To think a lot of horse owners don't deserve their animals?

With the clipping/hugging, I do kind of get it. Mine were clipped and rugged, perhaps more than necessary. But if I wanted to ride, I needed thdm to be 'relatively' clean. Between working full time, and mucking out, poo picking etc, I'd rather clip and rug and ride, than spend an hour scraping mud off.

Totally agree OP. The place I was on livery at for the longest (over 10 years) didn't allow 24 hour turnout, they had to come in at night. But there was never a time when they weren't allowed daily turnout. Mine went out more than most, usually from 6.30am til 6.30pm (before and after work) longer in the summer. I'd ride after work too (floodlit arena for winter) they went out daily, without fail. Rugged if necessary.

I moved from there to rent land of 14 acres and they all lived out 24/7 with field shelters. The old one was much better for it too.

Yanbu.
I am in Germany and often see that horses are kept in stables the entire year. Instead of riding the horses, I often see owners taking their horses for a walk, meaning the owner walks next to their horse. I find this strange but a former colleague and horse owner once told me that this was supposedly good for bonding with the horse.

That is the most shocking bit!
Who one goes green earth only visits a stabled horse once a day?!

We have year round turnout, it's pretty muddy and horrendous and a couple of the horses have mud fever, but with care we can keep turning them out all winter. I have a very stressy thoroughbred who hates being in, he weaves and freaks out, so even if he's knee deep in mud he's happier out. In summer we switch to night time turnout and keep in during the day as we have 5 grays.

I used to work with horses and worked in lots of different yards.

The worst one was a riding school, that specialised in selling their horses to the clients. Then keeping them there on full livery. They lived in 24hrs a day all year round and would be ridden twice a week (in a paid for lesson obviously)

I had to stop teaching there because it upset me so much.

I kept my old horse in a variety of places, from 6 weeks 'off the fields' completely to a different rule every day to 24/7.
He was at his happiest, most relaxed and easiest to deal with when he lived out 24/7 and was unrugged even in the worst weather, though it took a couple of years of downgrading rugs so his coat grew thick enough to withstand it.

He had a field shelter, company, ad lib hay, water and was a completely different horse.
He only went in the shelter when I put new hay out to eat, the other one would stand in there in wet weather but he'd stand just outside or stick his arse in the hedge.

He developed cushings and laminitis off the back of that and needed restricted grazing certain times, I spent hours rigging fencing to keep him out but also restricted. Unfortunately the silly old sod was an escape artist and I spent a lot of time retrieving him and rebuilding fencing. He was miserable separated from the herd so I took that decision two years ago when the recurring laminitis meant restrictions that made him miserable, either paddock or stable, or regular pain from the laminitis that was getting more frequent.
Restricting or stabling for the majority of his life left to keep him alive just wasn't fair. I wish I'd been able to give him the life living out and just being a horse sooner, he went out as much as possible through his life but the last 5 were to my mind, the ideal.
Though perception is different and it was hinted at my cruelty because he lived out, unrugged in all weathers. He was a horse, that's what his body systems were designed to do.

No you aren't being unreasonable it's a really sad trend. They don't melt in the rain 😔

Sounds like the perfect life to me! I help care for a 30 year old gelding who is out 24/7 with access to shelter. Never had a single health issue and you'd never know his age to see him in the field.

I used to get so much stick and judgement from others when I was on livery, as mine would be out in all weathers, early as possible and brought in as late as I could. I didn't rug, I didn't feed them loads... Basically told I wasn't caring for mine properly. A few of these people has a horse who the vet labelled morbidly obese, and who had laminitis in the middle of winter despite not having been turned out onto grass for two months prior. Now I have them at home, and they are unrugged and living out 24/7, I still get people judging me for that, but luckily I don't have to interact with them on a daily basis. Mine are happy and healthy, a little underweight because it's winter, but they are never fat the rest of the year... I'm cruel apparently.

Prefacing this with, I’m not a horsey person (as in I don’t ride or have interest in them), but I think you are 100% correct. They’re living creatures, they should be able to live the best life they can and if people don’t want or can’t give them what they need, they shouldn’t have the privilege of owning them. Such a shame, it can’t be a happy life for them stuck indoors all the time.

@elastamum I didn't say you were cruel, I said 5 hours of turnout in a 24 hour period is pitiful, and I stand by that. Rain and mud isn't a reason to keep horses cooped up indoors for 19 hours a day.

