Grazing 12 hours overnight or 10 hours in the day -

Gingerwitch

Gingerwitch

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No if's buts or maybes I have 2 choices....

I can turn out at 7am and bring in at 5pm or i can turn out at 7.30 ish pm and bring in at 6.30/7am ish(possibly earlier if the hay fever tables have worn off)

Which would you do?
 
I would t/o overnight if I couldn't 24/7.

Less sugar in the grass overnight, horse will have 2 hours extra, be de-bloated if you want to ride during the day, less bother with sunburn and flies and easier to manage feed and hay.
 
Out at night its cooler no flies and less sugars in fresh grass.My mare comes in for 4 to 6 hours to sleep during the day out of heat and away from flies.:)
 
I would turn out at night too, less flies and no hot sun. Better off being in the stable in the day too rather than the night.
 
If I had a choice I would turn out overnight - no flies or heat bothering the horses! Only thing is that when I have done this, my horses seem to be a little tired in the morning. Do you still have grazing that is that good though? ours is being depleted rapidly..

and I say a choice as mine will simply not stay out for any real length of time. He has a number of damaged electric fences/rugs/posts to his record to show that he is not kidding, when he wants to come in, he will, so he is one of the very few that get to stay in at night..!
 
Another vote for out overnight. Flies, heat, lower sugar content in grass - all of the above basically.
Mine are all fatties and from taking various approaches over the years, I always have them in during the day and out at night now. Muzzles on if they start expanding too much.
 
Do we still have enough grass....

Well you could become a member of the "where the f are we" tribe in our winter field and walking in there today i felt like one of the children of the corn !

No we have far far far too much grass - it is the best i have ever know it ! more is the pity - my big lad is doing a couple of hours hacking, having 12 hour soaked hay over night and has stayed the same on the weight tape for the last 3 weeks !
 
I base my regime on the most number of hours I can keep my good do-er off the grass - he never lifts his head from the grass when he's out so currently he's in from about 6.30-7pm and is turned out again in the morning usually by 9am though on some work days I have to put him out an hour earlier. Also in the summer his side of the stables is in full sun (when we're having nice weather!) from 1pm ish and they stay in sun until about 8pm and it's just too hot to have him in on days like we've had this week as it's sweltering and stuffy. I do worry though as if he could be out more he might lose more weight through mooching about grazing but he just seems to cram it in and none comes off!
 
out at night and in during the day is a lot nicer for them this time of year i think. my old boy that had a pollen allergy hated being out in the day in the spring/summer.
 
I'm left wondering what chance laminitics have if restricted grazing is not an option - and even worse when 12 hours out on knee-high pasture is the better option. I think the sugar levels are purely academic. Unless he's muzzled, he is going to eat catastrophically large quantites of grass in a few hours.

Please be careful, especially as you say he's chubby already. Please EVERYBODY also remember chronic obesity is a ticking time bomb for EMS in later life. That is a death sentence.

Any chance you can nobble the grass with sheep? Mine hasn't recovered from the hammering 12 woollies gave it over winter - but the horses are still finding plenty to chomp and are being restricted for their health's sake. Ask anyone on here who has nursed a pony through laminitis.
 
If he is at all prone to sweet itch, he will be better in during the night, otherwise I like them out at night.

We also have tons of grass. Twelve acres for three good-doers (electric fence box got stolen so can't ration anymore..). We have kept them all really trim by using muzzles. Even an ex-lami pony did really well with the muzzle on. I've used the Shires ones. Bright pink so they are easier to find if they do get them off!! I wouldn't like to have them on 24/7 as they rub slightly, and I like that they get to take them off at night...
 
Thanks for all the suggestions oh to have my own yard..... - i would have the racetrack system and sheep - but i am on a DIY livery yard and you have (if you pay the yard to to they only do one to time and no bring in), 3 choices in the summer - you can have them out at 6am and in when you can get there - you can leave them in all day and turn them out when you get there on a night but have to be off yard by 9pm - yes you can muzzle - and we are allowed 4 weeks only when we can have the horses out either 24/7 or some combination - as long as we are off yard by 9pm and we are not supposed to be on the yard before 7am but they tend to ignore that one.....

we cannot fence the field off- and basically have to manage our horses as best as we can
 
Im one of the lucky ones i suppose then...
Mine is out 24/7 unless im bringing him in for a reason...!
I'm on DIY and our field stays our field so when we run out of grass or have too much etc its our fault and we have to deal with it...!
Last year we had a large number of people's ponies who got laminitis - several had to be PTS.
So this year we got them out on 24/7 turnout at the end of March and it has kept the grass down but with all this sun its still rich enough to support them...they just have to work for it!
I tend to bring CJ in overnight but mainly to the fact that if i bring him in in the day its not peace and quiet because people are busy getting on with the things they need to do for their horses - so i feel guilty that he doesn't get any sleep!
Think i might bring him in tonight for a rest...he looked tired yesterday :)
 
While it's hot and the flies are so horrendous, turning out overnight is much more beneficial for the horse, and he'll be able to have a lovely rest in the shade of his stable all day without those horrid flies. (Unless you have lami concerns, then that's probably too long out, unless the grazing is very poor)

This is what we do, and our horses are happier for it. They are all very keen to come in, in the mornings.
 
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