TURNING HORSES OUT
In the large Eastern cities the practice of horse owners turning all or some of their horses out for a portion of the year is a very common one. Consequently it is an important matter for them to study this question from every standpoint. For instance, is it wise to turn a horse out if he is going sound, and is in good working condition? Many owners express themselves and act as if it were a benefit to a horse to be thrown into complete idleness at intervals for a time. Others do it with the object of saving expense. Mr. C. J. Hamlin, of Buffalo, whom everybody knows as a gentleman of long experience and also as one of good judgment in horse matters, is said to have given expression to the following aphorism, viz., that “two let-ups are as bad as a break-down.” This statement may be considered rather an exaggeration by some, but those who have had an opportunity for fully observing the effects of “turning out” on horseflesh will agree that there is a large measure of truth in it. If you throw a horse into complete or comparative idleness for any length of time, every active tissue of the body becomes relaxed and incapable of standing anything like severe work. The tendons and ligaments lose their strength, the muscular fibres their tone, the nervous system its power of supplying energy for any lengthened exertion. The relaxing effect of idleness on muscular fibre is well exemplified in connection with the circulation. Take, for instance, a saddle-horse that has been carrying 200 pounds on his back every day all winter and well into the spring, with impunity. The owner is going abroad for three months and turns his horse out. When he comes back he thinks that his horse has had a long rest, and should therefore carry him particularly well. In a short time, however, the horse begins to show signs of fatigue by dropping his head, going heavy in hand, and very likely by “forging.”
The next morning the owner goes to look at him and finds he backs out stiffly, and is more or less swollen about the fetlocks, and his feet may feel a little warmer than usual. He is suffering from muscular soreness, the tissues about the fetlocks are congested, the coats of the blood-vessels in the extremities have not tone enough to return the blood with proper force to the heart, so there is stagnation of a portion of it in the dependent parts. That delicate and intricate network of blood-vessels in the feet, from long and comparative inactivity, cannot carry on their function with integrity, so we get congestion and consequent stiffness and shortening of the gait.
“Ah, but,” someone explains, “this is only temporary. If you bandage his legs, give him laxative food and light walking exercise for a few days he will be all right again.” The chances are he will, but two or three days’ work have been lost, and if you then subject him to the same course you will very likely have a repetition of the condition. Yes, and it will be several weeks and more likely months before he is in as good condition to stand work as he was before he went out. During all these weeks or months that have been spent in reconditioning, the muscles, ligaments and tendons are more or less soft and consequently susceptible to strains of varying intensity which may necessitate lying up for treatment. It is not only strains we have to fear, but the comparative inactivity of the circulation during rest renders the legs and feet subject to congestion and inflammation at various susceptible points when abruptly called into activity in doing hard work.
No doubt, by taking time and bringing a horse gradually into work he can be restored to good condition, but to do this there is required management, some expense and tantalizing delay.
When owners are not prepared to bring their horses gradually back into condition, they will soon have stale-legged and lame horses. One or two seasons of “turning out” and bringing up and abruptly putting into work will often transform a valuable, sound horse into a “screw.” Although the legs and feet are the parts that suffer most from this treatment, a horse shows it also in his “top,” for it takes a long while to bring back the bloom and finish that go with good condition, after being turned out.
Of course it is a problem for many owners difficult to solve satisfactorily, what to do with their horses when they go away for three months, particularly those horses that are practically sound and in good working condition. It is such an easy solution of the problem to turn them out at some good farm, where they will be sufficiently fed, and kept in safety in a loose box and have a run in a paddock, and only cost fifteen dollars per month apiece. The question is: Wouldn’t it pay better to give thirty dollars and have the horses kept in condition, so that they are ready to work as soon as their owners need them? When we come to consider the danger, loss of time, and wear and tear incidental to reconditioning, we must emphatically answer, yes. In the above remarks we have only considered this question from the standpoint of horses that are practically sound and in good condition, but it is quite another matter when we have to deal with horses that are run down from overwork and other unfavorable conditions, or with pavement-sore and lame horses.
In horses that are run down comparative idleness is almost imperative, and there is nothing much better than a run in a good, shady, well-watered pasture in the early summer, before the flies get too bad. In that way they get the gentle exercise they voluntarily take and get the advantage of the alterative effect that good, fresh grass has upon the system. This, too, is good treatment for slightly pavement-sore horses, particularly if the pasture land is not too dry. Lame horses are, in almost all cases, benefited by rest, and if it is necessary that the rest shall be at all prolonged, the most economical and favorable place to treat them is in a loose box in the country. A horse is bound to get out of condition, anyway, if resting for lameness, and he is usually better in the country, getting lots of pure air and sufficient space for comfort. The beneficial effects of treatment and rest must be followed up by a very gradual process of reconditioning after the lameness has subsided, otherwise the lameness will be apt to recur.