A question re winter and those that leave horses out

Supertrooper

Supertrooper

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Last winter the new lad came in at night, this was mainly because my friends mare was 37 and we wanted her in the warm at night, berg very quickly got attached to her and with him being in a new place would of panicked if brought in on his own.

My friend lost the old girl this April :-(, we now have another friends cob and pony who are used to living out all winter, this friend is happy to bring hers in or leave them out, basically whatever is easier for everyone.

So the dilemma, if the huge bergie shaped dinosaur didn't have such big feet that trash the field we'd not even think about it but last winter he had shoes on and the field was a bit of a mess, it's clay so doesn't really get muddy (water tends to sit on top) and we may not get a wet winter!! He'd be more than happy to live out.

So should we take his shoes off? Will this really save field more?? He won't be ridden over winter. Another thing is that know he is more settled he doesn't run around as much, last winter he was quite wound up and would hoon around field and I don't think he'd do that now!

Sorry I'm rambling xx
 
I have 2 horses out in winter and both are unshod, they still made quite a mess of the top part of the field in the winter, around field shelter and gate but they didnt have much grass due to the lack of rain last year, I am resting as much of the field this year in the hope that they will have lots of eat and will forget to stand around as much waiting for the hay to arrive.

Personally if you are not riding this winter and your horse is quite happy in his feet, I would take shoes off as it will save some pennies and if the field gets particularly muddy you wont need to worry re shoes being sucked off ..
 
I would leave him out, my baby highland loves to live out and is unshod at the moment as he is not ridden. Although as Orbie pointed out, lack of shoes does not mean a lack of mess!
 
I would take the shoes off anyway if he won;t be ridden. Mine now live out all year round after years of being shod, clipped, rugged and stabled!! They all seem much happier, and becuase they don;t hang around the gate waiting to be brought in, the fields are actually not too bad. We only had a couple of weeks of real mud last winter.
 
TBH do whatever suites you and your horse!
Mine are all out in winter, no shoes as i don't get the time to ride much, and onley one of them gets rugged at the moment.
We are lucky as the grass is very thick so onley get poaching around the hay feeder, which we move about .
 
Brandy said:
I would take the shoes off anyway if he won;t be ridden. Mine now live out all year round after years of being shod, clipped, rugged and stabled!! They all seem much happier, and becuase they don;t hang around the gate waiting to be brought in, the fields are actually not too bad. We only had a couple of weeks of real mud last winter.
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Agree with this. We are in Aberdeenshire and mine all lived out quite happily (though tbh loads of snow but no wind). Main thing is to keep them well fed. TBH mine didn't move far from the ring feeders which I sited at the driest bit.
 
Interesting thread-will keep an eye on it!

I have taken on a 16.2 heavy Irish X and he is firstly too big really for my stables ( i had a 15hh tiny TB when they were purchased) secondly he is destructive and crib bites badly. The stables were expensive and i dont want them destroyed.
I too have clayish land (about 3.5 acres) but havent been there over winter yet- I'm told it gets very very wet :-( I am concerned about him just trashing the field but unsure what else to do!
 
I leave mine out as much as possible. Last year I bought some field guard matting which I put down in the gateways and worked brilliantly. I have hardcored an area for when it gets really wet.
 
My two big cobs live out most of the time and both are shod. Kelsi was weighed recently and is 730kg! We rotate the grazing and 'save' the driest bit of the field for winter. The grass is really long and we strip graze, by the end of winter they have the whole field. It does look a bit of a mess by the end of winter but soon recovers again. They are on 3 acres and we poo pick everyday.
We bought them in for 3 weeks altogether last winter when it was rainy and windy. They lived out in the snow and we fed them haylage or soaked hay.
In the spring the field is rolled by the farmer and chain harrowed, fertilised and re-seeded as necessary.
 
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