Grass livery question

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BayJosie

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For those of you that keep your horses on grass livery, I have a couple of questions. I’ve always kept my horses on full or part livery so not too sure how grass livery tends to work….

How many times a day/week do you go and see your horse?
Do you find it easy/difficult?
Do you keep rugs on them? or leave them be?

I’m thinking of turning to grass livery for my mare and interested to hear people’s opinions and stories!

Thanks so much in advance.
 
I go every morning and every evening. Easy as no mucking out to do, but difficult to poo pick in the dark! Use rugs pretty much the same as when I was at a DIY yard with a stable.
I do miss having a stable, although I do have a field shelter.
 
My boy is on grass livery and always have been. However, he is on assisted grass livery, which means he gets fed, rug changed and checked over everyday. If he was just one grass livery I would see him once everyday. As it stands, I see him around 4 times a week usually.
I find it fairly easy - but that is because of where I am. A) we easily have enough grazing to allow it and B) I trust and like the people where I am -if I need anything done they do it without question and they are always checking he is okay for me.
He currently has a no fill rug on. He will have a lightweight on for when it gets cold, and a medium weight for when its really horrible - freezing/storms/snow etc. However rugging is a very dependant thing and doesn't change with being kept out all year round - some will cope fine without a rug, some will need a heavyweight with an under rug, and most will need somewhere inbetween.
I love my horse being on grass livery, and when I was looking to buy I only considered horses that I believed would cope on it - and not for cost reasons. It is a much more natural life, and (for most horses at least) a much more pleasurable one.
 
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How many times a day/week do you go and see your horse?

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twice a day in winter to hay and feed. once a day in summer.

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Do you find it easy/difficult?

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no different to when he was stabled, instead of mucking out, i poo pick (not fun in winter tho!)..

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Do you keep rugs on them? or leave them be?

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Andy is rugged in winter, he is TB and part clipped so needs it. he is happy as larry out 24/7! often grazing in middle of field in worst of weather!
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One of ours is on grass, at same yard as boys are on DIY. In the summer she gets checked once a day and fed only when ridden, in winter I 'check' her in the morning as I walk through her field, and then feed and give her a proper check over in the evenings unless sharer is up and riding in which case she does.
It suits her down to the ground, she holds her weight better out than in as she coughs on hay and won't touch haylage unless it is the horsehage stuff in small bales and that just gets stupidly expensive. We hav the fields December/Jan/Feb and she does cough a bit but less than if she was in and not reallt got any options - in the stable she never settles so stresses weight off very quickly.

PS We don't poo pick as the yard has a machine that does that!!
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ETA sorry rugs - as the others said I rug her as I would if whe were in really. Only time it is annoying is autumn/spring when we change rugs am and pm or have a rug on at night and off in day. She's now in a MW (250g) day and night with neck. Hasn't been clipped but doesn't get very hairy. Snug as a bug when I stuck my hand under her rug at 7am this morning - when I found her in the mist that is!
 
I had my native boy out on grass livery. He has been out all his life. Three weeks ago I bought him in at night and is now on part livery. Reasons:
1. I couldn't see him in his field at night when I got back from work as it was too dark
2. I couldn't check on him see if he was ok or if his rug was on ok
3. He becamse a ill mannered and rude because he was out all the time with another pony the same age and it was a nightmare.
4. I worried when he was out in the pouring rain at night

Granted the YO fed him during day and checked on him but that's not the same as me doing it. I feel so much better he is in - so does he!
 
My NF pony lives out but also has a stable if I need it.

He lives out as he refuses to live in so I don't have a lot of choice over the matter.

However he is on assisted grass livery so I can pay YO to do things. I go once a day normally 6 days a week. He is feed but does not have a set feeding time - he gets fed when I get there which at the weekends is normally mornings and week days is in the evenings after work. If I pay YO to feed him and she does that mid morning. As he does not have set routine he does not do any waiting about at the gate.

It is very very dark checking and feeding him in the evenings and his winter grazing is large so it can take some time to find him. He is clipped and rugged according to the weather

I find it fairly easy - summer is easier than winter due it not being dark. .

How hard/easy it is will depend on what sort of horse you have and the facilities. We have excellent facilities for grass livery in that the winter grazing is very good and rested for most of the year meaning that we do not need to worry about feeding hay until about Feb. When that time comes YO will hay everyone at the same time for an extra cost. They also have a large field shelter.

YO only accepts ponies and cobs for living out as they tend to be good doers and can then all be on the same regime (restricted grazing most of the year saving the grass for winter)

We do not need to do poo picking as grass is rotated and harrowed and we also do not have a mud problem as the ponies don't tend to wait at the gate to come in or be feed and also they don't get fed hay in the field for most of the year so they are not waiting around for that either.
 
My yearling lives out all year and she get's a rug on from about December to March, just a lightweight or medium weight.

I go up in the morning to check her pick feet and do whatever I'm wanting to do with her.
And my friend has one in same field and they check her at the night time.

We don't have to poo pick and haylage/hay gets put in the field every week, so keeping her is very easy!
Only annoying thing is she can get very very muddy!
 
I'm a big fan of horses living out if at all possible.
I've got an oldie & an anglo arab & they've had their rugs on for about 2 weeks. I'm always the last to rug up & the first to take them off in the spring, they're wearing rugs with a lttle bit of fill in. Some of my fellow liveries think their horses are as delicated as china dolls, mine are as tough as old boots!
I'm on a livery yard & only check them once a day in the evening.
We don't poo pick, the fields are harrowed.
The grazing is very good & the only time I've needed to give hay was last year when we had that very cold spell. Only the oldie wanted it, the anglo arab preferred digging for grass.
In the winter they get a decent hard feed every day which is enough as they both look very well.
They are both filthy but I like seeing them muddy as I like to think of them enjoying themselves doing horsey stuff!!
 
thank you everyone for your replies. It's been amazingly useful. as I'd probably only be able to go up once a day and I was imagining having to go 3 times or more.
 
I go once a day but other liveries go at different times so all the horses get checked at least twice a day.

Baggage is a 14 month old native and is in her element rolling in the mud so I don't bother grooming every day as no sooner is she clean than she rolls again
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Big bale hale being delivered next weekend so she will be having that on top of he grass we still have. Later on through the winter she will get a hard feed every day should she need it
 
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