do you turn out in big groups??

charlie76

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used to only turn out two at a time but gradually moved onto four and today for the first time we have progressed to five which is nerve wracking! When meeka was kicked and fractured his radius there was only three which had Bern friends for a long time
Field is about nine acres so I guess plenty of space but it still seems weird. Do you turn out in herds?
 
We used to turn out in large groups where we were before. It was literally an acre per horse and we had 2 10 acre fields to use so there were 10 in the 'herd' as it were. Where we are now is individual turn out. We had a few problems but luckly nothing serious!
 
3 is never a good number to turn out, and my preference would be a minimum of four and maximum of 7 - which is always how my horses have been turned out.
 
I have been at a few yards over the years and have tried everything from individual turnout (yard policy) which both horse and I HATED, to pair turnout which wasn't much better, to large mixed sex 'herd' turnout; probably 15+horses!

Current yard splits mares and geldings and has an 'oldies' field for the older geldings (which mine should probably be in but is too much of a pest :) ). T is in a field with 4 other geldings.

I think the current yard suits my horse well, he's a playful old sod and was miserable on individual and pair turnout :) He's a bit of a ladies man ;) so is better with just geldings.
 
At my previous yard it was single sex herds so there would usually be 10+ geldings out at one time. There wasnt that many mares so about 5+ in there field at each time. Tbh speaking from one who had a gelding at that yard i found that it was to many horses out at once and alot came in with injuries including mine. The yard im at atm theres never any more than 4 out at one time, but thats because the field is seriously small and not many people turn there horses out, so my mare spends most of her field time alone!!
 
We have three geldings in our field and it works really well, depends on the character of the horses really.
 
Yes. The yard I'm at splits mares and geldings and then they run in large groups in large fields. Probably near 20 to a field and the horses are always so happy and settled. They hang about in their own wee groups and never get distressed when horses are taken out of the field because there are always plenty left to keep them company. They also rotate onto new grazing frequently and have large haylage bales put out in the winter so never any squabbling about food. :)
 
Having gone from a yard with 16+ in the herd, to one with paired or individual turnout, I can honestly say I prefer bigger groups. My boy has become clingy and anxious, which he never was before. Also, as someone above said, when you take one horse from a large herd the others don't fret, but in smaller groups they get quite worried.
More injuries probably, yes, but happier horses. Difficult!
 
The yard where I keep mine separates mares and geldings. The gelding herd, which mine is part of is big, currently 13 horses. In the summer when grass about not too much of a problem as they have the run of 2 big interlinked fields, they have enough to occupy themselves and just the odd mad hoolie and bites. As we have some horses that have been there for anywhere between 10-20 years it does seem to help for some reason when new ones arrive. We have one horse that tends to take on the new one and then it's sort of let into the herd alongside that horse and finds its place. The other plus point is like someone else mentioned, there's rarely if ever a horse left out by itself. In the winter it's not so enjoyable. They go into too small a field, with no grass that survives. It's not pleasant bringing in when they all gather and fight at the gate. Mud is inches deep and lots of torn rugs.
 
well at the moment my mare is out on individual turnout which in all honesty suits her as she can go to the fence and groom and interact with the others when she wants then when she wants her space (which she likes) she just moves away from the fence. She was turned out with a little gelding and she used to give him hell and seemed more upset sharing. Horses in the past i have had in a massive field with around 25 horses in and they all got on really well, they had their pecking order and knew their place but introducing a new horse was aways tricky. i've had horses in same sex groups which i have found personally was lest favoured but if there is a riggy gelding you can hardly put it in with mares. The best and happiest horses i have seen were a group of around 30 horses that belonged to a breeder, and it consisted of a stallion then around 10 mares and then all the youngsters which included colts and they all knew their place, the colts were boistress with each other but were taken out before they got to the point that they would challenge the stallion, i have never seen such well mannered level headed youngsters, they clearley learned alot from being in the heard.
 
My horse is one of 8 mares on about 25 acres of woodland, hillside, and flat area. They live a very nautral lifestyle - constantly moving round the different areas as they graze / drink / roll / sleep etc. In the past I have taken my 2 horses away from the yard for livery elsewhere for 2 weeks when I have been on holiday, they were turned out together every day in their own small paddock alongside other horses in their own paddocks. I have never seen 2 horses so happy to be home at the end of the 2 weeks - they both went off to their friends prancing and bucking with delight and left me in no doubt that despite the slight increased risk of injury, given the choice, this is the way that horses are prefer to live. They do have their own way of sorting things out and there have been times when a new horse has joined the group and it just hasn't worked, but right now we have a contented group of happy girls who all know their place and can just get on with being horses.
 
