Duvet days

Rarely and usually only if torrential rain all day as they start to tit around risking injury and can't always get them in early. He's not bothered as long as he has hay. When on box rest you'd never know he was there unless he ran out of hay.
 
Each horse/owner does what works for them. Luckily I have a large shelter so if torrential rain or the like I put out loads of hay and expect them to get on with it! A cold wet and hungry horse in my experience is a miserable one, but as long they have enough forage mine have always seemed to prefer being out whatever the weather. May bring in an hour or so early though!!
 
Mine are always out, but then they are all rebels who aren't very pleasant when not turned out or excercised - so no I would definately not keep a horse in 24/7 - me however, I love a duvet day, yet very rarely have the pleasure :(
 
My YO closes the fields if its been very very wet, so sometimes they have to stay in for a couple of days. I also keep them in when the hunt are around.

Yes, I make a special effort to get them well exercised on those days, I don't like having them in and the oldie's legs will fill if she doesn't get worked.
 
Nope, never. Don't really understand the point! Even if they go out for an hour or two I think it's a necessity.

At my last yard if there was a drop of rain they weren't allowed out all day (and I'm talking drizzle). Turned my boy bonkers! Since moving I have a much calmer, happier horse with a fantastic work ethic and fitness.

Not to mention I firmly believe turnout routines has a correlation between the number of lame horses. At my last yard, there was pretty much always something lame or on box rest. At my new yard, I have yet to see a box-rested horse. While it could be timing and just sheer luck - and I do understand accidents can always happen, I do think the turnout is just generally better for their joints and the likes. Plus, I think horses who go out regularly are less likely to loon about and then kick and bully each other. While it could also be down to the better quality of turnout and herds and grazing (so many variables, really), I still stand firm that horses should go out for at least some of the time during the day (injuries etc permitting, of course).
 
WelshD said:
I have kept mine in when the wet has got especially bad

My logic is that by keeping them in for the odd day at this time of year and preserving the land from being poached now I can ensure that they get almost certain daily turnout on decent fields that arent ankle breakingly deep in mud for the rest of the winter
Click to expand...

Same here. In fact the girls have been known to dig their toes in and refuse to go out. We also have a barn door that is too dangerous to open for the horses in high winds, which is why they had a duvet day last week.

I don't like them being in and will turn them in the sandschool if the field is horribly wet; but they really mind far less that I do as long as they have ample hay and water for the day and can see what's going on from their open back windows.
 
Mine are miserable out in the field in the winter. I tried to keep them turned out for at least a couple of hours a day but by the time one of them was willing to risk injuring himself to get in I gave up, they don't want to be out. They usually get ridden everyday and if they can't be ridden for a couple of days they go out in the field for a bit but usually want to come straight back in. They're perfectly happy, fit and healthy so why force them to go out.
 
If the weather is extreme i.e. 50 mph plus winds, torrential rain etc, then I will keep my 2 in for the day as it is just not worth turning them out as they are a danger to themselves as well as me and any only willing victim I can find to help me turn out/bring in. They will get walked out inhand twice a day as well as being exercised (unless extreme wind). I also pick them grass etc. If my TB isn't bothered about staying in his stable, then you know the weather is bad!
 
We are on London clay with lots of horses on not very much land, so the winter field does get pretty revolting during the later part of the winter. Sometimes I decide not to turn out, for example if it's frozen solid like concrete ruts, and if it's really wet and slippery the yard sometimes don't turn out. But they will always go on the walker and I do make sure I ride so he is exercised. Would love him to be in perfect fields so he could be out with his mates all day every day, but it isn't a perfect world! As long as he is exercised and has plenty to eat, he copes exceptionally well really.
 
They go out before 7am everyday and some days when the weather has been foul, they are waiting to come in at 11am, despite plenty of grass and hay in the field.

If for any reason they can't go out, they are worked and can also have some free time in the arena too.

My mare is perfectly content to stay in with zero drama thankfully. My 3yro is having his first winter as a proper horse and hasn't stayed in yet but if he does have to, I'm confident he will be fine too as is very laid back.
 
