Devil's advocate....

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dizzyf

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Now, if I was to say that
turning a horse out (not including those out 24/7) in a thickly covered snow field without providing extra hay was as bad as leaving a horse in its stable all day without providing hay
What would your response be?
 
There was a post a while ago on something else, that turned into a discussion of horses' hooves and someone linked to an article about wild horses in the US. Apparently they come out of the winter (everything covered in snow) looking perfectly fine as they seem to be able to dig through the snow to get to the grass.

From the experience of the last 2-3 weeks, mine also seem to be able to use their noses and dig with their legs to get to grass.

Having said that, I don't know how much grass they could get at in a paddock, so mine get haylage!
 
Shoot me now then - because that's exactly what happened to my horse today..... (Turned out in thick snow with no hay.)
 
Of course they can look for grass themselves. thats there instinct! When out they at least have the option to go and look for the grass, whereas shut in the stable, there naff all they can do about it. As said above ive seen ours digging with hooves, noses etc. And even where they roll/lay down they clear patches for themselves.
 
I know my TB has been spotted digging through the snow to find tasty bits of grass underneath. He's a little overweight so I think the effort of foraging will do him good.
 
Mine cleared a large patch of snow today in just a few seconds to get at the grass underneath. Unless it's frozen totally solid ie ice, then I really don't see the problem
 
As long as there is grass under the snow they'll find it. I let mine into my paddock today (they live on the track round the outside normally) and they just dug the snow out the way with thier hooves and grazed, moved around doing that all day. I did put some hay out too but they pretty much ignored that.
If there was no way they could get at anything to eat then I would make sure they had hay as yes, I think its no better than them standing in with none.
 
the horses in my field don't seem to want to try to find the grass, so stand at the gate at fight.

We've been putting our 3 boys at first thing for a bit whilst we much out, then bring them back in (we're not allowed to put hay in the field)
 
the grass in my field is pretty short and mine dont seem at all inclined to dig for it. they eat the hay i give them then stand there bored. sometimes they have a little play and then they go back to standing bored. they dont fight, but they dont exactly look happy.
 
If the grass is to keep them busy, it's probably pretty similar. If it's to provide a similar level of nutrition to the rest of the year, then I'd say not.

Feral horses (they're not wild
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) do overwinter successfully BUT their environment is very different than the managed, overgrazed (relative to feral lands) area we keep domestic horse in. Also, wild animals certainly DO die in harsh winters, in only in sufficient numbers to balance the load. Not to mention that many of the horses here are not experience in winter living. There has been some interest in my Canadian (as in from Canada, not the breed Canadian) horse's ability to walk carefully on ice and find the good grass under the snow.

One thing that would worry me is keeping warm for horses is partly a function of digestion - they are effectively big furnaces with and insulated out layer. So a horse that's not eating through the cold is struggling to stay warm not because it's lacking calories but because it's not burning enough fuel. Horses in the wild do this by eating a lot of what we would consider poor quality forage - dried grasses, on the stem grains and the like. I'd say the same for a stabled horse, though, unless the out horse is wet or forced to stand in high winds without shelter.

I don't think it's "worse" to keep horses out rather than in without forage. There are practical considerations though - horses without "busy food" are far more likely to eat your fences, be generally silly and potentially leave in search of grub. The only difference is in a stall those options are prevented.
 
Ha mine went out today with no hay. The last few days they have preffered digging for the grass than eating their hay. They are in their summer field for the time being and there is so much grass they think they are in heaven though. They didn't bother in their winter field when that was covered in snow, and they got adlib hay then.
 
[ QUOTE ]
Dizzyf-are you allowed to have a hay manger in the field?

[/ QUOTE ]

I hadn't thought about that, maybe.

But to be honest I don't think my old boy would get a look in if they were all sharing a hay manger (he gets bullied)
As long as the snow doesnt last too long they're happy to stay in with some hay, (put them out for a while whilst I mucked out again, and as soon as I'd finished I called them to see if they wanted to come in and all 4 of them came galloping over! - they never usually do that!)
 
Ours won't dig for grass either. They eat the hay then get up to no good until they are brought back in. I think we need to accept that if we confine them to small well grazed fields that we have made them dependent and we need to supplement their turnout with hay.
 
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