Bang goes my 24/7 turnout :(

Mine are in at night now since Boxing Day. So far my rehabbing boy with athritis doesnt seem to be getting stiff because of it. Each hoof sized hole in the file makes me wince and they are now fillied up with rian water. This is my first winter at this yard and first time I have tried to keep two large horses out as long as possible. I am worried about the "big" field they are in now it not thats big and we will need it in the summer but its got the best hedges for shelter so using it now as well.Might be feeding hay for a long time this spring!
 
Cast your minds back to last year. Most of us were waterlogged from June. At least this year we have done half of the winter. Clocks change again in 10 weeks ish.

I gave up the struggle this evening and got the final two in.
 
Mine are all in. Haven't been out for a while as we are on clay and fields resemble bogs. Also, one of them isn't particularly keen on the rain. I have just been turning them out in the school occasionally for a roll and a buck, riding them/walking them in hand on days when I am not riding. Not ideal, but fields are treacherous - and we have just moved to a new yard as well!
 
We are on clay. Still a good amount of grass left and no mud to speak of. All horses in every night and out during daylight hours every day, no matter what the weather. Seems to be working well, horses get a good amount of turnout, rest well at night and dry themselves out and the fields don't get trashed.
 
I thought it couldn't get any worse than last year.......apparently it can! Our yard has only allowed an hours turnout a day for weeks now. It's awful. Low-lying fields but at least they're not clay. The school is also flooded and too deep to ride. Trying to hack as much as possible, but working long hours Mon-Fri is only leaving weekends. Bring on Spring!
 
Ours come in at the end of October, & get turned out every day even if it's only for an hour or so if the weather is very bad. Yes the fields are in a state, but if we tried to keep them out 24/7 they'd be totally wrecked. By resigning ourselves to the inevitable & bringing them in at night before the fields are waterlogged they're able to have year round turnout. I also don't worry too much about how damaged the fields do get at this time of year. A bit of work with a harrow / roller in the spring, along with some oversown grass seed & a liberal application of fertilizer will soon repair the damage, but I appreciate that people in livery yards might not have the freedom of choice that we do.
 
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Well, Kal isn't on 24/7 turnout anyway, but given the state of his field, I am seriously considering restricting his grazing even further so that he goes out only every other day . . . we do have the walker, and the school isn't flooded at all. The field is currently so bad that I can't actually get the wheelbarrow in and out to poo pick :(.

Roll on Spring.

P
 
I spent the morning poo picking,came back 2 hours later to find huge patches of standing water in my field.It is on clay and very well drained as it was formerly a sports pitch.I don't have anywhere to bring them in,but will move them to my other paddock on Friday.It has been rested for 6 months but no doubt will soon be trashed if this weather keeps up.
 
I too am on clay. Being on a hill you would think it would drain, but I'm afraid not. It is all very squishy and I would struggle to get a wheelbarrow across it to poo pick but we are not under lakes of water thankfully. I have got 2 stables and 3 horses. I have 1 in 24/7, last week of box rest hopefully; then the oldie is in most of the day as he is frost and everything else laminitic (Cushings and IR), but he gets about 2 hours out a day atm. The big bog trotter, who lives out but rugged, has decided the yard is his stable and stays put with a haynet near enough all the time, using the yard as a toilet - messy but much easier to sort than poo picking the field! I would love a school but it would take up too much of my grazing. You are right about needing 5 acres per horse on clay!!
 
There is a reason why horses come in to stables: it is because sometimes the fields are not usable. When the horses have to be in, the humans have to exercise them - part of the hard work that horses entail, especially in winter time.
 
Cortez said:
There is a reason why horses come in to stables: it is because sometimes the fields are not usable. When the horses have to be in, the humans have to exercise them - part of the hard work that horses entail, especially in winter time.
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I so wish there was a "like" button for this!
I hate my horses being in, but sometimes such as with the weather we are currently having, there is no option. I put mine out for an hour after riding this morning. The TB stood at the gate going into the field and just stopped. She didn't even want to walk through the mud.......
 
if it makes you feel any better mine are choosing to stay off the fields. I have 3 with access to big barn/stables from their winter paddocks. I thought about shutting them in barn but decided to leave gates to fields open and just feed in barn. all 3 dry as a bone this morning and tonight! So I suspect yours may not mind being in for a while :-)
 
Mines out 24-7! :)

She lives about 20 mins away now tho that's the compromise... Cheshire tooZ


Before this thoug we were on 4-5 hours a day on not much grass as the fields were split for someone else!

So moved ad she's happy as! Wish I'd done it sooner :)
 
Well it's going to be a lot more work as will be mucking out three more stables and turning out and bringing in three more horses. But the silver lining is that my new filly will be in during the day for me to do things with and bond with. So far I have just brought them into the sand. They will spend their first day in tomorrow.
 
Ours are still out 24/7 although fields very wet. Luckily the yard has 70 acres and 20ish horses although most fields are clay and a river runs through the middle. Pooh picked today and ended up walking in water in my wellies as the rain went down my wellies.
Because they don't wait in the gateways they are not too bad either.
 
We have 3 horses and 1 shetland on 3.5 acres of clay. Before we moved they lived out 24/7 but our fields are really bad now. The horses all come in at night, the shetland lives out. The old horse goes out in a 1 acre paddock during the day. The other 2 horses have a large hardstanding area and get turned out there everyday. We have a school so if I don't have time to ride I loose school or lunge them. For a treat they get turned out in the 1 acre paddock for a run.
 
we have 10 horses on about 25 acres. It is just horrendous. Until recently we had them out 24/7 but they are now in at night. There is grass in each field which keeps them happy, but the water is still just running off the fields.
Very depressing, really would welcome some cold weather now, that would help control the mud hopefully.
 
