Field Shelters - Do horses use them?

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MonicaL

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I keep my horses on a field with no infrastructure and am considering buying field shelters for them. What is your experience with horses using the field shelters during the winter? I don't mind buying them, but it is a lot of money to spend if the horses aren't going to use them!

An option would be to put up some wind breakers for them?


Thank you for your opinions.
 
I think it depends on the horses - its nice for them to have the option.

Planning won't allow us to have any form of artificial shelter (conservation area), however there are hedges/ trees to act as wind breaks, yet my lot still instist on standing in the middle of the field with their bums to the wind even in the foulest of weathers.
 
I have got the towable ones in my fields and my horses use them, in fact at the first sign of rain my TB runs flat out to it and the others then follow.

When we get a new horse they never quite use them until they get the hang of it from the others.

I do put some hay in there as well so think that may have encouraged them at first.

They kind of see them as "Home" if that makes sense and when they are out 24/7 they always stand in there snoozing.

Wouldn't be without mine, gives me peace of mind that they have somewhere to go when the weather isn't too good.
 
Mine was a bit of a dead loss really. The one bossy horse stood in the doorway and kept the others out, though they tended to stand next to it rather than in it anyway...then one day in high winds the whole thing (which was well pegged down) took off, bounced across two fields and ended up in a heap of matchsticks down by the bottom hedge! So, we had it rebuilt and converted into two 10x10 stables which have been far more useful!
 
Dogstar said:
Mine was a bit of a dead loss really. The one bossy horse stood in the doorway and kept the others out, though they tended to stand next to it rather than in it anyway..
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Ours do that, the door is 12 ft wide, and he covers the whole of it :mad:

Although if he's not there the other do use it, and we've put some ruber matting in it this year which will get straw when winter starts in earnest to give the outdoor ones the option of lying down if they want to. :)

They use them more in the summer than winter though, in winter the shelter is scary if its windy etc :rolleyes:
 
My old boy used to have one in his old field only ever went in there to eat as soon as he finished he was back out, came down one day in a huge storm and he was stood right in the middle of the field getting soaked, brought him down to the shelter for food, ate it happily in there stayed around for some fuss then plodded back out to the field!!!!!!!!!!:rolleyes:
 
We live very near the RAVC in Melton Mowbray, where they, on occassions, turn out many horses from different units. I noticed, many years ago, that have a simple erection, un-roofed, which provides protection from the wind, it was always used when driving rain made life difficult, being four sided, the horses had a choice, but were never in a position of being bullied, the Army, with an enormous history of equine knowledge found that the best solution. We had field shelters, the only time I ever saw them in use was to escape flies!
 
it depends on the horse really, some of mine will go in (actually bolt in at first sign of rain), others use it as windbreak - they stand at the front/back/side just not in it! I have a number in one of my fields but even tho there is one each I will find two or three horses squashed in one and others empty, some horses ignore them completely. they are quite good if you need to do farriery. vet work etc in bad weather. if I put feed/hay in to encourage them to go in and they do but some finish eating then go back outside:confused:. I like them to have option tho!
 
boneo said:
We live very near the RAVC in Melton Mowbray, where they, on occassions, turn out many horses from different units. I noticed, many years ago, that have a simple erection, un-roofed, which provides protection from the wind, it was always used when driving rain made life difficult, being four sided, the horses had a choice, but were never in a position of being bullied, the Army, with an enormous history of equine knowledge found that the best solution. We had field shelters, the only time I ever saw them in use was to escape flies!
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We dont have field shelters, but have good hedges. I worked at the RAVC years ago, in the 70s and remember it well. I worked on the horse lines with the army boys, but i had a private bosswho kept his 4 horses on the lines.
 
I have a field shelter for my horses & they both use it, especially in the winter.
I feed them in there & put there haynets in too & they'll stand in there all night from the elements.
Because i live in a conservation area i had to go through planning permission.
It is the best investment ever & well worth the money spent on it.

XxX
 
Thank you everybody for your replies. Being a newcomer to this forum I am overwhelmed with the amount of information that can be found here!! Amazing!

Would anybody know what shaped the simple structure the Army used as a windbreaker was? An arrowhead pointing north? a big "W"? or a big zig-zag...?

"..... a simple erection, un-roofed, which provides protection from the wind, it was always used when driving rain made life difficult, being four sided, the horses had a choice, but were never in a position of being bullied...."