Last edited:
Mine are out 24/7 all year round. Old cob gets frightened and then agressive if he is shut in so not an option for him. I suspect that young cob would quite enjoy a duvet day but sadly he isn't given the choice! They are in fields with either lots of natural cover from trees and hedges or a field shelter so can get out of the wind and worst of the rain. Ideally I would like to fence an area that includes a big open fronted barn and a large section in front that is underlain by hardcore so they could have more of an 'indoor' option but as the landlord has all sorts of stuff stored there at the moment it is not an easy thing to sort out.
 
Well I can only say you're all very lucky. There's barely a yard round here that offers winter turnout. Mine will leave her stable every day but that doesn't necessarily mean to go in a field.,
 
Mine goes out most days, sometimes they stay in if weather or fields are especially disgusting (on full livery so not my decision), but if they're in they will go on the walker twice a day so they're not standing in all the time and usually I try and exercise him those days as well.

Even normally he's only out half a day because like the weird horse he is he doesn't much like being in the field!! We tried to leave him out all day like all the other horses, but after a certain amount of time he'd decide he'd have enough and bring himself in, either by jumping the fence if it was wood or just completely annihilating it if it was electric :eek: He'd just come trotting into the yard and stand by his stable waiting to be let in ;)
 
Rowreach said:
So what do you do in long term freezing cold weather? I still remember with horror the winter of 2010 where it froze solid here for nearly 4 weeks, with night time temperatures down to -18 and a maximum daytime temperature of -5.

I chucked the youngsters out with a bale of haylage, but the rest of them couldn't go out because the frozen ruts would have been too dangerous. They mostly stayed in but I made a track across the yard to the horsewalker by spreading muck over the ice.

Despite the length of time they were mostly incarcerated, they were incredibly well behaved going along the path to the walker.

It's nearly always raining where I live, so they go out in it every day, unless it is also blowing a gale in which case they come in at lunch time. They are Irish after all.
Click to expand...



That was the year I bought Nico, he was stuck in Wales because of the snow and ice. Mind you, his former owners clearly did not bother with him at all. He was in a terrible state when he got here!
Ours live out 24/7 so unless they have a duvet day in the field shelter, no they cant.
 
AdorableAlice said:
I will present a different view. Every horse should be taught to accept confinement of some type, because one day when it is injured and has to stay in, it will have been trained to cope.
Click to expand...

I agree. Obviously we'd like our horses out all day, every day. Sometimes it's not possible, but mine have never had a problem. My late horse dealt fine with several stints of box rest and he was a feisty little boy.

There were 2 separate days last winter when we had no turnout. Our choice as we run the little yard ourselves, and we had the same view as a poster above - we wanted to preserve the paddocks as much as possible.

Different if it's laziness or bad management by a YO (been there, done that), but the odd day here or there is of little consequence.
 
Ponio_lover said:
Well I can only say you're all very lucky. There's barely a yard round here that offers winter turnout. Mine will leave her stable every day but that doesn't necessarily mean to go in a field.,
Click to expand...

I AM lucky! I've been looking at yards with better schooling facilities in the area and hardly any guarantee winter turnout. I can understand reducing turnout hours after heavy rain but most yards around here seem to stop turnout from Oct onwards. I've got 2 who will happily graze in the worst weather - they live being out.
 
I have never left a horse in the stable for all day, except for one I was looking after commercially, and that was because he was on box rest! Even then he had a day box and a night box, and was quietly walked between the two so he had a change of scenery (night box was in an American barn, day was on the outside yard).

I do remember the terrible winter. I was reduced to half an hour in-hand work in an area I cleared of snow twice a day. That was using communication to learn stuff such as walking to leave a near hind on a doormat or some such task. The task was not important, it was the getting into the work as a task that was.

My horses are fine with being confined, it is confinement really when they are only on in-hand work.

No I can't always turn out, my winter turnout is an arena, but even that can get icy so on rare occasions I would not leave a horse loose on it to hoon around. The longest ever was around a week, in the terrible winter. But, I would feel awful if i did not do something with my horse, even simple hand walking on a small cleared area. I think both mind and body need exercise of some description.
 
Very, very, very rarely. It has to be exceptonally wet for that to happen. Even with the extreme wet weather last year, they stayed in once over the whole winter. Even then I let a couple of them out in the school for a roll and a buck. The older two don't like being kept in too long, although the youngster doesn't care whether he is in or out as long as he has food!
 
