One of the most dangerous places for horses is stables, but they are also necessary. There are many things that can be done to minimize the damage on stabled horses. Cleaning stalls is an activity known to make the brain work better, everyone who cleans out stalls knows that, I'm sure that many great ideas and important decisions have been made in a stall. In that sense stables are good for human beings, not only do you get your dose of brain gymnastics you also have a comfortable place for you to store your horse and its equipment. For the horse it is another story, it i deprived of its most basic needs and favourite occupations; motion, more or less continuous chewing and socializing. The horse is also enclosed in an environment contaminated with mold, dust, ammonia and sometimes loud noises. As we work continuously to improve ourselves as keepers of horses by using the focus and fairness concept we are trying to, at any point, to make the environment as fair as possible for the horse. We need to keep our horses stabled, but we can work on decreasing the time the horse have to be inside. We have realised that the horses have a completely different comfort zone than we have, horses endure more heat, more coldness and more wind than humans do. Rule number one, let the horse decide when the outside conditions gets too harsh, this can be weather and insect pressure. Learn to read your horses and they will tell you when it is time to seek shelter inside. Rule number two, work on the stable environment, make sure that the stables are well ventilated, the bedding is free from dust and clean, the hay is of good quality, let in daylight in the stables, avoid noisy fans or radios. Clean and dust stables regularly, pressure wash stables once or twice per year. Good stable environment is also when the horses can see but not touch eachother and to make sure that horses that like eachother are stabeled next to eachother. When you have made sure that your horse have a nice, non-stressing and healthy stable environment, spends a lot of time outside with friends, you can ask your horse to focus on you for the one or two hours you spend with it daily. Again, if your horse behaves like it is stressed, do not use cruel means of "behaviour modifications" take a step back and consider the overall environment your horse is in, and ask yourself if t is fair to the horse.

1. Steffie09/05/2005 07:21:30
Homepage: http://www.akhaltekenetwork.com

I've got an AT year old colt at the moment he's spending as much as possible of his childhood in Germany out in the field with his friends. Where I live in Holland the general idea is to keep a horse inside, rugged up in temperatures frequently above 20 degrees and maybe on a nice day in the summer put it out in the field for a couple of hours. It must be awful to be a horse here. They have an obsession with building multiple indoor stable blocks where there is nothing to look at, no fresh air, no sunshine only the bars across the front of the stable. In summer where it frequently reaches above 30 degrees outside, the stables are sweltering and the air becomes rancid with amonia and dust, I can't stand it for two minutes let alone live in these places for 22 out of 24 hours. I've worked with many troubled horses here, mainly dressage horses, irratated by their boring lifestyle and tedious training regime.

Fortunately the stables where he is going to live for the next six months have outside bright stables and it is possible to turn him out for several hours every until November, but still for him it will be a long winter - I hope he stays sane.

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2. Jessica09/05/2005 08:38:00

Hello Steffi,
We have had horses in Sweden always, they have as a rule spent 12 hours per days outside during the fall to spring period.
Very few time we have had to keep them stabled daytime, the only occassions has been when we have had hard rain and winds in the late fall when the horses have seemed to be very affected.
Otherwise I think our horses have always preferred outside from inside! I have also had my horses boarded and have always made an effort to find stables where the horses have been outside, this also for show horses. I have seen in not so few imported warmbloods from the continent the damage too much stabling does to a horse, mentally and physically. I think this should be much more discussed among horse keepers. I have noticed a trend though that the jumping people let their horses out more than the dressage people.
Keep up the good work with your teke yearling, with a lot of proteins and a lot of outside time with friends he will develop into an nice horse for you!

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