This has been killing me....

Here in new york we had a wonderful warm day and of course either way I was going to keep my guys out tonight but I fed them outside(insted of stalling to eat) to see if it was better or made a difference. Guess what? It did!

Well what happen was my 3yr old mare kicked and chased away my small 1yr old colt away so he couldnt eat eaither pile of hay or grain. Which where placed pretty far apart. Think if I wasnt there to stop her or just walked away from them she would have eaten all the food and poor marley would have gotten nothing. I think this is a great reason to stall Marley just to little to stand up to juneau! She's just to big. This is my reason to stall and a real good one.

Besides other than that they are always side by side and act like mom and baby! Pretty much herd sour. Kinda gets on my nerves when im training juneau and marley breaks down the fence.

People who keep saying horses that are in there stall are dull, have no natural instinct, many types of vices or respiratory issues. I have never seen these problems in any of the barns I have boarded at besides 1 out of 300 horses. Like really just come horses have been stalled and bred to what we want for 100 and 100s of years. It not cruel to stall a horse if it needs to be stalled for any reason. If its for medical, feeding, showing, sleeping, warmth, separation(for any reason) ect ect. Its not CRUEL.
The only way I see it being Cruel if a horse is in for like 15 to 20 hours a day and tiny amount of turn out! Also let me say if you live where its warm all year round then yea the horse should be out all the time! Where I live I don't ever see horses out 24/7.

I just think this is crazy its like this is all my horse it better than your horse kinda crap!!!! Really I think both ways work it just depends on the horse!!!!!

I have to agree with the people saying it depends on the horses whether or not they want out of the rain. My horses have a very large area where they can get in out of the rain, snow, etc. Normally they are outside paying, slipping, sliding, and play fighting with one another. To me,that is normal behavior. I would rather have bite marks on my horses than have them all looking perfectly serene in a field, but I can understand that if you are showing that would be really bad. They run each other from food because it is a herd, but we put out about twice as many spots with feed as there are horses. That way they run each other, and there is only about half of each horse's ration at each spot. They all seem to love it. I have mares, geldings, and stallions. Our mares and geldings can run together, but our stallion always has a couple geldings or young stud colts with him. They all play together a lot, including the mares. They choose their hierarchy, and if we see one that is too rough we move it to a pasture with other horses that it won't intimidate. We have to be careful because we have one gelding that will beat our poor stallion up...lol.

All of our horses have acess to shelter 100% of the time, but very few of them use it unless it is really hot and they are hiding from the sun.

I totally agree with what your saying, but its not always that easy to keep your horse out 24/7 no matter how much we would want to!
I live in central London, and keep my mare in a yard in the outskirts of london, which is DIY so everything is up to me doing it. Considering the barn is an hour at least from where I live, and I can't drive so rely on public transport, as well as the fact that im at college 5 days a week for 8 hours causes problems!
My mare who I've had for about 6 months now lived out all summer very happily when the option was open to have the horses out 24/7 and they've all come in now as the weathers gotton wintery, and have no option of living out.
They've only been in for a week and I've noticed a change in my mare, and I would SOO rather her live out all the time but I don't have the choice!
There is a field where the horses can spend time out in but theres no chance of me getting to the yard in the morning to turn her out so the most I can do is chuck her out for about an hour every afternoon whilst im mucking out and preparing feeds.
I know that's far from ideal but its all I can manage, and trust me, I do feel awful thinking about 20 hours a day when she's stuck in her stable with nothign to do
I so wish I could let her live out 24/7 but unfortunately that's not the case. I try to keep her occupied with stable toys and licks and haynets but I know its nothing like living out in a herd all the time, and I can tell already she gets grumpy inside for such long periods, and is getting even more strong and fizzy than normal as she's not getting off any excess energy

So although I totallly agree the majority of horses do so much better living out all the time, its not always possible (if only it was) but tis important for them to be able to streth their legs for a few hours a day!

I think that SOME people on this thread are being completely flippin crazy. Like seriously! Can you say dramatic?
My horse lives out in summer, and in at winter apart from around 3 hours a night. To be honest, i feel guilty putting the poor girl out in the weather we have! Despite the fact that there is a feild shelter with food in I, she will stand by the fence and just wait and wait to come in. You can't say I've trained her to like her stable, as she lives out in summer and loves it, but she just clearly doesnt want to stay out in the winter.
She is always well behaved in the stable, alert, happy looking and much more calm than when she was in the field. She doesnt have any vices, and its just stupid to suggest that all stabled horses are less happy than turned out horses. She gets exercise every day, and is suitably rugged up since she is fully clipped. Turning her out would also be inconveniant, as once i'd ridden her she would be sweaty, and then go into a cold field; I wouldn't like to clip her and then make her live in the field if she doesnt want to O.o
Some people also seem to be completely ignoring some of the bad points of living out! What abour rain scald?what about mud fever? Thrown shoes? Fighting?bullying?lack of feed due to aggressive horses?sun burn? Sweet itch? Fly bites? The list goes on, and this issue is not as black and white as some people are acting like it is. Obviously, I like to have my horse turned out when she is happy, but if she is not then it is just as cruel as stabling a horse that wants to be out.
No stables at my barn are dirty for more than an hour or two, as they get skipped out, the shavings are dust extracted and they have adlib feed available. I really don't see the problem with this, and clearly neither does my horse.
Also, some people are far too quick to blame pure bad manners on being stalled. Clearly for a horse to be so rude in the stable, it simply does not respect the handler. Blaming turnout is sometimes an easy way out, and I've seen an equal amount of badly behaved horses on 24/7 turnout.
Basically, I love turnout, but i'm no going to tear my hair out with grief if I want to stable my horse sometimes.

My horses are exactly the same way. They never stalled all they each have stables and an over hang they can go in if they don't want to be wet or if they get cold. But as of right now we recently got a new one and he is stalled because the other horses pick on him but during the day we take him to the lower pasture so he can stretch his legs.

The bottom line is: Anyone who says that one way is the only way for all horses (or dogs or people or cars, etc) is simply closed minded and obviously has had a very small pool of life experiences.

I think horses are alot more happier turned out to graze and stretch thier legs! Mine are turned out year round with shelter and free choice hay. They all are happy. Which makes me happy as well.

I have had an interesting time reading this. I just moved my horse yesterday to a barn where he has a stall. An 18' x 18' stall with a huge paddock off of it. Sping summer and winter they have daily turnout for 8-12 hrs a day. I took him from a hog fuel paddock with a small shelter. When I took him out of it yesterday I couldn't even see his hooves as they were hidden in the mud. I felt like I was rescuing him.

My horses go out from 5 in the morning to 5 in the afternoon, I would prefer for them to be out 24/7 especially in the summer but its not offered at the place I board. I don't think its an awful thing to stall a horse, but it can be much better for an older horse who need to keep moving to be outside.

My horse is outside 24/7 unless it is very cold, storming, or very hot. His stall has a dirt floor, with a thin layer of shavings/pellets on top. Even in winter when they're inside most nights, he's never sore with that. Concrete however... just no. That screams joint problems/stiffness/soreness to me. Would you rather walk around on hardwood floors all day or a plush carpet? ;)