24/7 turnout question for newbie

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UKa

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Hi, there are some changes about to happen at my yard (very likely) and some of us may be offered to stay on field livery with shelter only. I really believe in horses being out as much as possible (at present they are out from April til November 24/7 and it has really benefited my girl with a bad back).

What are the things I need to make sure to have though (e.g how much land) and would you winter out a fine built TB? She seems quite tough just is not good if she gets wet so must wear a thick enough rug to keep her dry then she is coping fine.

How about areas getting muddy in the winter. And do you have bedding in your shelter or do they go without?

I really have not done this before so will need to do some research before I even say that I want to do this...(if this actually happens)

Thanks
 
Hi,

My lad is now out 24/7 with just a shelter. He has a straw bed in the shelter, with also a round bale in there too - obviously not over spring/summertime. He is on an acre & half and this year I only put a rug on when we it snowed, simply beacuse I didnt want him running around at night to keep warm.

He absolutely loves being out, and its far easier for me too. I find very few areas get too muddy, and if they do he doesnt stand there - he just mooches about or stays in his shelter with his hay If your tb is quite hardy, I think she will be fine. x
 
You can definitely winter out a TB: she may need extra hay/feed/rugging, but then maybe not! I look after a TBx who is very fine and sensitive to the wet and cold. For 2 years we stabled her every winter and every year she becamse so stressed and dropped so much weight that she looked emaciated. This is the first time we've wintered her out 24/7 and she has never looked so good! Even on poor grazing, her coat is shiny, she is fairly well covered and very relaxed. The field she is in also has no shelter in it other than hedged and a couple of spartan trees, but the other two horses have had a shelter with straw bedding in it - however I've haven't seen them use it all winter! They never poo in it either, which makes it easier to maintain.
We keep the TBx in a 3 acre field with one other pony and it's become fairly muddy: not boggy, just very spare of grass. However they have had hay morning and night (about 8kg) and survived!
It's great that you're planning ahead now as that'll make the whole season much smoother and easier for everyone. I think everything will be fine if you decide to go with 24/7 turnout :)
 
I have a fine TB and he lives out 24/7, so far it’s been the making of him, he’s much less stress than he used to be, he has got a bit piggish to handle as he gets less handling but a quick reminder of his manners (backing up if he tries to walk over me etc) and he was fab again.

I feed a high fibre diet and add oil if he needs extra calories, he was stabled up until a month ago but living out is doing him the world of good, he’s not lost as much weight as I thought he would.

My BIGGEST piece of advice would be to ensure that you share a field with someone that shares the same views on feeding as you! I do now but in a previous field I was supplementing two other horses to try and get the food into mine!

There are quite a few tb’s at my yard that live out with no problems, including some in hard work.

The other great benefit of living out is that it helps retain fitness but you don’t have to worry (too much) about excess energy, I’ve had a lot on recently so rode for the first time in nearly three weeks the other day, popped in the school and he was a total gem, one spook but then settled down to work nicely(ish, for him!), if he’d had three weeks off when he was stabled I’d quite probably be dead!
 
My 22 yr old TB winters out with no problems. She is only rugged at -15 (I'm in Canada so it's cold but dry) and she grows an amazingly thick winter coat which isn't clipped. I use a Rambo Duo on her which is great as it gives her extra neck protection and I can adjust it with the 300g liner for the really cold days. Her shelter has straw bedding and she is fed adlib hay in the form of a round bale, with some senior feed a few times a week. In fact as this year has been so warm she is actually fat coming out of the winter! I'm no good at estimating land size, but she has a small paddock with the shelter and heated water bowl and free access to approx 5 acres of pasture which she shares with her two buddies.
 
Rule of thumb for grazing is 2 acres for the first horse and an acre per horse for any subsequent horses. In other words if you had 2 horses, you would need 3 acres to feed them (in spring/summer, obviously), if you had 3 horses you'd need 4 acres, and so on. This presupposes the grazing is suitable in the first place (i.e. not a bog). I live in Ireland where the grass is super rich, so actually find the formula is too generous - I would happily graze at 1 acre per horse for full feeding value (no extra feed needed except during the worst of the winter), perhaps this would not apply in areas of the UK where grazing is poor.
 
