Horse not suited by yard rules

Flame_ said:
Which has more to do with thousands of vehicles having to drive on to and off the land than horses being in fields. Around those areas there will still be horses in fields.
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No its to do with the fields getting trashed and the landowners having to do lots of work to get it back, which is the same as landowners whose fields get muddy and trashed from horses in bad weather.

As I said, I was being sarcastic - as your avatar said you liked it, but you missed it.

Now its not raining, so off out to ride..
 
Amazing - I started reading this thread and then noted the number of pages it had gone to. So typical and pathetic of this forum to turn this into an argument!

OP, horses being kept in 24/7 in my honest opinion is not on. If they have a rule like that in place because they are either over grazing or have serious drainage problems then they should provide alternative turnout or a horse walker.
 
See this is what I dont get! We are just discussing, not arguing!!! (Ok, Ok, I did just get a bit stroppy I suppose):o:o:o
 
Honey08 said:
I get so sick of reading statements by "experts" about YOs having too many horses on their land etc - these people obviously haven't ever owned and had to maintain a field, and would, no doubt, be the first to complain if their rent went up due to the cost of restoring wrecked fields! To roll, harrow, top, and everything else that wants doing to our fields costs about £1000 a year.. So perhaps that will help you understand..
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Actually myself and I believe several others from what I've ascertained from other threads are YO's.

I do 24/7 turnout all year. All the horses are fine, they are on dry sandy soil (which is why we are running the yard we are, I wouldn't move unless onto sandy soil again). And £1000 would be a nice figure, ours runs to far more than that with continual maintenance. That is what liveries pay us for.

The cost of harrowing/rolling etc is in the livery cost. They are out all year in decent fields and it's still a competitive rate. Only the gates become muddy and that's purely from gate hanging and recovers fast enough with rotation.

If I ever moved I would pay a little more happily to have more space or sandy ground as opposed to stabling.

We have some sections which are old muck heaps etc which means they churn quickly. As such we use these as patches and move them daily. More work but doesn't wreck the ground.

We could fit double the horses we have currently with no problem but this would make the fields damage a lot faster and as such we don't.

You don't become a YO to make money, you do it because you care about the animals and it pays for your own. If money is an issue you're in the wrong business.

I moved because of a previous non-horsey YO who was out for money not quality. At last check (and I was only there a matter of weeks) only a handful of original liveries were still there.


As to the other post about horses hurting themselves in slippery mud... ours prance around and have no issue, however if we stabled them all now I can guarantee 3 would not last longer than the night. They will not stable for various reasons (medical and behavioural). I've had horses who don't mind and even enjoy it, but not all are like that.
I would not be at a yard where each horses needs were not considered and met.

Pan
 
OP. Your horse is clearly not happy and your yard owner seems totally oblivious. I would move.

I personally would not keep my horse at a yard that didn't alow some sort of turnout all year round. WHATEVER the weather. Horses dont shrink or freeze in the weather but they do get bored stiff if kept in 24/7 with nothing to do.

I keep my horse at a yard where we are allowed to turn out when we like, for however long we like. We don't have a lot of grass... in fact some times of the year there is not much at all. but we have the freedom to bring them in and feed them if we wish, during these times. As a result we have very few fat horses with laminitis ... in fact, this year- the first time ever the horses have gone onto new pasture is the first time I have known a laminitis case at this yard in years. Resting / rolling and fertilizing fields only creates pasture TOTALLY unsuitable for the equine metabolic system IMO as they are designed to have to work for their food every day of the year... not stand on the same spot every day and gorge on the fresh grass they have just been allowed to go on for 6 months, only to stand back in their stables for the other 6 months.. If your land gets deep and boggy when wet. it is not suitable for horses. simples. go get some sheep instead.
 
Wagtail said:
1) It is dangerous to turn horses out in slippery conditions. I know to my cost. My mare wrecked her shoulder doing the splits in a slippery field and I will regret turning them out that day for ever, as she will never be ridden again. Twelve years ago my gelding broke his hock, again though slipping in a muddy field and had to be PTS. Four years ago my sister's horse suffered a compound fracture of the hind leg, hooning about in a muddy field and was PTS on the spot.
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None of my horses seem to hoon about when turned out. It is a miracle if they go out of a walk in the field. I don't know if this is because they are out every day and have learned enough common sense not to risk hurting themselves. If they're not out regularly, they will never learn this, or forget it.

Previous YO said it was dangerous to turn out in the deep snow and he hadn't been out of the stable at all for about 10 days. In desperation, I turned him out myself and all he did was step through the snow carefully, sniff it, have a role and then dig holes in the snow, never went out of a walk. This is a particularly hot, excitable horse to ride too. Although to be fair, I appreciate the YO's concern in not wishing to be responsible for any injuries, the YO cannot be expected to know the horse as well as the owner.

tbh I cannot see the point of livery if decent turnout isn't offered (unless there are Olympic standard facilities in compensation). Otherwise, I'd be as well building a stable in my garden and keeping them in there 24/7.
 
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Snow you say?

No problem:
Thumper.jpg
 
I've just sat and read through this very interesting thread. It would be my horse's worst nightmare to be kept in 24/7. My pony being introverted would just put up with it but not be happy where as my horse beng an extrovert would go loopy, In fact my horse gets agitated after 1/2 hr in the stable even with hay supplied.
I am very lucky findign the yard I am on, I have my own paddock for my two and can do as i wish with it as long as I look after it.

I keep my paddock divided in two and I am dying to move them over to the nicer pasture but am holding out as with the wet wether the ground is too soft and they would churn it up very quickly.

They are on the same pasture that they have been on all winter and llive out 24/7, when we had that blast of bad snow and freezing temperatures they came in at night but only for a few days.

We buy in our own hay and I made sure that they got more than needed to make sure they got plenty of fibre and stopped then diggign up the field.

My only downside is that the YO will not let me fertilise my paddock even though I offered to pay for it, the reason bieng they say if I was to leave they would not be able to put other horse's in the field.... the mind boggles at that especially as the paddock is very bare and I have no intention of leaving.

OP as you horse is hurting itself I would def talk to the YO and discuss the possibility of some turnout. the only other option if time and weather allows is to exercise your horse daily whether a walk out in hand to break up th eday or ridden.

Hope things are sorted out for you and your horse
 
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