A Happier Horse: Horses are most content when they have daily turnout time. If your horse spends too much time in a stall, it's bound to become bored. Boredom can lead to a variety of bad habits, including obsessive pacing, cribbing, weaving, chewing wood or dirt, stall kicking, or tail chewing.
Night Turnout
Research studies find significant benefits when horses are turned out for at least 12 hours per day. Turning horses out overnight is a convenient solution for maximizing turnout time while making horses easily accessible in stalls during the day.
Limited turnout can vary from as little as 30 minutes to up to 12 hours per day. The extent of your horse's turnout time, the quality of the pasture he is turned out on, and your horse's metabolic type will determine how much additional feed and supplements he or she will need to remain healthy.
24/7 turnout means that the horse spends all day and night at pasture and lives primarily on forage, the way his ancestors did in ancient times. Knowing this, one could think that 24/7 turnout is the optimum in horse husbandry, assuming that enough space is available.
Now that the slightly warmer and, hopefully, drier days are here, many owners consider turning their horses out at night as opposed to during the day. Many believe that it cuts down on the cost and effort of keeping a horse, e.g. stabling, mucking out, bedding and so on.
Most horses and ponies thrive on being kept out on grass for as much time as possible. However, keeping a horse permanently on grass can be as time consuming for the owner as it is to keep a horse partly housed.
Horses are all different, so some may prefer stabling more than others. However, whatever your horse likes, or dislikes are, stabling is a requirement – particularly during the night. Horses need stables during the night to protect them from bad weather such as rain and snow.
Over the summer leaving your horse out in their pasture overnight isn't much of a worry. However, with winter drawing in you might be feeling bad about leaving your horse outdoors overnight. Horses can thrive with a combination of being stabled and having free rein of the pasture.
Horses are healthiest and happiest outdoors in their pastures. There are a number of reasons why your horse should be outside as much as possible. Although many horses will clamor to come into a stable during nasty weather, it's important that they live outdoors as much as possible.
At a trot or canter a horse in pristine condition can continue for seven hours before their endurance runs out.
Whether you are building up your horse's fitness for show season, or need to break your rides up throughout the day for your own benefit, it will not harm your horse to be ridden more than once in a day. Make sure to take it slowly when increasing their workload to avoid injury.
Horses are prey animals, and living as part of a herd provides 'safety in numbers'. Every horse should have a buddy who they can touch, or at the very least, that they can see. Horses are extremely social animals who learn about their world through other horses.
Stalls keep horses insulated from the elements because the doors can be closed off, keeping off the wind, rain, and cold. Some horses don't like being kept indoors, even when the weather is rough outside, but having a stall to keep them warm can sometimes be in their best interest.
On the down side, when you turn your horse out, the risk of injury is arguably higher. Injuries can occur when he is pastured on uneven surfaces, in deep footing, wet sand, mud or slick surfaces.
Some horses are more susceptible to the health problems that rain can cause, while others might be comfortable in it and prefer staying out as opposed to being placed in a stall. In severe weather conditions when hail and flying debris are present, horses should be provided with adequate shelter.
Boredom and Idling:
Boredom is a problem for many domesticated horses who spend much of their time standing idly. Enrichment can provide horses stimulation outside of food and can even encourage play.
Apples and carrots are traditional favorites. You can safely offer your horse raisins, grapes, bananas, strawberries, cantaloupe or other melons, celery, pumpkin, and snow peas.
If we are talking about typical lawn grass, and not specifically planted and nutrient-rich pasture grass, it really isn't a great option for horses. Regular old lawn grass is fine for a snack and some filler, but there simply are not enough vitamins and nutrients in it to sustain a healthy diet for long for any horse.
Field turnout is an essential part of equine wellness. Not only will giving them the freedom of movement they need help to keep them sound, it will keep them mentally and emotionally healthy too. This will enhance your training and it will keep both of you safe and healthy.
The summer can mean lots of opportunities for you and your horse to enjoy the warmer weather. However, as with other animals, horses are prone to dehydration and can suffer from heat exhaustion and heatstroke, especially as they're usually outside in the sun.
Some horses that struggle with keeping weight on or lose weight during winter, may be getting cold at night.
Horses don't sleep all night like we do.
Instead of falling into a deep sleep every night, horses typically spend their nights alternating between rest and activity. They might take a short snooze standing up, graze for a while, and then stretch out on their side to get a few minutes of deep sleep.
On average, most horses spend a combined total of 5-7 hours a day sleeping. It is generally accepted that horses spend approximately 15% of their total sleep time in REM sleep. While some horses get 2-3 hours of REM sleep per day, all horses need at least 30 minutes.
Horses first evolved in open plains. As a prey species (one that other animals eat), they needed to be able to see quickly if another animal that might eat them (a predator) was nearby. Being able to rest or sleep standing up meant they could get their rest, but if they saw a predator, they could quickly run away.