Any Horsey people out there??????

[Avalon1984]

Look at these beautiful horse pictures! Thank you for sharing. I will go ahead and take some this weekend as well!

 

[Pony Trotsky]

Hello!

I'm new, and I'm a horse person. I have three: A Foundation QH, an over-sized TBxPaint (almost 18h; I have no idea how that happened) and a weensy POA. I used to be fairly competitive - Hunters as a kid, and Dressage more recently - but now I've gotten kind of backyardish. I still try to train like we're semi-serious, but running a farm takes a butt-load of time, it seems. . .

Anyway, I'm very glad to find horse people here, because I've got a slightly weird horse/chicken question: Do horses ever stomp chickens?

I ask this because yesterday I happened to see my TB running full tilt after a bunch of crows! He didn't catch them, of course, but he seemed to be having a fabulous time, and I can easily imagine this becoming a well-loved hobby. (This horse is a major oddball, even on a good day.) So all this got me wondering if it's safe to let the chickens go out with the horses?

We're just finishing an in-barn coop, and I'd planned to have a chicken door leading from the coop directly into one of the pastures. I'd really like to let the chickens free-range, and I hope to pick them up at the end of this week, so I need to know if this is an incredibly stupid idea!

 

[joyous]

Quote:
Welcome! My chicken coop is inside my horse's pasture. When they free range my horses mostly ignore them, with just a curious glance once in a while. Never had one chase or stomp one!

 

[Pony Trotsky]

^ Thanks! That makes me feel a bit better.

I've been watching Mr. Oddball pretty closely all weekend and, as far as I know, he hasn't done any more crow chasing. Maybe it was just a moment of temporary insanity.

 

[KYFarmGirl94]

We have 8 horses: 3 QH, 1 Paint Pony, 1 TB,and 3 Tennessee Walkers. Our daughter does hunter/jumpers now and before that, the kids showed English/Western pleasure.
We were so excited to be moving to KY and couldn't wait to show here, but our little boy got sick and is now completely disabled, so it was hard both physically and emotionally for us to continue with the same type of showing, so Alana switched to hunter/jumpers...kinda like a new chapter in her life book that wasn't tainted with bittersweet memories of showing with her little brother.

As for a horse ever stomping the chickens, my QH did once, but it was totally by accident and he couldn't figure out what in the world was flopping around under his foot! He just stood there looking at me like "Get it out!" It was almost comical!!

Robin

 

[flnatv]

I have an AQH and a TWH... we used to mostly trail ride, unfortunately our AQH meet with a freak accident and we don't get to ride anymore (other than the casual walk/trot around the pasture). I can't afford to add another horse and will not get rid of the one that is injured.... I am happy with them following me around like big, huge puppy dogs.

As for the chicken stomping... my chickens free-range in the pasture and I don't have any trouble. They will chase off dogs, cats, etc... but don't mind the chickens.

 

[theoldchick]

Bigshot

Almost Dun (Dink)

 

[ginbart]

We have horse's but not the kind you ride. Well after a while we can.

 

[Englewood]

I have a 13 year old Appaloosa gelding that is awesome. I ride western, hunt seat, and drive with him. I don't know what it is, but he loves to chase and try to stomp anything that runs.

 

[tbitt]

I do

Here is a fun thread about horse people here at BYC.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=496748