are your horses going out?

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noodle_

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our field is rutted and compeltely solid. Trouble is we have 14 horses who love nothing more than a good gallop round which is fab.... but not in this.

So today and this week im putting mine out for an hour with her mate (just the two of them) to reduce chances of them falling (i cant explain how rutted the field is lol)

if it was flat and solid she would be out 3/4+ hours but mine isnt that bothered about being in tbh as shes getting walked/trained/ridden and lunged


so - what you doing with yours? (and what woud you do if your field was borderline dangerous cause of the ruts??)
 
Mines out on his own, there is plenty of grass at the moment and very few ruts so he is more then happy being out, plus I am too lazy to keep him in as that would mean twice as much mucking out!
 
mine are out in solo-turnout small paddocks. if the paddocks were really rutted or the horses were nutty then i'd be turning them out in the arena for a few hours each as i usually do, but i'm making the most of the frozen ground because it means no mud. i'm still ill so i'm turning them out after breakfast and then they stay out with a big pile of hay each till it goes dark. if i can't work them i don't want them in the stables all day...
 
My field is horrible clay ruts which freeze solid. Today, I left them in, then turned them out at lunchtime when it had thawed (luckily). When it has been bad for a long stretch I have been known to tape off the worst of the ruts by the gate with electric fence tape. And put ribbons on it so they can see it better.
 
Out today, ground is fairly hard but does give a little when the walk over it.
Our yard has restricted winter turnout which means their in if it's wet, therefore no churned up paddocks so it doesn't freeze into ruts.

My girl spent a lot of time doing this in the snow:
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And ignored all the piles of hay and instead had to dig the snow to get to the grass:
150860_458172327986_779737986_5618408_49268_n.jpg
 
yes, at the moment. we have a good couple of inches of snow and the feild has brilliant drainage so hardly any muddiness.

my old yard really struggled with it in winter though and in the end they just got kept in until it had partially thawed, or all day with masses of hay. its a bit rubbish for them but rather a bored horse than an injured one.
 
see we have no other fields to use! nor are we alowed to turn out in the arena :(

would love to fence off a small part of the field and rotate goes in there as my horses legs arnt worth the risk!

just have to ride for longer and short walks - mines v. laid back thank god so hopefully she will be ok :)
 
mine was out in one field but moved as it was being re fenced into another but he is now in for the forseeable future due to the snow and ice we have at yard...he will fall over trying to get to field so its stable or school for t/o but can't ride as school too frozen for anything but walk walk and driveway is an ice rink...yes we have put grit down!!
 
Mine have been going out from about 8am till 4.30pm till today.
I have a 2yrs 5 month gelding of my own who shares a field wi my 13 yr old share horse, (owner works unsociable hours and doesn't want to get rid of him so i do him for her)

To get too our field we have to cross the car park so they only had just over 3 hours out today as by time all the cars had flattened the snow it was like an ice rink. If they can get atleast 2-3 hours out while weather is bad i'll be happy with that.

Roll on summer!!!
 
Ours have been stuck in since wednesday night because of the snow and ice luckily they got out all day weds. Before that though they were out everyday.

Field is a 1/4mile ish up the road up a very steep hill so no chance of them getting up it in the ice/snow plus the yard turns into a ice rink as well. Haven't got up today as parents out and I daren't drive in it we have about 5-6inches and am nervous enough about driving after crashing in july let alone in the snow.

Hopefully try get him out in the arena tomorrow if we can get up. YO did say they can go out in the mares and foals field which is next to the arena, when she's moved some of them around but then it went and snowed before she could. So will have a nice hyper bargey pony tomorrow :(
 
My girl is in her 'I prefer my stable to my field mode' now - she's in 24/7 through the week, and then I try to turn her out for at least a day over the weekends (weather permitting). She's miserable out in the field though - got her in a couple of hours ago and she was shivering in spite of two thick rugs and a snuggy hood, and pacing up and down wanting to come in :rolleyes: I dont know why I even bother trying to get her to stay out to be honest - I say it's for her own good, but she doesnt want to be out so really I guess I should just leave her in and let the paddock rest for the winter!
 
Yeah ours have been out in nearly a foot of snow and we had to drag them back in in a blizzard! They were quite happy where they were! It was just us being silly humans that wanted them indoors.
We put ours out for all daylight hours in winter, unless the weather is horrendous.
 
Charlie is in a herd of 9 living in in a 14 acre field. Not very frozen and rutted, as before all of the snow we had days of torrential rain, one day of sun and the fields are still wet under foot. Easier to leave them out as access to the yard is uphill on a narrow, twisty country lane which does not get gritted!
 
Our went out at about 12 and came in at 3.30, at least it had warmed up a (very!) little by then and they had been out for a long walk round the fields first so were quite sensible. They have plenty of grass and ignored the hay I put out, They just cleared the snow and munched away at the grass!
 
thanks all :)

decided to leave her in until the field as softened a bit .... as its just massivly rutty and tbh dangerous if(when) they run.

Hopefully next weekend will be better so until they riding/lunging and walking in hand a lot!.....
 
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