Fields bare & muddy - how long would you turnout for??

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scotsmare

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Our little winter field is verging on being trashed (which given it's January is no real surprise
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It's really bare and muddy - how long would you turnout for each day? Would you turnout each day or would you restrict it further than that?

The horses aren't exactly chuffed to be out there either
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We have three acres and it was getting so bad that we've had to put our 15h mare at livery. The paddock is shared by three mini shetlands and there is precious little grass left, they are having ad lib hay. I think our problem has been that it has been so wet for so long, the short grass quickly turns to mud.
 
My problem too and I'm finding more and more reasons to leave them in (looks like it might rain, might be too windy, might be actually raining..... the list is endless!
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My 4yr old is going off to be backed at the end of Feb though so that would only leave 2 on it as my stressage horse is on box rest.

I soooo wish spring would hurry up!!
 
The winter turnout paddocks at my livery yard are a bit like that and we're all still turning out for 8 hours (6am to 2pm). However, they did manage to get the most churned up bits rolled during the last frost which has helped a bit. The horses get hay in the fields when it's cold (i.e. at the moment), and the yard does bring them in early when it's wet or really miserable.

The stable my horse has, has a bit of yard in front so if they come in early he can have the stable door left open and can wander about a bit. I think if you can do anything like that it makes it easier to reduce the turnout. He does sometimes seem happier in bad weather standing out in the yard watching the next door dairy farm, rather than down the field.
 
If you have another field to put them in for the summer so it doeasn't matter that this field is trashed I would turn them out as much as possible with ad lib hay
 
Mine goes out every day in a field with very little grass - although he is out in a field with ponies who live out and who have lots of hay put out for them at night - so while there's not lots of hay left by the day, there's enough for the horses to rummage around and find.

He's out for about 5 hours a day. Enough time to stretch his legs and blow off some steam if he needs to - then comes in for a huge bucket of redigrass and unlimited hay.
 
Ours go out for a couple of hours pm after they've finished their morning nets - YM doesn't like hay in the fields.
Most of them just run around to let off steam, mine troughs any green shoots that dare to stick their heads out of the mud!
They don't go out every day, but when our arena's frozen and as we've got very little hacking, there's not much choice.
They do appreciate it and are more settled. If I can work my mare, she stays in but I do graze her in hand which she loves.
 
Watch out tho, our heavys (who are also fatties) were turned out in a bare field and they promptly trashed the gate to get into the next field......

Unfortunatly the baby percheons learn't they can break gates when a "parent" (and I use the term in the loosest sense of the word) let his two kids (about 3 and 5) run up behind the two babies screaming and waving and jumping out of bushes, que them bolting and nearly killing richard (and i mean this quite litterally) and charging through a 5 bar wooden gate.
 
I have winter paddocks that I expect to get trashed. We are on really heavy clay, wellie-stealing stuff. I got so fed up with losing wellies and dealing with mud fever that I bit the bullet and had turn out areas constructed in each of the three paddocks. They're like mini maneges and I don't know how I managed without them! The horses go out for about 8 hours every day in all weathers with ad lib haylage. I'm not keen on stabling horses for days on end although I know in some cases it can't be avoided.
 
I am starting to think I am the only person with any grass left! We are so lucky that our fields are well drained, my paddock is slightly cut up at the gate but that is it! I rested half his field from June and then swapped the fence the other way around in October so he has 2 paddocks with grass in half of the them, I swap him between them every couple of weeks, this seems to stop them getting too cut up as they do recover quite quickly. I am the only person not having to put out hay and he is out from 7am to 3pm. What amazes me is that other liveries are moaning now saying my field must be bigger than theirs - the fact I carefully managed my grass through the summer seems to have been forgotton!
 
We are lucky at our yard that we too have grass, and a fair bit of it too. We are on well drained soil and even the gates aren’t too badly churned, just a bit bare.

The horses are currently in at night as there are no field shelters, but before Christmas when the night time temps were almost up to double figures and there was no wind or rain the majority of horses stayed out at night too.

We are very lucky.
 
We have no grass left in the winter field: its quite big (about three acres, but the horses only really stay in a third of it. We put out rounds of hay; and feed every day. They come in at least one night a week so's the mud can dry off and we can check for mud fever, not counting riding and rug checking.

Since horses have been out more, they are happier and much more chilled out with life.
 
my 3 have about 1.8 acres between them for the whole year
i rest one paddock in winter but use the big one and a smaller one.
i put them out everyday with hay for 6-12hours and they go on a holiday for 2months in spring and autumn to let the whole lot rest bit.
 
Mine are out 5 to 6 hours a day... and Im on heavy clay with no grass whatsoever. They get as lib haylage and are happy to come in at lunchtime.

The only trouble is the mud... rolling is a real problem ! Takes me as long to groom them all as it does muck them all out...sometimes I wonder if its worth it !
 
My winter fields are bare and muddy. Mine five are in until lunchtime then turned out til the evening. They need to get out and about as mentally it makes such a huge difference to them. And I have the weirdest selection of breeds and they all benefit - Highland x ID, DWB, Hanoverian x TB, Selle Francis x TB, Irish Sports Horse.
 
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