There are tethered horses round here who live for weeks on end on their tether, they might get off once a month for a trott.

They get moved once a week to a different muddy circle.

I makes me sick just thinking about it.

For the last three months the vast majority of the horses on the yard have had little to no turnout.
Bloody hell.
I did contemplate getting a horse a few years back, but the main thing that stopped me was wondering how the hell I was going to fit in getting to the yard 2x/day, especially in the winter.
I was assuming daily turnout - I couldn't keep a horse cooped up in a stable for a week, never mind a month (medical care aside).

@LammasEve I completely agree but the yard owners around here are squeezing in as many as possible because a) demand b) cost of everything has gone up and they are trying to keep their business going. So many livery yards and riding schools went under during/just after covid.
The only person I know who isn’t operating this way is one yard owner for whom it’s effectively a side hustle, she has to cover costs/break even but she doesn’t need to make a living from it

Do the horses not go crazy stuck in for months on end ? An under exercised dog would become destructive, would a horse be the same? Do indoor spaces for them to walk about like a big shed not exist?

Mine live at home and are out 24/7 unless the weather is really wet or wild, then they come in and mooch around between their stables and the yard until we all get fed up and then back out they go!!
It's a cold sunny morning today and twatty Cob has the zoomies. Just watching him fart buck his way across 3 acres with his big fat feet leaving more divots than surface of the moon....🤦 Guess he's feeling happy though.

I have 6 horses, kept at home. They do not want out. I am doing every other day turnout around work (WFH) and they want in every day at 12pm noon. They go out at 8. They stand at the gate kicking each other. Happy as Larry once in!!! Every horse is different but I do disagree with them being in weeks at a time. Different if they are being ridden? I don’t turn out on days that I ride.

I have a rule on my yard that (aside for medical reasons or ice making the paths dangerous) all horses must be out by 9:30 every day. I turn my lot out at 6am and the livery I share the field with brings them in after 5pm.

In the summer months they are out 24/7 unless its extremely hot weather, in which they are brought in for showers and to stand in their cool stables for the worst hours.

I have stable space for more liveries, but I'd rather allow better turnout without everything turning to mud.

And this is why I hate livery yards... Turning out first thing in winter and bringing your horses in a couple of hours before it gets dark so you can ride and groom ( might even be more than 5 hours depending on the light) isn't a crime. They are fit, well and chilled. I can lead all of them out together without any problems as they aren't going mad to get out in the morning and they are usually waiting by the gate to come in by mid afternoon. They get more hay than they can eat at night so never stand hungry. Of course I would love ad lib grazing but it's just too wet here. You might do things differently, but it doesn't make me cruel.

We are very lucky to have extremely generous and good winter grazing in well sheltered and protected fields and of course a full rug wardrobe. I only bring ours in overnight if we are going out the next day or in really extreme weather and have been persistently made to feel guilty for this over the years. Endless comments about poor horses out in the wind and cold.

I know horses who get no turnout over the winter and it makes me very very sad.

So many yard owners are too concerned with their grass to the detriment of the horses. They should either have fewer horses on their yard or suck it up. Horse owners need to stop putting up with it, too.

I've only ever been at one place, in 40 years of having horses, that insisted on them being in all winter and I moved from there very quickly

100% OP. It is getting more and more common in modern horse ownership for horses to have very little turnout during the winter, or even none at all. Then those same owners then over tack their horses because they believe they need to fix their "behaviour problems".

Yards need more regulation to prevent this practice of fit and healthy horses being stabled for several months of the year.

I've always been on yards with all year turnout. I wouldn't go to one without.

I can’t understand why anyone would want to keep their horses in 24/7, for their own sanity, completely aside from the horses’.

Having had to do a very long period of box rest due to soft tissue injury several years ago, I can say it made me (and the horse!) completely miserable. On a practical level it was v difficult to manage too- I was going to the yard three times per day (645am/ 1pm/ 7pm) for at least an hour at a time, usually more, to much out, change water, do hay. And then increasing amounts of walking in hand, (rehab for the injury) starting at 5 min 2x per day, up to 45min 2x per day. It completely took over my life (horses always take over your life but this was even more so).

I just don’t understand why anyone would do it voluntarily (yard rules aside).