Foals 1st Winter - In or Out?

[luckilotti]

I'm trying to get organised for winter re my horses/yard etc.
What are the general opinion on a foals 1st winter? I rememeber years back being told that they should spend the 1st winter in at night ideally. But then you get welshies etc out on the hills all winter etc?
I have a Welshi foal, born 20 June and am not sure what to do, i dont really want to wean her too soon, so will prob be next spring (she already wonders off to the other side of the field by herself with no worries and eats hay, grass, my mares feed, drinks lots of water etc) I have pretty much 2 options
1 - let them live out, either rugged or naked (since losing my mare due to a rug in jan, i am beginning to have a hate relationship with rugs! sadly i will have to use some as i have some rather old horses etc who need them) They would have access to 4 double field shelters, and an open front massive barn, would share with the mares old herd (who they are currently next to with a shire, tomorrow i plan to open the gates up!) there would be ab-lib hayledge and also hard feeds daily, carrots go in the field daily also.
2 - have them out in the day and in at night (14.5x14.5ft box), rather than introducing her to even more horses, she would either be turned out with the above horses in the day (my ideal) or turned out in a smaller paddock just mare and foal (not ideal at all really, if she shetland doesnt live out this winter then i guess he could go with them)
Sooooooo
any advice would be gratefully appreciated

and thanks for reading.

 

[Adina]

I'm in a similar position myself. Everyone I have spoken to has foals in at night for the first winter. But Mum was born in a field and not stabled (bought as 3 yr old) - brought her in, in Jan as I wanted her used to being stabled before foaling. But she hates being in. She didn't take so no foal '09 and plan to wean late. Plan to rug up both mare and foal in autumn and bring old gelding to share field (he is good with babies). Then Mum can go to stud in spring leaving baby with old boy. Have stable if weather gets really bad.
Interested in views. Horses kept on farm and his foals will be in at night. My breed are toughies.

 

[Maesfen]

To a certain degree, a lot depends on your set up and the state of your land in winter, whether it gets too wet or not enough keep etc.
For me, I have to have my youngsters in at night, we get too wet and I like them to have a dry bed where they can relax and not be shivering all their weight off. If our land stayed dry, then I would be happy to leave them out as long as they have friendly company, good shelter and are fed well.

 

[luckilotti]

we are really lucky in that our land is very dry, we get the 'sea breeze' (or should that be gales?) we are about 8 miles inland but quite open but we have dips so certain fields are much more sheltered (the farm behind is more on a hill kinda thing, hard to explain!) but the gentleman who had the estate before put land drains in all of the fields so they are fab and very dry

there has never been a winter yet whereby we havent grazed livery horses daily and had some out 24/7. The shelters are fab also.

Another question though, silly i know but leg straps - would it not mess up the foal suckling?

(my mare died due to bloody leg straps! this year i reallllllly am going to have issues with rugs!)

 

[Maesfen]

I hate leg straps with a vengence and would never want them anywhere near a foal at all which is why I always use Rambo or Rhino rugs which only have fillet strings if I have to use anything on the mares. They're well worth the money although I got most of mine from ebay!
I would be sorely tempted to leave rugs off if at all possible though, they'll grow thick enough coats which should stand anything unless we have prolonged rain; it's never good to let foals get soaked to the skin for too long a time, it really brings them down.

 

[henryhorn]

Ours winter out with access to big barns, but I have found they cope better with rugs on. I wouldn't ever use any rug with leg straps , a fillet string and X surcingles keeps the rug snugly in place.
One mare's foals have never been rugged, as they grow a coat like a polar bear, and would sweat horribly, but TB type foals do better when they have dry backs in heavy weather.
If you can feed under cover the foal should be fine.
Oh our mini shetland joins the main herd in winter and eats ad lib haylage too, he gets a bit porky but slims down over the summer on restricted grazing, he would be good company for your foal provided you can stop him accessing hard feed!

 

[Rocky01]

My boy (a 2 year old warmblood) spent his first winter out 24/7 though with access to a big barn like the one you describe, he was fine, grew a thick woolly coat and loved it. Last year, he lived out 24/7 with a MW rug and did occasionally get too hot but it was the only one that fit and as he didn't have as much shelter he needed the rug (very wet winter though). This year I'm hoping he can do without as he'll have field shelters but if he doesn't we'll put a rug on him.

One bit of advice I got from a friend in the US is to add echinacea to the water, she swears by it and says that it seems to really help stave off any illnesses.

 

[yhanni]

It's tricky isn't it? We are on really heavy clay and the ground gets completely waterlogged so I was planning to barn mine for the wettest couple of months but then I'm worried that the foals won't get enough exercise = joint problems! I suppose they could go out on the driest days but then they probably wouldn't want to come in again ....

