The Devil made stables because he could not get horses to smoke cigarettes. My wild horses are much more comfortable out in the open than they are couped up in a stable that allows no escape from their enemies, both real and imagined. In that regard my wild horses feel exactly.... the same way your domestic horses do. Horses learn to tolerate being closed up in a stable just as we learn to drive through hours of heavy traffic each day. My herd is proof of the advantages of natural horse care. We have over 50 horses in our herds with total vet bills being less than that of many people who own only a pair of horses.
The irony is that the very things that make them so healthy and happy are the things that too many owners think constitute near abuse. My horses do not go lame because they never wear shoes and they are allowed to move in spacious pastures. My horses rarely colic because they live nearly exclusively on grass hay and grass. They digest the long stems of the hay so well because they drink from water holes in the ground which are loaded with the same bacteria and micro flora that exists in their cecum. Those that are under saddle receive several hours of hard riding a week. As a result, the worst enemy to the health of a horse, obesity, is rarely seen in my herd. There are no respiratory problems in my horses because few of them have ever stepped in a stable in their lives. Skin infections are rare because my horses are never washed with detergent products or any type of soap that kills the flora that naturally protects their skins.
No stables, no shoes, no supplements but for mineral blocks, no sparkling "clean" water, no expensive grains or "concentrate" feeds, and no part of the horse business makes big money from my herd.
If those businesses could figure out a way to charge big money for natural horse care stables and shoes would be recognized for the abusive things that they can become. Of course, until natural horse care becomes more widely accepted it will be the horses who continue to suffer. Nearly as bad, the young potential riders who can not afford conventional horse care will remain forever shut out of the horse world.
My horse, who lives out at Steve's, has never had any significant health problems, and is always full of energy whenever I go out to see her. If my horse lived in a stable, I do not think she would have the same attitude she does as a horse who lives freely in a large grassy field with other herdmates.
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