Am I Cruel To Keep A Stabled Horse??

Hello, we are very new to this site having just bought our beautiful 10 year old Arabian Horse. We live in Spain and have had a interest in horses for a long time although this is our first, my 9 year old son and myself are extremely nervous, it was a big decision. He is currently stabled in a town near us, we are looking to keep him there for up to 6 months whilst we have a stable built at home. I am not sure if you know Spain at all, there are no fields, green grass etc, but we are down a track with a dried river bed for plenty of exercise, many of our spanish neighbours leave their horses on the river bed but I don't feel comfortable with him down there with all the wild dogs etc, so he will be in the stable most of the day and we would take him out morning and night is this sufficent? we are just want to love him and keep him happy and healthy but reading your page it seems pasture is best, we are worried, please can you advise me which is the best form of exercise for him, I apologise I may be asking a lot more questions in the future. Thank you for your help. Paula

Answer: Hi Paula.. Sadly many horses stay stabled most of their lives. Horses would much rather be loose in the field where they can run and play. However, if you cant you cant. Just make sure that he is taken out of the stall regularly and allowed to run and get rid of that pinned up energy. Horses that are kept in stalls regularly with exercise tend to get bored and can develop some seriously bad habit. As long as he is exercised regularly he should be fine..