How important is a daily routine for horses?

shoniedaspony

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Aug 22, 2003
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Have been meaning to ask for opinions on this since i saw an article in a horse mag before christmas urging horse owners to try and keep the horses normal routine over christmas.

How important is it for a horse to have a particular routine?

Can they be badly affected by a change in daily routine? How dramatic does this change need to be?

And if routines are important, and disruption is quite negative, then how do we minimise this in difficult circumstances (e.g. car breaks down on way to yard, or a family emergency?)

I tend to keep my horse in as little of a routine as I can, as if kept in a very orderly routine he gets extremely grumpy when you change it (even for one day). E.g if he was always fed when brought in, but one day I decide to ride first, we get major stroppage. So I always vary the time of day I go up, the order/combination of things I do (some days i just feed, some days i groom whilst feeding, some days i ride first). It is easier to do as he lives out.

Just after opinions on how important people feel it is
 
I don't follow a routine. It's important that my ponies are adaptable. Having said that mine live out so it's not a case of them needing me to be there to turn out or bring in.

They have grass and water in their field and won't starve. The don't have to be exercised everyday and I like to vary what work I do with them too

I don't like needy high maintainance horses and that's why I have native types that require minimum interference.
 
I don't follow a routine. It's important that my ponies are adaptable. Having said that mine live out so it's not a case of them needing me to be there to turn out or bring in.

They have grass and water in their field and won't starve. The don't have to be exercised everyday and I like to vary what work I do with them too

I don't like needy high maintainance horses and that's why I have native types that require minimum interference.

What she said - I'm the same. :)
 
Same as Joyscarer. I have four kids and a job as well, so to make it work they all have to be adaptable (kids included!).

Ours live out so as long as I get there every day it doesn't really matter whether it's at the same time or not. Ours seem to do well enough in spite of no regular routine.
 
I'm the same, my three live out 24/7 as a small herd, but they do still get plenty of attention and will look out for me or my husband at the same times in the day, so I suppose they still have a routine. I tend to feed all the year round as well, so they look for their feeds at the same times each day.

I think routine is much more important if you are in a yard and your horse is stabled for part of the time.
 
I'm the same. My horses normally live out all year round, so I don't tend to stick to set times. During the week, my routine is fairly regular - at the yard between five and six PM, check them over, change or adjust rugs, pick feet out and feed. My YO goes up earlier in the day and checks in with them, too. Some nights I ride, some nights I don't - it depends on how well I'm feeling. The weekends entirely depend on what I've got planned. Sometimes I go up earlier, ride, groom and generally potter around the place, some days it's a flying visit if we've been out for the day.

I can't say I've ever noticed any detriment to the horses for not following a strict schedule, although they do have a bit of a strop with me if I didn't go up for a day or two (they don't get forgotten if I don't go - my OH goes up or my YO does them for me).
 
Mine came up for breakfast this morning, I wasn't ready so they wandered off. When I was ready I called them and they couldn't be bothered to come! So not very hungry then. Mine also have to be flexible but do have opinions about things running late, but they cope:), although sometimes I'm sure I can hear them grumbling under their breaths as they wander around.:rolleyes:
 
on the contrary.. I think routine is important and really helps keep those with a tendency towards being stressed calm and relaxed. I try to do the same things at the same time each day - and generally manage.
 
RachelEvent- do your horses cope with a change in routine? Or do you generally manage to keep the same routine pretty much all the time (e.g. not different on weekends to weekdays).

My chap got so stressed when routine changed even one day when he was in overnight at a particular yard, I have vowed to avoid one as much as i can-when things are always variable he seems fine (but again does strop if i don't get him in one day, even if he is checked on).
 
Im the same as most of the others on this post - horse out 24/7, vary the time when I go up there but go up every day. Sometimes just check, sometimes ride, the one thing I ALWAYS do is give a little token feed after everytime he has come in and done something for/with me. Could be as small as letting his feet get picked out or as big as a three hour ride. Think it helps him to continue being obliging!:) Too many other things going on in my life to make a complicated daily routine.
 