Thank you again - you have been very helpful.
 
i've seen the unroofed types, 3-sided, i.e. 3 uprights meeting in the middle, so, like a Mercedes badge (but without the circle around the outside). this way if it is REALLY windy the wind has somewhere to escape.
I have mobile shelters on skids and all my horses use them, especially in the early hours of the morning they go into them for a good kip, they relax in them more than they can with nothing to the their backs in the open field, I think. As above, some horses run to the shelter at the first sign of rain. Others use them a lot in summer to escape the sun and flies, but less in the winter. They use them as a windbreak too, varying where they stand depending on the wind direction.I have very exposed fields and the horses use the shelters a lot - I wouldn't be without them.
 
I find it can depend a lot on the shelter, too, in terms of construction, location and "usability". Often shelters are situated where people think they *should* be, but horses don't always agree and would rather be outside than in something that makes them uncomfortable.

A friend of mine had an interesting experience. She had shelters that the horses rarely used so they decided to take them down and use the lumber for something else, which meant they were taken apart piece by piece rather than knocked down. When they'd take the higher boards off (so there was a large gap between the roof and the top of the sides) and the front down (so no doorway, just an open front) suddenly the horses started to use them! So they left them like that. :)
 
Yes, well some of mine do.
More for rain and wind protection than snow and blizzards I find, I live in a virtual wind tunnel, when that cold wind blows it is ferocious.

I agree with Tarrsteps, I had some shelters with stable type doors and only one horse at a time used them, stupid design for multiple horses, I think they didn't use them more because they could be cornered so easily by a more bossy horse. We make just very basic three sided shelters now, 8' x 16' plenty of room for them to get away from the wind. In this one is a 15h stallion, and 14h and 15.2h in-foal mares, as you can see, heaps of space for compatible horses.

IMG_2625.jpg
 
Mine had field shelters in their winter quarters a couple of years ago and they loved them. The first time they were turned into the field, they went and stood in the shelter for a couple of hours. I liked them as I could feed them and put their hay in there too when the weather was horrible.
 
I have a field shelter (permanent type) and my horse uses it all the year round. It also enables me to leave her out at night later in the year than if I didn't have one.

My horse loves it and therefore I would never be without one now.
 
MonicaL said:
Thank you everybody for your replies. Being a newcomer to this forum I am overwhelmed with the amount of information that can be found here!! Amazing!

Would anybody know what shaped the simple structure the Army used as a windbreaker was? An arrowhead pointing north? a big "W"? or a big zig-zag...?

"..... a simple erection, un-roofed, which provides protection from the wind, it was always used when driving rain made life difficult, being four sided, the horses had a choice, but were never in a position of being bullied...."

Thank you again - you have been very helpful.
Click to expand...

A very simple X, possibly about 8 feet in height, but giving protection from the wind, in whatever direction it comes from.
 
I'm evangelical about my shelter. Mine spend an inordinate amount of time in or in front of it, in all seasons. Because I was worried that one of mine was a bully, I had it designed so that it was four sided, but that it had two doorways. Each are stable door sized, at the right and left edge of the front. That way it's a sort of in and out walkthrough, and it's pretty impossible for mine to get cornered (I only have two horses). Also that meant I could tie haynets at the doors, so they choose whether to stand inside or outside to eat. Frequently they choose outside but that's fine, the shelter is still doing it's job, as they are sheltered from the wind (prevailing wind in UK remember is usually from West or South-West, so site it with the front facing in a generally easterly direction).

The other thing I've heard is that often horses on their own won't use a shelter, as there is no-one else to be "lookout". Not sure if that's correct and obviously each horse is different, but it makes sense from an evolutionary point of view I suppose.

My view is that by fencing a horse in to an enclosed area we've removed it's ability to seek natural shelter by itself. We therefore have a duty to provide something. A hedge is better than nothing, and a solid windbreak is probably more important than something with a roof; but the fact mine is roofed too means that I can leave them out overnight much longer than I normally would (they're still out just now).

Also, at the moment the inside of the shelter is the only remotely solid piece of ground within about 100m of my gate <fed up of winter already>
 
My field shelter is just like Darkly Dreaming Dexs - I think its a great design with 2 wide doorways and my two love it - they use it to shelter from the flies and snooze in the summer and I feed hay in it during winter although they will use it when it is raining even if there is no hay in it. They tend not to use it if it is windy though. Mine has a massive small holed haynet / hayrack that spans the width that acts a partition and I think they feel more secure with that partition up as little Welshie can be a bit of a bully. My mare knows when he wants to come in to her side so she just comes out and they swap sides. I would nt be without mine - I didnt bring them in to the stables at all last winter overnight because of the weather because I knew they could escape the weather in the shelter if they wanted to. The previous winter without the shelter meant I kept bringing them ....
 
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