Mine are out with a herd of 10 and are mentally and physically so much healthier.
I had to keep them for a couple of years on yards where the practice was to have rows of small paddocks separated by electric tape, mine could only see horses that they could never interact with.
I simply couldn't find decent turnout in the area. On each yard I moved to, they were more stressy, spookier under saddle and miserable. Most of the paddocks had no shelter from the sun, not enough room to gallop and little variety of forage.
Finding a yard with pastures of 14 acres, natural shelter,the opportunity to forage a large selection of plants and a group of sane, well adjusted horses meant a very noticeable change in my horses wellbeing.
 
Depends on horse. One of mine was an absolute nightmare in a large group in a large field - he was much happier in a smaller field on his own - probably as thats how he was managed as a competition horse.

Any others I have had more than happy to go out in a big group in a large field.
 
at my old yard mares & geldings were mixed and all turned out in one massive group, 30-50 dependant on how many liveries there were at any one time, there was a field/paddock for the oldies etc. As you can imagine trying to turn my own out or go bring them in was some what of a nightmare especially since half of the horses in the herd had no manners and would regulary barge through the gate knocking whoever was in the way to the ground.

Needless to say I have left that shody excuse for a livery yard now and now at one where mares & gelding are seperate and in small groups.
 
No, my horse has a huge field to himself, in fact he looks pretty lost in it.

The mare goes out with 3 others.

All the other horses on the yard are either in 2's or 3's but they all get on fine thankfully, so big groups.
 
My two are out with 5 others and never had a problem - they're a really settled group which is lovely. The yard I used to work at (about 30 horses, maybe a few more) they were all turned out together and never had a problem.
 
Mine go out in a group of 6. My TB likes it, cause he's king of the castle :p, but the youngster I think would prefer a smaller group... he seems to be on a mission to climb the social ladder at the moment, though.
 
All the yards I've ever kept my horses at have turned out in 'big' groups 5-15, some mixed, some not. I prefer that, provided the horses are accustomed to being with others. The only problems I have seen are when horses don't seem to have the social skills to cope with finding their position in the herd. At that point it can get nasty and potentially dangerous.
 
I've always turned out in groups, the mares & geldings are seperate. We have two fields for mares (one has nice kind mares in it as there is a foal out there too & the other has the fiesty mares.) The geldings are also split into two fields..all our geldings are nice so they are just split for numbers sake.. Neither of my horses would settle on their own or with one other horse, my gelding especially like a large herd..We're on a big livery yard so there's often different horses coming & going. The most we've had in a field at one time is 11 & the least is 5..
 
At the moment no, my horse is on paired turn out, but he is mr cool and will fit in with pretty much whatever routine is going!

In the past have had horses kept in herds for years, and in general like it. Problem times were when weather was bad or grazing poor and they got up to mischief.

My last horse was 100x more settled in a a big group
 
Well my boy was out in a field of 7 and kept coming in with injuries (v playfull bunch with teh odd narky one!). I moved him to a field of 3 and he still came in injured. Has since been on his own (due to lameness) which drove him to distraction so popped a mate out with him and he's been happy enough... not sure about his mate though - seems happy enough to leave him at night! lol!

But yes, I prefer turnout in herds. Mixed preferably as any tensions tend to be erradicated and the novelty of the oposite sex wears off quickly! exceptions to every rule though!
 
Must admit would like to turn out in a bigger group but mine is a no catchee type and have to bring in the other horse before he will come in. Can just imagine trying to catch and bring in half a dozen others first! Also how do you manage with the poo picking thing with so many, or do you not poo pick but rotate fields regularly ?
 
Always been in heard of at least 10. Mixed (never understood separating mares and geldings). My instructor of 16yrs also keeps the school horses/liveries like this too at his and his girlfriends yard. The stallion is also turned out in a group of 6 geldings on 13 acres out 24/7. Rarely met such happy horses :).

Only exception was for 6 weeks or so when a new 9yo gelding arrived. He was weaned off into individual turnout at 8 months and had never thereafter been near another horse :(:(. He was turned out with two but really was so petrified of others. He however gained his confidence and is with the others now :).
 
Herd.
From experience I've found that group turnout works best when all the horses live out 24/7 as the only real fighting I've ever seen has been around the gate at bringing in time. If they don't expect to come in everyday at a set time then they don't hang around the gate or come over as soon as they see a person.
 
Previously my gelding was turned out in a large mixed group, and loved it--he could play with the other boys and flirt with the girls!
He is currently out with one other gelding which is fine, he's actually happy out on his own too. However, the other gelding won't stay out on his own and his owner doesn't like him brought in if I bring my boy in early to ride. This has caused a major problem and I am now leaving to go elsewhere grrrrrrrrr!:mad:
 
interesting as mine are currently paired off on the summer grazing but winter grazing is one big field, i also have a friend who's joined us with her horse who is used to being out with others. I'm wibbling slightly over what will happen come winter , whether we'll just go for it and bung them all in together or if we'll try and split the winter field:confused: the only one i'm concerned about is my welshx as he can be a bossy git and i'm concerned he'll stress himself stupid trying to keep the other boys away from his girl:rolleyes: also of course i don't want him damaging friends horse:eek:
 
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