I have to have routine or my life is chaotic! I'm building Roo's wieght up so she is fed hard feed morning and night at roughly the same time. When she was in of a night I always brought her in at the same time, it was rare I changed that and she was always turned out early in the morning. Now she's out 24h a day routine doesn't seem that important. i think I'm trying to say it's me not Ruby that needs routine or everything goes t*ts up, I'm not OCD or anything but I even have routine for doing the feeds in a set way and tacking up, that way nothing gets left out. I've just thought though, the time before last tacking Ruby up my friend put her bridle on before the saddle, I always do saddle first, and Ruby was not impressed lol, she danced around a bit! So maybe routine is good in that sense, perhaps helps to build up trust and bonding?
 
Unfortunately life is not always routine and I think for that reason it is better if a horse can cope with variations in routine. It will help the horse cope in the long term if unexpected things happen and the owners circumstances change and they need to sell or change yards or routine.

If there is an emergency and you get delayed then at least you do not need to have to worry about your horse going mad as its routine is broken. Also if you compete then at weekends you will probably do things differently as you might need to feed early to get to a show on time or feed late if you get back late.

My pony lives out and does not have a routine - I work full time and in the winter do not ride after work during the week only at the weekends so his week days are very different from his weekends. Summer is also different from winter. They got hayledge in the field in the winter and YO varied the time she gave it to them so that it was easier for them to cope with the transition from getting hayledge to no longer getting it as they were not waiting by the gate at the same time every day.

My pony does not hang around the gate waiting for me to come and seems perfectly happy.
 
When i first took carn from the rescue yard i changed his rountine from how it was run at the yard to fit around work for me...i thought that it was very important that taking on an abused trouble horse that i kept to a rountine for him so he knew what was happening what to expect...
Now i've had him for 2yrs i've relaxed and i'm not so strict with his rountine the only thing that remains the same is i go to the yard after work to feed him but during the summer as hes on 24/7 i can go up anytime i'm not that strict so i can have a life!
 
I guess it depends on the horse and breed. Mine's a welsh cob and out 24/7 and I can't get up at the same time everyday due to car sharing with my mum! So time getting up there varies from 3pm to 5.30, but she doesn't seem to mind too much. Although, if I'm considerably later than usual she's always by the gate looking indignant, or if I'm too early it can be tricky to catch her! I think routine in what you do is quite important (such as ride then feed then groom then muck out), or at least from experience horses seem to cope better if they know what's coming. Especially if you have a highly strung horse.

I think routine helps but it's not crucial, and if your horse seems happy enough then keep going with what you're doing. It's no exact science!

xx
 
i think it is the most important thing, my mac is a different horse since he has a good regular routine, i pay to have him in the routine as it has stopped him from box walking and he is a much more settled horse then i have ever seen. It is also important that horses are feed around the same time everyday as this keeps their digestive system regular.
 
I have a routine by default in winter - Molly is in at night (yard rules) and I work office hours so have to go up at the same times to fit everything in and get to work on time. At weekends I go up to 2 hours later, but she always has hay so doesn't really notice.

But I do change the times but keep the order largely the same. For example I feed last thing, dinner goes in and the lights go off (have bendy buckets), the timing of which can be anything from 4.30pm to 8.30pm depending on weekday/weekend/weather/other committments. But they know that dinner is the last thing we do.

In summer when they are out 24/7 there is no routine as such but again office hours mean some patterns.

With Molly it isn't the timings that stress her - it is the order, she likes to know what is coming next :)
 
While mine were in the field I had no routine at all but since stabling over winter I have kept quite a strict routine as Tets is a box walker and very stressy in the stable and having a routine has really chilled him out. I work the same days every week and have kids in school so routine hasnt really been a problem although on the odd occasion things have got in the way the farm owner will put him out for me cos he knows how stressy he gets
 
Tyler has a fairly strictir outine on Full Livery, primarily to ensure that the yard smoothly. I like having hte routine on Full livery as it means that I know when has has been fed etc and I can work round that, although I always have the option to miss out a feed so I can ride.

Tyler is fairly adaptable as long as he is fed :rolleyes:

Jen
x
 
I don't see why a horse on grass should need a routine set down by humans?

Surely they should be looking to the herd as being for their comfort and routine?
 
hmmm... good point Joyscarer... I guess I had a problem with him being unsettled when a routine was broken only when he was in every night, rather than living out.

I know it suits some people and keeps their horses happy to have a very defined routine, but i wouldnt want my horse to be hanging around the gate waiting for me to come up every evening-waste of good grazing time!
 
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