24/7 ?

[amandaco2]

i think they AT LEAST need to go in the school for a buck and roll for 30mins or so and be worked everyday for a few hours if they arent going to get any other turnout.
its the horses kept in and not ridden or turned out at all for days/weeks i feel really sorry for.
i was at a full livery yard last year and the horses didnt go out apart from for 10mins or so once a week in the school if the owner didnt ride/come down and ut them in the school.
i like mine to be out as much as poss,although i do understand in winter when its wet to try to minimise the damage to the fields by bringing them in at night and sometimes only putting them out for half days if its bad.

 

[buzzles]

My horses all get turned out every day however I know alot of yards who don't turn out in the winter.
The management and type of yard has an impact on how happy the horses are. I know one yard which stables 24/7, the horses get plenty of exercise, a forage based diet, including adlib hay, and the barn is lovely, very bright and airy and they can see and sniff each other through bars.

Another yard is the total opposite, the horses don't get enough exercise, (they can sometimes stand in the stable for 4 days in a row without getting out), they get a huge amount of hard feed (about 6 scoops a day of one third nuts, two thirds barley) and get a tiny amount of hay in the evening (nothing throughout the day), the barn is dark and dreary and they can't see or sniff each other (grills on the doors, solid walls between stables). These horses have the worst vices I've ever seen, they crib bite at wood, rugs, mangers, concrete walls, they box walk, they eat the shavings and droppings

. The YO solution to the vices is to put electric fence wherever they crib bite and they think it's great that there's not much to muck out

.

Horses can deal with being in 24/7 provided they are managed correctly and are fed and exercised properly.

 

[Daphnelia]

I think its cruel, and would rather not have my horses rather than put them through being in 24/7.

 

[Stoxx]

Our fields are shutting on Sunday, and normally remain shut until around April, but that just depends on the weather. My horse is lunged every morning by the groom and then I try to make sure he is ridden 6 days a week. He used to be let loose in the school but we aren't allowed to do that anymore as people were abusing it and putting 2 in at a time and the surface was getting cut to pieces. He doesn't have contact with any other horses on a regular basis, so I do try and pair up with someone else and take him for inhand grazing at the wknds with them. He has a ball given to him with his lunch, but certainly does not get given likits and things like that.
It's a shame as he does miss the interaction with other horses and generally will take it out on me or whoever does him, but moving yards for me isn't an option as the YO's are very good to me and I trust them to make the right decisions when i'm not there.

 

[Magicmillbrook]

Mine are out 24/7, I sacrifice some of my fields, fortunately we have never had any mud fever. Unfortuantely not everybody has a choice.

 

[madgirl]

I think it depends on their routing.
My dad's horse at the Barraks in London (the household calvalry) didn't get turn out bu thtye had a good routine and you rarely saw a vice.

They all go out in the summer for a long holiday.