The Importance of Turnout, Presented by Kentucky Performance Products
Do you stall your horse? If so, are you providing enough turnout? The answer can affect your horse’s health. Read on to learn more:
Thoroughbreds grazing at sunset. Photo by Adobe Stock/Patrick Jennings
If you stall your horse, provide at least two hours of turnout on no less than 1/8 of an acre each day.
Why?
When your horse’s bones are not adequately stressed by daily turnout, they may decrease in density and strength. This is especially true for growing horses.
Research shows that short sprints of 50 to 80 meters (54 to 87 yards) put enough stress on the bones to stimulate bone modeling that increases bone density.
Horses turned out on pasture have more opportunity to exercise in this manner and therefore have stronger, denser bones.
Studies show that stalled horses in traditional training (walk, trot, canter) have lower bone density than their counterparts that have some turnout.
If your horse is on complete stall rest, ask your vet about providing BoneWise, which supports bone density in sedentary horses.
About Kentucky Performance Products, LLC:
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