Deciding how to keep your horse is often a challenge for many owners. However, the benefits of pasture care generally far outweigh those of stabling, for both horse and rider. Pasture care boosts your horse’s mental, physical, and social health, and your budget as well. However, sometimes having your horse in a barn is helpful as well.
Pasture care best replicates a horse’s natural environment – free access to grass, water, and the ability to move at will. Common vices seen in horses are nearly exclusive to horses kept confined for most their days – these include wood chewing, cribbing, weaving, wall kicking, pawing, digging, or stall-walking. The basis of many of these vices lies in boredom, isolation, and insufficient exercise, all of which are linked to stable care. For pleasure horses or even those in moderate training, turning out is the best option to support equine mental and physical health.
Putting your horse to pasture also helps support their social needs. Unlike stabling which affords little to no contact between horses, in the pasture the natural herd relationships horses enjoy can develop. One can’t help watching horses standing side by side swishing flies and appreciate them enjoying their natural state.
Some may worry that horses won’t be comfortable outside, especially in the winter months. However, this is where having a horse barn is beneficial to your horse. A barn can help keep them warm and dry during the cold winter months. The barn is also helpful during rain, excessive wet weather can cause skin problems for your horse. Having your horse in a barn also makes it easier for the owner, it's simpler to monitor feed consumption, the horses may stay cleaner, and grooming is effortless.
A combination of a horse stabled and in the pasture is your best option, it keeps your horse both happy and healthy. If you're in the market for a horse barn installation or storage barns, contact the expert builders at Eastern Buildings today.