For those of you with horses at home.....

nikicb

nikicb

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..... what hours do they keep?
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I am soon to be moving to a place where we can have our neddies at home and they will be out in the day and in at night. If yours are stabled at night, what time do you go out to do them in the morning and when do you do your last check at night? I am convinced that when I first move them I will be up every hour in the night, but am hoping to settle down to some kind of sensible routine!!
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I live at the yard - the YO is always up at around 7 am so that is when the feeds/turnout starts in the morning year round and evening stuff is done by 6pmish and he does final checks at around 10pm. I just tootle in and out to do mine when I feel like it - firstly they hear me get up and whinny in the mornings stabled or in the field and in the evening they whinny when they hear my car come home!! I generally don't bother going out after I have put them to bed as all you do is disturb them and get pooh bear stares!!!
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Mine are fed at between 8am and 8.30am, bucket feed and hay. 9.30am -10am chucked out in field if we are not riding in the morning. Hay at 2pm ish if we're at home (left with them earlier if we go out). This time of year they come in at 8pm (unless we are riding), bucket feed and bit of hay. 10pm they get hay for the night.
 
Mine lives out all the time, but if he needs to be in I always feed about 7.30am and 6pm and then last hay and check around 11pm. I can see him out of my kitchen window and he can see us too, so expects feeding as soon as we're up! Otherwise he's pretty laid back about times. If in the field, he always expects his tea just as I go to shut hens up before dusk.

Sue
 
Thanks everyone, really good to know I will still be able to get my beauty sleep, god only knows I need it these days!
Looks like I will be able to work the morning around kids school drop offs if I feed at around 7.30 before we leave then turn out when I get back just after 8.30.

One other thing though, in the summer if they are out later do you just feed later?

Thanks, all your help is much appreciated. I've owned horses for years, but always on someone else's premises so getting a little aprehensive about the 'big move'!
 
Ours all live out for as much of the year as possible - so feed just goes out to field as and when depending on whether they are being ridden. All of ours (it is a yard) have individual paddocks so there is no issue with when they are fed and all get fed at differnt times and some don't get fed at all - it only puts my boy out as he is the worlds greediest horse and thinks all buckets should go in his field!!
 
Oh crikey, as soon as I had horses at home out they went and out they stayed, took a bit of getting used to on my part though. I love not being tied to a clock, or having to muck out everyday.

My horses fit around my life, not me around theirs, we are all quite content with our non routine.

Feeding, they get fed in the morning in winter , usually between 7-9am, but I am not rigid, they get their food when they get it and therefore don't hang around the gate at a certain time.

If I do have horses in I check about midnight when I let the dogs out, it would be rude not to as the barn is only feet away from the house. I turn out about 6am when I let the dogs out in the morning, or not, I have no routine, the horses don't care, they always have hay in stalls and fields and that's fine by them. I can't abide horses kicking to be let out.

Enjoy, you'll get to know all their burps and farts and learn whether to panic or not. I would never go back to having my horses at livery, ever, I'd give up rather than that.
 
My 2 live out with a field shelter & only come in if the weather is awful.

They get fed in the morning after I've got up & get fed in the evening when I'm ready. Yes, I'm a bad, bad mummy but neither of them seem to mind the semi-routine. Adrian will neigh in the mornings if he thinks I've been in bed too long and that's about it.
 
When I lived with my parents and had stables at home they went out when we got up (before work usualy about 6am) and came in when we went to bed - anything between 9pm and 2am depending on weather and social commitments!

I sooo miss the flexibility of having them at home.
 
I think they are quite adaptable to whatever routine you have and if they look like they want in--strong wind etc I put them in.
Mine live out as much as possible but land can flood so wet weather can bring them in whatever time of year--they are in just now as we have had thunder and very heavy rain.
Like Flowerlady above--careful round Bonfire night and New Year
If they are running out I may put extra hay out at 10pm--it depends on how cold it is and if in skip out change water and extra hay around that time.
Breakfast about 8am--nothing at the moment--fat!!
Always watching weather forecast--decisions based on that.
Hot weather they are often in through the day and out at night
 
slinkyunicorn and enfys - I would love to be able to turn out 24/7 but I will have limited grazing - 2.5 acres for 4 of them (but that does include 2 little ponies). Unfortunately life is a compromise and I'm just lucky that my totally non horsey husband has let me have this much, and the house is our dream house in the middle of nowhere. So will be religiously poo picking, but it will work!!!! My old mare is currently on individual turnout in 1/4 acre during the day as she herds everything else up and she's fine, so I will manage!

enfys - I'm so looking forward to it all, but did have a lapse in self confidence the other day with my YO who is also a friend and someone I've known for 30 years! She thinks I'll be fine!! And I've somehow managed to bring two children up to 12 and 6 so far and they seem ok!
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ETA and I've got all you guys to ask if I'm stuck on everything - thanks, it is really appreciated!!
 
I keep mine at my parents and during the summer they live out (come in at 7am for a quick snooze). But my parent’s house over looks the fields to they are checked constantly, well until they go to bed. In the winter they go out at 7am (when me and my sis turn up, we work there too), but my Mum is up and down the horses all day, so no routine last check, just whenever, that's the joys of having them at home.
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2.5 acres for 4 of them (but that does include 2 little ponies)

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WOAH - 4!?!
When did this happen!?!
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I'm relieved to find so many others do a late night check - I thought I was the only saddo!

In winter I feed between 8-8.30am and then turn out, then they come in some time in the afternoon, depending on the weather. It can be as early as lunchtime if it's really foul! I always top up their hay at night, around 10-11pm.

In summer they are out at night and come in during the day at varying times, depending on weather, if anyone is riding etc. They will hang round the gate in the morning to see if I am about, and if no-one shows up they wander off again.

My biggest failling is not finishing all the jobs at once - because they are at home I tend to go up to the house for a coffee and forget to finish the haynets or something. You need discipline so that when you walk up to the house, you are done for several hours, otherwise you find yourself popping up and down because you didn't put the sugar beet on etc. But then again, I never mind with horses, it's just keeping the non-horsey OH happy
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Limited grazing is a blessing with little ponies - I have 3 on the poorest acre and give them hay all year, while the horses share 4 acres, which works really well. I would hate to go back to a yard after the freedom to do what I want.
 
not yet, but it will!! I've worked out (in my own logic!!) that 4 is the minimum number.
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Bigger one for G, smaller one for S, plus Mill and then either Tiff or something for me. Then at some point I want to get a youngster for me to break - nothing big just a NF or similar! They all add up!!
 
Mine are out at the moment, pony and donkey out all year with field shelter, horse and other pony in when weather gets bad,usually around November. They come in just before it goes dark, so 4 ish, but later as days get longer. Out at about 7.30 am. When they are in they get checked, skipped out and 2nd lot of hay just before we go to bed, which is usually about 11, but can be later.
I had 4 (5 at one point) on 1.5 acres for many years. Little pony and donkey are rationed, and the other 2 managed without supplementary feeding through the summer. The secret is to be strict on poo picking, and split land up so that one part is always resting.
 
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