Our fields are sandy and well draining so apart from the gate ways where we lead in and out and wheel the hay down it's not too bad. We have put wood chip down to combat the mud and it's helped a bit.
 
Mine have some nice natural lakes after yesterday, have never known rain like it we have one dry day today then its back to rain for another two days:( luckily I only have my Arab being turned out as my other horse is on box rest, so have fenced of the worst bit and his got a little paddock at the back where its not water logged.
 
I'm just thankful we haven't had a winter like the last one, that was horrific. It is winter - it rains in winter, it has done every winter I've been about anyway. Horses are always hard work in winter.
 
If its any consolation mine are turned out every day as we are on sandy slope and only gateways are muddy and they are spending at least 50% of the time choosing to shelter from the rubbish weather in the field shelters, even tho one of them doesn't have any food in there. Obviously the other 50% of the time its nice that they are out but as long as they are exercised and have horsey company I don't think it's cruel to keep in for a limited period.

I do think that all weather turnout pens are going to become more of a must for yards with limited acreage or clay soils tho, as it isn't ideal long term to be keeping in for weeks.
 
siennamum said:
we have 10 horses on about 25 acres. It is just horrendous. Until recently we had them out 24/7 but they are now in at night. There is grass in each field which keeps them happy, but the water is still just running off the fields.
Very depressing, really would welcome some cold weather now, that would help control the mud hopefully.
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Agreed, I'd prefer some cold weather now. It is nice here today, clear skies and sunny but cold. I'd much prefer it stayed like this for the next few weeks. I would rather have minus temperatures and clear skies than miserable rainy days.

Our fields aren't too bad but they are on top of a hill so it is only the field at the bottom which gets v wet. The gateways are awful though, like mud soup. Mine is currently behaving as though turnout in the rain is akin to torture. This is a native type who, in summer, you would struggle to catch as he loves being out so much. Now, he goes out at 8am and by midday, is waiting at the gate to come in. He is like this whether he is turned out in the field alone (with horses either side) or with a fieldmate. I've never really subscribed to the "my horses prefer being in" philosophy and have had previous horses living out in all weathers. I much prefer them being out but this one genuinely doesn't seem to enjoy being out for more than a couple of hours in this weather. He goes out, has a roll, a munch, a play then he wants to come in. He doesn't get brought in til about 3pm though so TBH it's up to him if he wants to stand around being a misery. All the fields are big, his has loads of grass on (more grass than most people have in the spring/ summer!) with plenty of natural shelter, so it's his lookout if he's going to stand at the gate. He isn't out alone either, so not like he's pining for company.
 
lachlanandmarcus said:
If its any consolation mine are turned out every day as we are on sandy slope and only gateways are muddy and they are spending at least 50% of the time choosing to shelter from the rubbish weather in the field shelters, even tho one of them doesn't have any food in there. Obviously the other 50% of the time its nice that they are out but as long as they are exercised and have horsey company I don't think it's cruel to keep in for a limited period.

I do think that all weather turnout pens are going to become more of a must for yards with limited acreage or clay soils tho, as it isn't ideal long term to be keeping in for weeks.
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It's absolutely the norm in these parts to have all-weather turnout pens. Mine won't be huge (three in total, 30 x 35, 50 x 25 and 25 x 35) but I figure it's better than nothing, and besides which, we may very well build an arena before we buy two horses and a pony, which can double up as a bigger winter turnout.
 
I currently have two horses mooching up and down our driveway and one in the arena having a roll and a pootle: these are the only areas on the farm that can't be trampled into muck with a horse on it. After lunch they will all be ridden/lunged/walked at least once more, after having been one of the former this morning. This has been the routine since the end of November and will continue until the fields dry up considerably. Farmers bring their cattle into sheds over winter for the same reason: to save the land, feed appropriately and prevent conditions caused by being wet all the time (foot rot, etc.).
 
It is the first winter I have tried turning out 24/7 in he fields. I have done a couple of winter where I used the fields for 6 hours during he day but brought in at night. But I found that leaving the fields completely over winter was the best thing all round, until this year when m gelding's arthritis meant that I had to have a rethink. Sadly the fields just cannot stand up to this amount of rain. It was great until the week before Christmas.
 
Well on top of our fields resembling lakes, i went down to find my pony on xmas eve stood in half a foot of water IN his stable where the run off from the main stream had burst behind his stable. He had positioned himself against a wall and refused to budge till i paddled in and got him. Bedding and hay floating everywhere! Almost a repeat performance again last night so had to make a bale wall pen in the straw barn and put him in there with a friend for company. The driveway had flooded and my 4x4 only just got into the yard last night when i went to check they had settled. Still going out everyday from 7 - 5ish but the fields are VERY wet.
 
3 mares are out 24/7 but they have a 10 acre field on a hill so are ok. 3 geldings are in at night and out for 7 - 8 hours in a completely trashed paddock, but I know it recovers well in the spring. Stallion paddock is a swamp, but he has dry spots to stand on and is well rugged. He's lived out 24/7 for several years so is fine really! (or so I keep telling him!). Trouble is my temperary stables have no proper floors, and now the water is coming up through the rubber matting!
 
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