 

[Enfys]

Mine live out they have huge coats, but then it doesn't rain much here. Shelters and ad lib hay and they do just fine.
If it rained a lot I'd bring them in or barn them at night, foals seem to be pretty canny though, mine used the shelter all the time in storms etc. Maybe just see if they do cope out OK.

 

[the watcher]

I don't have a choice, yard rules being that everything comes in at night over winter, but that suits me and I think continuing the routine is good for them.

As for leg straps, just take them off the rugs and convert to fillet strings, they are nearly always detachable

 

[cruiseline]

I take off the leg strap from babies rugs too.

As for winter, they will be 50/50, when its dry they will be out, other wise they will be in large bull type pens colts together and fillies together.

 

[machannah]

Mine was/will be out until Nov/Dec time, and then in a big barn/playpen with some other youngsters until the ground has dried up, likely to be March time

 

[CrazyMare]

When mine is weaned she is going to a friends yard to play with some other youngsters. They will live out with field shelters, hay/hayledge if needed and get fed. They w ill more than likely be rugged as one is a TB, one WB and the other PBW. None are particularly tough!!

 

[Spyda]

Mine are out during the winter , no matter what the weather, and are brought in during the night. They normally come in around 4.30pm and go out at 8am. All mine are well rugged as they are shown. (All without leg straps. Like Cruiseline, I take them off my rugs, and have never had a problem with any of the rugs slipping).

 

[kerilli]

mine were always out, unrugged, for first winter. they had access to field shelters (and weren't outnumbered, so wouldn't get bullied out into the rain), and ad lib forage (essential for keeping warm) plus 2 feeds a day, and were fine.
i never rug foals or yearlings, far too dangerous.
there was a brilliant article someone on here found about how horses have evolved to cope perfectly with cold weather (unlike us), which confirmed a lot of what i'd vaguely thought, and made me stop feeling sorry for them if it's a bit cold out there! as long as they can't get soaked and cold, and have a bellyful of hay or haylege, they are fine.

 

[Spyda]

Yes, guess I would agree providing the pasture provides good shelter (as yours does). In our case, the fields over look cliffs and are visciously cold because of the wind chill factor alone. There is one young horse there which IS stabled at night but during the day is turned out without a rug. Many times we've seen it shivering with the cold, pacing up and down by the gate absolutely begging to come in. Ours, with rugs on, will be out in the same pasture munching happily. I think whether to rug or not, does depend on location and how woolly an individual horse gets. This horse I am talking about here is WBxTB and it's never been rugged. No matter how hardened off its owner wishes it was, it still stands there shivering with cold for half of the winter. It drives the rest of us nuts but woe be tide if we try to 'butt in'. Sometimes we risk it and bring it in anyway when it's really suffering, but it would be a whole lot better if the owner just rugged it and allowed it to be comfortable when it's out during the worst of the winter weather.

 

[kerilli]

poor thing, inexcusable when there are really good rugs now for £40! doesn't s/he realise that they're wasting money, it's using calories to keep warm (or try to) poor thing, better to rug it for heaven's sake.

i'd get everyone to sign a letter saying you all believe it needs a rug and are prepared to put a fiver in each if necessary!

 

[Spyda]

I've offered my own! I have a huge stock of rugs as I breed and have always rugged mine so have accumulated just about every size and weight combination of rug known-to-Man!!! My offer was refused with a blunt, "Thanks, but no thanks". Same to my offer to get it in when I get mine in when it's really nasty weather in winter, and also to the offer a spare fly mask as the poor horse's head is plastered in flies now it's summer. Whilst I am having a grumble, it hasn't seen a farrier for over 12 months nor been wormed for the same length of time. It's paddocked on its own so no risk to anyone else's horses, but all the same. I just hate to think of it not being wormed whilst still so young. It's front feet are horribly spread and over grown. Was only grumbling to my husband about it in bed last night (you can see how romantic we are - tee hee!). Asked him if I ought to report it to someone but OH's answer was that its owner already knows better (they're a well respected rider and trainer) and I answered, "Yes, but they're not doing what they should for the horse." OH shrugged. Typical. YO wont say anything; Moans enough about it, but wont actually say anything to the owner. Too frightened to rock the boat. I've tried, but just get fobbed off.
When it turns 3 the owner will take it away, stable it, groom and clip it, back it themselves and then sell it on for a profit the following year. Grrrrrrrr......

Ok, rant over. I'll shut up now and stop hijacking this post

 

[TEDDY102]

mine winter in at night for their first winter and then what ever suits best after that