular paddock which keeps him outdoors is fine and appears to where he is most relaxed. DrO |
Member: dres |
Posted on Friday, Oct 31, 2008 - 9:31 am: Debra did you tell us what kind of horse he is.. how tall ? you feed more then i do and my WB's are over 17hhs tall!I agree with your daughter and a good hand walk with some grazing on the lead line seems to be the ticket, seeing how the turn out time is only a hour anyway.. , save your money and see if you can add some more time at the barn.. not easy i know..!~ good luck.. On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots. |
Member: 5691 |
Posted on Saturday, Nov 1, 2008 - 4:26 pm: Thank you for my morning chuckle Dr O...Your perspective reminded me of when my daughter was newborn and went thru a month (or so) of colic pains in which my husband and I were showered with all sorts of well meaning advice that did not seem to help.. I was so tired and felt like such a bad mom because I was trying all these different suggestions and nothing was working except to carry her like you would a football; tummy down with her rear in the crook of your arm and her head in your hand with her legs and arms draped on both sides of your arm. This was back in the days when "babies were not to be carried all the time" and there was much advice to let them "cry it out" My sweet elderly neighbor who had raised five kids came to visit and asked me how motherhood was going.. I started to cry and told her my worries. She just looked at me calmly and asked, Does carrying her make her feel better? "Yes" Do you mind carrying her if you know she feels better? "No" "Then it sounds like you're a good mom who knows what her baby needs." Your calm observation is noted and appreciated.. Ann- He is TB/ Hanovarian bred in Germany. His sire is Lauries Crusador, his dam is Hauptstutbuch Romantica. His grandsire is Rubinstein 1 I know it sounds like a lot of hay, but I do not do the feeding..Our barn owner allows only the contracted workers to feed the horses and the flakes are eyeballed, not weighed. Some of the flakes can be skimpy depending on which worker is doing the feeding, so I have taken to keeping a bale of hay in my trailer on those days when Mr Skimpy is feeding. One of the cons of boarding... For now with the winter rains we will put this issue to the back burner and bring it up again in the spring.. We don't mind taking the extra time to ride and handwalk/handgraze. My ultimate goal would be to not pay for turnout and be able to just turn him out ourselves for free! |
Member: 5691 |
Posted on Saturday, Nov 1, 2008 - 4:43 pm: PS... Sorry Ann, you asked his height, not his pedigree!!! He is 16.3 and has grown several inches and filled out since we brought him home the first of April. I am hoping, hoping he will stay under 17 hands. We cut his grain consumption down in April from the 8 lbs he was getting (when we bought him) to 2 lbs of the LMF Gold. It was scaring me to death to give so much grain to a horse, not to say breaking my pocketbook.. The vet and trainer are pleased with his weight, but certainly we monitor him as time marches on.Thank you for your concurring opinion and your time. Smiles, Debra |