Fires in turnout fields

No if horses are present, no if the conditions are bad, no if you're burning anything other than non-toxic plant material. Otherwise, no reason why not and wood ash can be a good source of minerals that are otherwise hard for horses to access. I have a couple of fire spots for hedge brash in my fields and the ponies will occasionally seek them out after I've used them and lick up a bit of the ash.
 
It’s definitely crossed my mind. I’ve raised my concerns and warned the other liveries. If sense doesn’t prevail I’ll have decisions to make 😞
 
6 weeks of no rain here made a usually wet boggy place very dry, surrounded by forestry for 1000’s acres, a suspected spark from a BBQ caused 3 days of helicopters dousing the expanded multiple tree fires with water using ‘Bambi’ buckets. No access for fire brigades where fires were deep in the forest.
It got so dry. Ash covered every tree and bush.
It spread so fast - very very stressful.
If you’re in a dry region, try to get the fire put out. Warnings were issued here but some people didn’t get the memo.
 

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Tiddlypom said:
It’s darn reckless having a bonfire in a field with equines in at the best of times.
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just curious as to why? we have bonfires where ever we are hedging or tree trimming. Invariably there are horses around. Neighbouring farmers don't move their livestock. I often ride past a Christmas tree plantation where there are frequent very large bonfires. I can be riding through the smoke across the road. The horses are used to smoke, they just get on grazing. Obviously in this dry spell you wouldn't let a fire get out of control but as a general premise I don't see the problem.
 
Tiddlypom said:
It’s darn reckless having a bonfire in a field with equines in at the best of times.

In the current dry spell it is madness.

Is the wind blowing towards the stables or other wooden buildings? Everywhere is currently bone dry and it only takes just one ember landing in the wrong place 😳
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The stables are downwind so they smell of the smoke, but they’re far enough away that there’s no way they’d catch. The distance from the yard worries me though as it’s way too far for anyone to keep an eye on it.
 
Lighting large fires in fields with horses is generally unsafe. Horses can panic, risking injury or escape, and smoke may harm their respiratory health. Always check local regulations and consider safer alternatives away from livestock.
 
paddy555 said:
just curious as to why? we have bonfires where ever we are hedging or tree trimming. Invariably there are horses around. Neighbouring farmers don't move their livestock. I often ride past a Christmas tree plantation where there are frequent very large bonfires. I can be riding through the smoke across the road. The horses are used to smoke, they just get on grazing. Obviously in this dry spell you wouldn't let a fire get out of control but as a general premise I don't see the problem.
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We do a risk assessment every time we light a bonfire, as should everyone, horses or not 🙂. We have two field bonfire sites about 150m apart, each with different risk parameters.

Wind direction is key, along with ground conditions, so there would be no bonfires in the current dry conditions no matter what. The wind must be light and not in a direction that blows the smoke across the road or towards our house and stables or our neighbours’ properties. No lying mown hay in our or any neighbouring fields.

Smoke inhalation is very bad for horses, so the horses are removed to a further point. They never have access to the actual bonfire site itself, those are fenced off. Dave’s Mam points out how horses can get burned and injured even after the flames have died down if the bonfire is within the field where the horses have access.

Horses are adept at injuring themselves at the best of times. I prefer not to expose them to a readily observable extra danger when all it takes is a bit of thought and time to keep them safe from it.

OP, I hope that things are all right at your yard this morning and the fire didn’t get out of control.
 
Back in '76 we lost a longstretch of hedge and a small building when some idiot threw a cigarette end out of a car. Another time when we were in the middle of stacking hay a steam engine was driven past our yard and an ember from that set some of the hay on fire. Only a quick thinking passerby saved us from losing the barn full of new hay.

In these dry conditions takes very little to get a major fire going.
 
Sanversera said:
depends how big thefield is. if one acre thwn no if 20 acres then yes ,so long as someone stays around to keep an eye on it.
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Even 3 or 4 days after a decent sized bonfire has finished burning the immediate surrounding ground is still warm to the feel through my trainers as I rake it in.

A horse could defo get burnt by it if it ventured too close.

And then there’s the issue of what has been burned. Old pallets or broken fencing etc will mean nails and other sharp metal objects left behind for the horses to find.
 
It’s foliage so no worries about nails, but definitely concerned about curious horses burning themselves on the ashes, not to mention smoke. I’ve been able to put my horse in a different field, but I don’t trust them not to start lighting fires there too. The yard staff claim they’re monitoring it, but there was no one there when I went up and the field is a 10 min walk from the yard and surrounded by other fields, so don’t see how they could have been. Honestly it’s not the first questionable incident, but was hoping not to have to move just yet.
 
Tiddlypom said:
We do a risk assessment every time we light a bonfire, as should everyone, horses or not 🙂. We have two field bonfire sites about 150m apart, each with different risk parameters.

Wind direction is key, along with ground conditions, so there would be no bonfires in the current dry conditions no matter what. The wind must be light and not in a direction that blows the smoke across the road or towards our house and stables or our neighbours’ properties. No lying mown hay in our or any neighbouring fields.

Smoke inhalation is very bad for horses, so the horses are removed to a further point. They never have access to the actual bonfire site itself, those are fenced off. Dave’s Mam points out how horses can get burned and injured even after the flames have died down if the bonfire is within the field where the horses have access.

Horses are adept at injuring themselves at the best of times. I prefer not to expose them to a readily observable extra danger when all it takes is a bit of thought and time to keep them safe from it.

OP, I hope that things are all right at your yard this morning and the fire didn’t get out of control.
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the question was about the general consensus of lighting a fire in a horse field. I thought it could be assumed, although perhaps not, that one would have considered the wind direction and making sure nails etc were picked up. Just a matter of common sense.

smoke doesn't engulf the entire field. I have never found that my horses go and stand in the smoke, they just carry on grazing well away.

as for access to the bonfire site then horses seem to like and to choose to stand on recently burnt ground. We have large areas of "swaling" ie controlled burning on Dartmoor. Within a very short time, a very few hours the burnt areas are covered with feral ponies. The ground is still warm.
 
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