I'm sure most pound-ponies wouldn't be allowed to run up a bill like that ...

I'd rather have a happy banger than a knackered jaguar :D

True! But I'd suspect more bangers than Jaguars are driven hard and left out in the rain, rather than kept garaged and regularly maintained ... ;)

Nope.

Given the choice a horse would rather be worked hard with a natural lifestyle - horses don't mind rain, people do.

Stabling 24 x 7 goes against their instincts and causes multiple problems (handling, ridden, healthwise: COPD, stiffness, intermitten lameness etc). Which is why most of the garaged jags are knackered well before their time :)

How about those driven around then parked on the drive during the day, but garaged at night?

Ideal!

Ideally, horses should be kept out 24 x 7 with access to shelter.

There are a couple of interesting people doing really well now with alternative views on garaging and shoes. Simon Earl I think is the trainer who keeps his racehorses out as much as poss and has them barefoot... and there is a dressage rider doing well with horses who are kept out 24 x 7.

I have a particular interest because I have a couple of horses who's excessive stabling in the past means they cannot be stabled now. One has COPD (like asthma) and another has bad arthritis if brought in at all :)

JG..... neither of those pics show a horses chin actually TOUCHING its chest.... and those horses are free to move their heads and necks up or down, in or out as they wish.... horses being subjected to rolkur do not have that choice.

In 20 years + of being around and watching horses both ridden and loose i have NEVER seen a horse touch its chest with its chin except in an attempt to relieve an itch (and even then not very often), ive certainly never seen a horse loose offer a rolkur postion, but i HAVE seen loose schooled horses (notably that when ridden DONT offer a nice round outline and 'on the bit' head carriage), carry themselves in the appropriate round soft engaged outline, with their heads on or just above the vertical....

Rolkur is inflicted on horses for extended periods of time and it does do damage to the nerves, muscles and whatever else is in the over flexed part of the horses neck/poll.

Em

I agree with keeping them out in the field. The only thing I dont like is having to scrape the mud off using a tough dandy brush cos it goes off my horse onto me! Also I hate the sticky things that appear in their manes and tails (my horse is a little nifty with his back legs so I particularly hate fishing them out of his tail!!)

:rolleyes: