18/11/2025
This is only part of why I am so adamant that horses are outside as much as possible. They evolved to be outside and roam. Stalling horses has SO many negative effects on their physical and mental health. If you do need to stall your horse the minimum you can do is give them as much turn out time as possible. Turn out is not recess. Horses should be in their paddocks all day. Ideally from dawn to dusk, or at least 8 hours. Your horse will be healthier!
Your horse’s skeleton is built for impact — not confinement.
Three decades of equine bone research makes one thing painfully clear: Horses kept in box stalls lose bone density.
Not metaphorically. Literally.
Confinement triggers the same biological process humans call osteoporosis — and it starts fast.
Key findings from the research:
- Horses moved from pasture into stalls and worked only at slow speeds began losing bone mineral content within weeks.
- A single short sprint per week (50–80 m) dramatically strengthened bone.
- Corticosteroids mask pain and increase risk of further injury
- Good nutrition cannot override a lack of mechanical loading.
- A skeleton that doesn’t experience impact simply cannot stay strong.
All of this is drawn from:
Nielsen, B.D. (2023). A Review of Three Decades of Research Dedicated to Making Equine Bones Stronger. Animals, 13(5), 789.
So what does this mean for our modern domesticated horses?
It means bone weakness is not inevitable.
It’s a management problem.
It means many “mysterious” pathologies — stress fractures, suspensory injuries, joint degeneration, chronic compensation, recurrent lameness — are downstream consequences of bone that never had the chance to adapt to the forces nature designed it for.
Box stalls create osteoporosis.
Osteoporosis creates a whole lot of other pathology.
Your horse doesn’t need to be an athlete. But their bones require impact. Free movement. The ability to respond to their own nervous system’s cues to trot, canter, play, stretch, and even sprint.
Turnout is not enrichment.
Movement is biology.
Bone health is built — or lost — every single day.
A question I encourage every owner to sit with:
If you knew your horse’s bones were weakening in silence every day they stood still, would you keep managing them the same way?
Because in the end, it’s not confinement that keeps a horse safe.
It’s a resilient skeleton.
And only you can give them the environment their biology requires.
Change begins with us.
