On the face of it, you’d think that all horses would love being turned out all the time.

Certainly, Freedom made it very clear from day one that he didn’t want to live in a stall. The first night I had him he weaved so much that he ended up rubbing a bloody spot on his neck from the friction over his door. The next day he started living out 24/7 with access to a stall and he’s been happy ever since.

But not all horses are nature lovers. Lots of race horses and show horses don’t get much (if any) turn out and they fret when left out too long. They run the fence line, stand at the gate and pretty good at expressing their frustration.

Here’s a lovely case history, written by a retirement barn, that describes how they helped a horse who hated turn out learn to love it.

Retirement Case History