What does a horse walker do?

if its like the one i used to have mine was a 5 bay claydon with rubber floor.
i at times would warm up and cool down or use on a day where the turnout was not good.
be awear of using the electric pushers (if it has them).
always have someone show you how to use it properly.
and always do both sides left and right never just do one way.
it was good in the set up we had then, but im not getting another.
and always run it before you put the horse in!!
if someones pissed up the speed knob, u may find it go round like a bloody helicopter as i did once!!!
 
most racing yards use them so they can at least give the horses some excersize without actually riding them if the weather is bad or they just have a lot of horses and cant get round them all.
 
I fail to see the point for a single private horse given that you are meant to supervise them at all times.

If you have many to do you can supervise at all times and save time.
 
We used to have one on our old yard. At first I wasn't keenon the idea - mainly because Storm can be funny about small spaces, but she didn't mind at all and it was a god-send in the end, because there simply wasn't enough places to tie-up your horse when the weather was bad and you had to muck out. Winter turnout was extremely limited - so it was at least one way of them stretching their legs. I believe it isn't a good thing for some horses - depending on their general health. For instance, when our Joe damaged a leg, it wasn't appropriate for him to go onto the walker. However, it does depend on what you are trying to achieve recovery wise.
We also had an "incident" when somebody "forgot" to put the walker back on - after taking their horse out. Which resulted in a poor old mare being stuck in the walker in the semi-darkness - wondering what on earth her owner was playing at! Eventually, owner came back to retrieve their horse, thinking she'd have had 20 minutes walking - only to find her stood there helpless!!! Tsk. Yards eh?!
 
Trewsers said:
We also had an "incident" when somebody "forgot" to put the walker back on - after taking their horse out. Which resulted in a poor old mare being stuck in the walker in the semi-darkness - wondering what on earth her owner was playing at! Eventually, owner came back to retrieve their horse, thinking she'd have had 20 minutes walking - only to find her stood there helpless!!! Tsk. Yards eh?!
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:giggle: (sorry)
 
Worst thing was though, the person that did this, kept on doing it, so we'd regularly find the horse-walker full of seemingly abandoned neds......oh dear.
I quite fancy a horse walker but I'd never get pp where we are now.
 
Oh I cringe everytime I see a horse walker, I've known so many accidents with them that you couldn't give me one *shudders*

The theory is that they save you time and effort - you can exercise your horse and muck it out simultaneously, if 20 minutes walking round in circles can be classed as exercise :wink:
 
My 3 were meant to be put on the horse walker when they went into livery for a week as they had very little winter turnout but Victory blatantly refused to go on it. He was absolutely terrified of the thing. The yard gave up trying in the end :giggle:
 
Joyscarer said:
I thought that horses in horse walkers had to be supervised?
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They do, though some places don't seem to bother :frown:
Even under supervision, there's only so quickly you can act if something goes wrong.

Roxy's Mum said:
Surely for horses that are stable 24/7 or near enough it's better than them standing stationary for such long periods of time? Better than nothing IMO...
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Well there is that, but I think mine would prefer a blast turned loose in the school than walking round in a circle :smile:
 
^ Yes I guess that's very true! Even if I had been cooped up for a stupid amount time I don't know that walking is circles is going to be particularly favourable either...
 
I would love one for june! I spend a good half an hour twice a day walking her round with her dodgy leg ... Would be lovely although I have seen horses just dumped on them and left
 
I know this isn't a thread about liking or disliking them but ugh hate the idea of horse walkers. I liken it to a hamster on a wheel. Would rather let my hamster out in a ball and be able to wander the area safely.
Maybe they should invent zorbing for horses.
 
If you have an overweight horse that you're trying to get fit on a limited time scale - say for instance, you only have so many minutes in a morning, then you can pop them on the walker to warm up and then ride? That is mainly what I'd like, yes, they are a bit like hamster wheels, but, it would help in the fight against fat!lol. Our vet seems to think they'd be a good idea - well before Joe got injured when he needed to lose weight. Horses for courses and all that........
 
Yeah see your point trewsers, especially if its just a warm up and when I am currently on fat busting duty with flip I can see the appeal but if I don't have time for my horse then I shouldn't have my horse is the way I see it, but then to argue with myself I might get ill and not be able to exercise him. But then in that case id try and find someone stupid enough to exercise flipo for me.
I guess this all essentially relates to my hatred of running machines. I would rather run out in the countryside than on the spot. Personal choice I guess.
 
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