From Mugwump
http://mugwumpchronicles.blogspot.com/2008/10/africa.html
Stabling: I have kept horses in stalls, stalls with runs, pastures, pens with sheds, and any variation in between. Currently I have two kept close to me at a big pen and shed type facility, and three, including the love of my life, running like lunatics on 80 acres.Stalls have a purpose. They keep a horse safe. They keep a horse clean. They keep a horse convenient to my needs.I have used stalls to my benefit to teach a horse patience. A horse in a stall has to wait. They wait for food, water, exercise, companionship, sunshine and cleanliness. (Who remembers the big 4?)They become patient. Or crazy. Usually a little of both.Horses who accept stalls are easier to haul, load, show and take to the vet.So if possible, I like all my horses to learn to live in a stall. Then I try not to ever do it to them again.Horses are prey animals. In order to feel safe and secure they need to be in a group, in the open and able to see with those beautiful, wide set, giant eyes.Horses in stalls can't see anything but walls, are totally alone, and can't feel the wind or smell the night air.Stalled horses are the horses who crib, wind suck, weave, pace, chew, get cast.......you get my drift.Stalls with runs: A little better, but still more of the same.
I like the concept of horses in at night and out during the day. It's a trade off between my needs and theirs. I sleep better knowing they are as safe as I can make them. They still learn to behave in a stall. They get to run and be horses during the day.
Pastured horses get kicked, bitten, stuck in the fence, escape, let out, are far away and can be harder to catch.
When I go to visit my yellow mare I stand on the top of the hill entering into her pasture. I holler and she comes running hard (if she feels like it), her herd mates in tow. She is banged up, yet fit and content. When I see her run with the gang, her tail flagged, kicking up her heels, pounding through gulley's and up hills, I know she's in the right place. She hasn't been out with other horses since she was a year and a half. She is calmer, more physically fit (interesting since I rode the crap out of her) and obviously happy.
