Some very good points raised here by everyone, I do like a good debate
layfull:
Perhaps if my circumstances were different, I would think differently and keep my horses differently. In an ideal world I would have a big barn for them to live in or each would have a huge indoor pen (I envy you Dannii - I would love one of those pens for each of my lot!). Perhaps if I had acres of well-drained, well sheltered fields on good soil it would be different. But I don't. I have post and rail paddocks on clay soil that turn to claggy mud at the first heavy fall of rain. Or perhaps if my horses didn't have the problems that they do - I have two with arthritis that are a thousand times worse if out because of trying to walk through the deep clay, Truffles' tiny feet mean he just sinks and it's too deep for him to get any kind of leverage to get back out, so getting past the gateway is trouble enough for him! Alfie could probably cope the best of the lot, but I can't afford to be missing qualifiers etc. because he's lame with mud fever.
As for the pig oil/sulphur thing - I have never personally used it but a friend used to put it on her horse and while it seemed to do the trick it looked, and smelt, disgusting. Not really ideal for the competition horse (unless she was doing it wrong, but her horse's legs looked all claggy and greasy).
It's not my only option to keep them, but it's the one that works best for all of us. In previous years, even before arthritis took hold and I was on a yard on better soil, Stevie would never stay out. I would put him in the field, go and muck out etc and go and check on him an hour later and he'd be exactly where I left him, looking miserable. He's hunted all his life - he thinks summers are for eating grass and getting fat and Autumn through until Spring is for being in, fit, clipped and working. Now he is retired he thinks all year is for getting fat
but winters are still for being in. He's got to 18 and he's doing ok by this method, I'm not about to force him to stay out. When I first got him I did try leaving him out into October once after the other "finer types" were in and only the native ones were out (fed daily and rugged suitably) but he disagreed, and after him gallopping up and down his fence line before finally jumping the post and rail fence three days in a row, I relented and in he came.
Rocky's arthritis just won't hold up to knee deep clay soil, plain and simple. He's in, he's warm, he's happy. Yes, he doesn't get to move about much but he's booted up and on a joint supplement so he doesn't really stiffen up. The weight falls off him almost overnight at the slightest stress or change in weather, and he can't cope being out in wind (I've owned him since he was five and this has never changed, regardless of what yard we've been on or anythign else) so again, he's happier in.
Alfie comes in because the pampered competition horse has to stay warm, clean and clipped. Also, what happens with one of the big ones tends to happen with the others (Alf and Rocky are joined at the hip) so he comes in with the others. Again, he seems perfectly happy to me and only looks miserable when I put him out.
Truffles is just pathetic, and would quite happily live in 24/7 I think. I honestly don't think he realises he is a horse - he didn't really get to interact with other horses until I got him, I don't think, and he would rather be with people or on his own. He seems to like nothing more than "duvet days" with a deep straw bed to snooze on. In Truffs' ideal world, he'd be a dog. :tongue:
Last winter they went out in the paddock on the "nicer" days while I mucked out, and they spent the entire time standing at the gate shouting until I brought them in. However when I turned them loose in the school they would have a good gallop about and buck and roll, have a daft half an hour then mooch back over to the gate. If turning loose wasn't an option I "lunge" in just a headcollar and lunge line. They have all learned over time that this means play time and they can do what they like on the end of the line. When tack is on, it's work time, but just a headcollar means we're just stretching legs so buck and twist if you want.
Louise wintered out last winter because there wasn't a stable available for her, the year before she was in and, as for most of the yard, spent most of her time in her stable. When we got her in January, you all saw the state of her and she was well rugged, had ad-lib haylage and plenty of unpoached field and natural shelter. She had a few friends out there with her and yes, everyone survived the winter. A stable became available in mid February and we brought Louise in, she was in for about 6 weeks when a yearling that was living out took ill, so I turfed Lou back out and foalie had her box. She survived the winter, as did everything else that was living out. But you all saw the state of her - grubby, hairy and generally scruffy looking...not really the kind of thing you'd want to take away from home to a show. This winter she will be one of the last to come in I imagine, she is currently happy out though she is ready to come in for a feed most days (she is muzzled, to be fair!). Once in she will be clipped and rugged and will work and compete all winter.
I've sort of waffled on a bit here, rather pointlessly, but I guess what I'm trying to say is that the arrangement has to suit horse and owner. We say we try to keep them as naturally as possible - I, for one, feed as fibre based a diet as possible, feed ad-lib forage, go barefoot if possible and I believe in classical training based on common sense and listening to the horse. However, we have to draw a line - yes, horses were designed to live outside, but on acres and acres of grassland that they could wander freely at will and seek natural shelter and eat a variety of grasses, not to have access to a manicured post and rail paddock. They weren't designed to carry a rider, be handled by a human, have a bit in their mouths or any of the other things we ask of them.
To keep them as nature truly intended, we would have to not keep them at all.