Hi, thanks for all the encouraging words. I will have some time to think about this but it is good to get your head around early just in case it comes up...

With regards to the grazing, at the moment our farmer is quite picky to preserve fields over the winter and usually some of our grazing gets rested until the spring when they live out again. We get "bring in times" given so that no-one stays out very late and sometimes he calls an "in" day if it has been particularly wet.

I am not sure how much we can "preserve" in the case of them living out on the same sort of land... then again, the fields that are used all around seem to recover fairly well. It is hard to estimate what we get now per group of horses, and it may well be different if we get offered the shelters. My girl is currently sharing with a big round cob and his owner and myself have both been wondering if we would go for wintering out...

I will have to find out her views on feeding, especially I would want ad lib hay during the winter so thanks for the hint!
 
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Two on the left are TBs. This is their first winter out and their owners say theyve never looked so good - despite me taking their rugs off everyday :D

Its not about how thick their rug is, as long as its waterproof thats your main one. Dont go overboard on rugging and cook the poor sods - if the sun is out they dont need rugs. They just roast under them.

Make sure you've got food and water organised if access gets bad. Ideally you want access to a yard so they can have an hour or so to dry their feet out most days.

Living out is so much better for them :D
 
Got 4 of various sizes out 24/7 with access to open stables as shelter when they want it. I would say most important things are to have plenty of forage for them and a good water trough of course. I strongly believe it's important not to over-rug them (the more time goes on, the less I like rugs in fact!) but if you are rugging, I think it's necessary to have spares so that you can swap a wet rug for a dry one when required. I think they can usually cope with what the weather throws at them, provided they are not left in wet rugs and can get out of the wind and rain if they like.

Our field does get quite muddy in places but they can always get into the stables (concrete floors) at any time to get out of it, and the top of the field stays fairly dry. We use limited bedding in the stables/shelters but occasionally they do lie in there so we tend to have some shavings or shredded paper down. We also offer a mineral lick by the water trough. Ours get through a lot of hay - I think plenty of access to good forage is the most important thing really (provided they're not fatties or laminitic of course).

I would always choose to keep my horses turned out 24/7 if possible.
 
Mine live out 24/7, I wouldn't even bother with a rug unless 1) it was really rough and sustained weather, and then a medium as a lightweight just flattens their coats - which they fluff up naturally to trap air and keep warm 2) they hadn't been 'roughed off' before, it would be un-fair to just chuck a horse to live out if they were not used to it, 3) they were young or poor looking. I have 6 acres, 3 horses and two small ponies, good natural shelter from high hedges. I bought a field shelter but it blew away last storms! I have a cattle feeder for hay in the winter. It gets pretty muddy but as they have 6 acres and we are in Cornwall, they don't spend all day at it and still prefer to be searching for grass sprouts. When it freezes, I just make sure there is enough hay so they don't get silly and hurt themselves in the ruts.... touch wood, cross fingers!! :S
 
We went to a place with no stabling, and no field shelter just hedges 4 years ago in april. we have a selection, 1 elderly tb/shire 4 arabs, an anglo, and a pony ( currently out on loan) they have 15 acres, and we don't really have the option to rest any, but it has worked well. We moved to this because we were paying a small fortune to keep them on a livery yard, and didn't even have 4 acres, we had 6 then, the final straw was when the yard manager let one of the liveries get sheep, and gave her a paddock we had been resting all winter!
We spend less on feed now ours are out, which seems peverse, but they all look greaat now, which we struggled with in the past. I am a rug fan though, and they do wear plenty if they need them, which not all of them do.
I highly recomend it!
 
I am getting into the idea more and more especially as I love her living out during the summer already :)

I am afraid I won't do away with rugs though, my experience has shown me that my girl needs rugs, no way around it, but that's ok with me, I have stocked up on a few in different weights, haha.

x
 
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