When on a livery yard the fields were closed for very wet days and completely for part of the winter but everything got time out in a trash pen or school and I ALWAYS rode him but with the luxury of an indoor school that wasnt difficult and the guilt soon made me tack up! By the end of winter my boy was literally the only sane one left which I'm very grateful for.

Now at home its our first winter so I dont plan to keep in at all but the stables are open and the yard is fenced so if I have to bring him (them) in they can have a stable and part of the yard each but it will have to be really REALLY bad before I do that. They have the choice, they are more than capable of choosing themselves!
 
Never had a horse in for the day here unless on box rest under vets orders. Even then we have a tiny paddock close to the stables that box rest horses can be turned into. If it's pouring they get rugged and hay in the field to distract them.
 
Well I have my two girls in a rented 3 acre paddock so no, we never have duvet days. They have a field shelter and the old girl is well rugged. I also have one stable but it is rarely ever used to be honest.

I must admit I would love a little fenced yard I could stick them in on yucky days so they could go in and out of the stables as they liked, however they never look miserable or unhappy so that would probably be for my benefit more than theirs!
 
Ponio_lover said:
Well I can only say you're all very lucky. There's barely a yard round here that offers winter turnout. Mine will leave her stable every day but that doesn't necessarily mean to go in a field.,
Click to expand...

It must be very difficult when your working .
Do you work full time ? How do you manage to ride enough ?
 
Absolutely, and have no qualms about it whatsoever.

If the weather is bad, constant rain, cold and wind then yes they have the odd day in. Saves the fields, and they don't enjoy standing in the mud. But they do get turned out in the arena, for a bit while they get mucked out, once they have had a hooley they come back in.
 
Nope, she'd rather be out in a blizzard, thunderstorm, knee deep in mud looking miserable then be in for a "duvet day".

I tried to keep her in for the farrier yesterday, in the two hours I had left her she went absolutely beserk (Between 8:30 and 10:30). Sweated up, pacing, rearing, kicking the door, her bed was black. It looked like a muck heap in there, in 2 hours! Pleanty of food, her field mate was also in to keep her company and she could see her. I had to take an early lunch to turn her out for fear of damaging herself or the stable, even her face was sweaty, white foam under her rug, it was ridiculas.

Deplorable behaviour but at nearly 16 I doubt she's going to change. She is fine coming in for the night but once morning comes she *has* to go out.

ETA: There is hay in the field in a round feeder so never hungry, and ad lib hay in her stable, still wants to be out!
 
AdorableAlice said:
I will present a different view. Every horse should be taught to accept confinement of some type, because one day when it is injured and has to stay in, it will have been trained to cope.
Click to expand...

This. Last year in had one on box rest for 8 weeks. She was absolutely fine as had another horse in with her at all times but this summer I have made an effort to teach both youngsters to be in completely alone for a few hours a day and will continue to do so next year. Older horses are more than happy to be in alone.

They also go out most nights unless it's rained heavily them they will stay in and go out in pairs for a few hours the next day. This is to preserve the land so it never gets to the point they can't go out at all.

Except the shetland, who point blank refuses to go out in mud. Frost and snow she's fine with but rain and mud, no way. Those days she is allowed to wander round the garden if she wants but mostly she just waits for her stable to be done and wants back in :rolleyes3:
 
It's been frozen here for 2 weeks. It is consistently -8C overnight warming to about 5C during the day.

I'm sure our horses would prefer to be in their stables as there is no hay or water in the fields (hay is forbidden, though you can put your own water out if you want to do the work - and there are very few owners who do) At the moment there is only one tap on the yard which hasn't been turned off to prevent freezing.

The school is frozen, and can't be ridden on. The roads are covered in ice, the forest tracks are frozen into huge ruts... consequently no one is getting much exercise.

My horses are out from about 6:30am until they are brought in - though I don't know when that is, could be as early as 2, or as late as 4:30 (judging by their stables it is earlier rather than later!)

When it is wet, use of the fields is banned a the drop of a hat. We have several hard standing pens (with no shelter), that are about the size of a large stable, which the horses get rotated around.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top