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I have been riding over 45 years now and the biggest thing I've learned is how to keep a horse and how to give him a good home. Dressage riders usually love their horses and pamper them. Sadly, I find that the more expensive and better a horse, the more isolated he becomes.
Twenty years ago I did not believe in turnout at all. I believed turnout was counterproductive to my work as a dressage trainer and rider. As a girl, I copied other riders--including their opinion on turnout--and didn't give it much thought. The reasons for not turning horses out haven't changed. First of all, because dressage horses are so expensive, riders are afraid they might get hurt and either don't turn them out or turn them out alone. When turned out alone, they often race around because they are herd animals and long to be with their buddies. Horses need a herd. It makes them feel safe and content.
Some dressage riders also think that turnout uses up the horse's energy for the trainer, and he won't be able to perform as strongly as when not turned out. Other riders think that horses that are turned out use the wrong muscles.
Turning out all of my dressage horses--Grand Prix horses included--has made all the difference in my success as a dressage rider and trainer as well as my horses' performances, their overall health and their happiness. They are much more relaxed. They're more trustworthy and understanding and calm about the environment. Nervousness in the show ring is reduced as well.
Shying and its consequences are reduced enormously. Often, everything that might have happened after shying, such as bolting--an instinct that comes from the horse's natural flight mechanism--becomes a serious problem. When the horse shies or bolts, the rider often gets angry, also out of fear. The horse will feel the fear of the rider. Now whenever the rider is tense toward the horse, it triggers the response, such as shying, and becomes a bad habit. The rider keeps punishing the horse for his bad behavior, but he really ends up punishing the horse for having been afraid.
Barns are getting ever more luxurious. I find it a sad misconception that the barns have spacious stalls, automated bedding, regulated feeding time, etc, but no turnout. You'll say, OK, but at least my barn is fly-free, cool and clean. But let's be honest: Isn't it also more convenient for us? We don't want to walk miles across the pasture, we want to open the door and just take the horse out to ride.
Horses are designed to walk and move around all the time. All of their organs are relying on that--hooves, joints and skin. If you put a horse in his stall for the majority of his life, it would be the same as if you were told to stay in bed for that time. A horse should live to 25 or 30 years with no problem. Ironically, today's dressage horses are (most of the time) well cared for, but they often become lame due to immobilization in stalls which also promotes colic.
In the course of my career, I became more and more aware of unhappy signs due to lack of turnout. For example, look at the hooves of horses that are not allowed turnout. They usually have contracted heels and their feet become narrower. Studies on incidents of stomach ulcers have been done where it was discovered, sadly, that if the horses are kept in 20 hours a day or more, they often have stomach ulcers.
At my barn, horses stay out at night and come in the morning at around 6 or 7. They eat breakfast, lie down and rest for a while, and then we take them out to train them. After training, they take another nap and then are turned out again. They're in their stalls for about five hours a day. Since I began turning out my horses about 25 years ago, I've never had one single case of colic.
I don't believe I can change other dressage riders' opinions about turnout, but think about it. Your dressage partner needs to be allowed to be a horse, not just a trophy.
Cindy Sydnor is a U.S. Equestrian Federation "R" judge and a U.S. Dressage Federation Certification Examiner. She has trained in Europe with Egon von Neindorff and in the United States with Karl Mikolka and Col Bengt Ljundquist. In 1975-77, she was long-listed for the U.S. Equestrian Team. A popular clinician and dressage instructor, she owns Braeburn Farm in Snow Camp, N.C., where she trains horses and riders through Grand Prix.
