Horse out 24/7 over winter - hints & tips please!

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Hedwards

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So for the first time in many many years I will be keeping my horses out 24/7 all winter. The field has fantastic drainage, and good natural shelter in the form of a treelined hedge (as in a normal hedge, with a row of trees behind - some keep leaves all year, others dont). They have plenty of grass at the moment, although we supplement with hay morning and night as required.

I have my old mare Connie a cobx who grows a coat like a yak - have no worries about her, she gets a lightweight rug if its due to rain for a prolonged period and/or rain and be very cold - should the ground get very hard she will come in as she has an ongoing problem that means she struggles with hard ground. I also have my new horse Mickey, a TB, currently unclipped, but plan to do some kind of low trace/bib type clip, he's currently wearing a 180g standard neck type rug 24/7 - although swap if its due to rain for a 180g half neck rug (have plenty of other standard & full neck medium & heavy weight rugs for him too). They share the field with my friends IDxwolly mammoth mare.

So, just looking for any tips you wonderful lot can suggest to make life easier for me and more comfortable for the horses, what do you do in heavy snow (keeping fingers crossed it doesnt happen)? etc etc. (we do have some stables should we desperately need them, but hoping thats not going to occur!)
 
Always check the horses before rugging. We've had awfully cold nights and sleet, with toasty horses not even slightly cold. Only ever needed to rug oldies with continuous rain.

Keep an eye on water pipes... the horses sort the troughs themselves.

A hay and haylage mix is your friend if you have poor doers. Haylage keeps weight on and hay keeps from going through them.
Hay is for good doers. Our tbs manage to put on over winter with hay alone, but need something through them :)

And most importantly.... ALWAYS have a camera with you for snow shots :D
 
We have found life so much easier since leaving out 24/7, and our older mare is looking so much better for it too! I have found I don't have to feed as much as I did when they came in, although that may be because we moved at the same time, and had lots more grazing.
I find I need to monitor there weight carefully, so as to avoid them putting weight on in the case of the old girl, and losing it in the case of a couple of the arabs, and the anglo. Ours are in full work, and fully clipped, so spare rugs are essential. Snow never seems to be a problem, because as they are out all the time, they tend not to do stupid things due to being fresh, although when the ground is good, they love a good yee hah!
Our pipes froze really badly at the last field, and we had to bring water from home, which is something to watch.
 
YO makes a point of ensuring all her grass liveries are carrying extra pounds going into winter so nothing gets caught out or comes out underweight. One of my friends mare is living out for the first time so they have been quite careful about rugging and grooming in order to encourage a good coat. It worked, mare now has a coat like a polar bear. Pretty much all the grass liveries also have 2 really good HW outdoor rugs to swap as, its always when it is really cold, that a horse will damage their rug and a couple were struggling with making up the warmth ratio with different rugs. When mine lived out, we did monitor his rugs quite carefully. I personally didn't want him to be wearing lots of different ones as heavy weight/more prone to slipping and he was fine. He would crib so being out full time was wonderful for him. The one downside was the blooming mess getting rid of a proper winter coat when one is used to dealing with horses that have been clipped all winter!
 
You've had some good advice, my horses always live out, including tbs & warmbloods, sometimes clipped out & they always thrive.
A lot of people recommend layering rugs but I hate doing this, I prefer to have a selection of rugs & only put one on at a time, as it's a not easy sorting out several rugs on horses that are in a field, in the dark, the wind & rain. When it's really cold I use a 450g premeire equine rug with a liner (they do a selection of liners).
Another thing I find useful in winter is a sled, get a big one & it's useful for moving hay & water around the field in the snow
Plenty of forage is great for a bit of central heating.
Lard & veg oil mixed together is good for putting in hooves to stop snow from balling up in their feet.
I use rubber gloves & a colander for getting ice out of the trough.
That's all I can think of for now
 
Thanks everyone!

Frozen pipes in the field isnt an issue... we lug the water there - so if yard is frozen we'll bring from home in large containers - plue the paddock is only 200yds from the stables... however the sledge idea is a great one, will definitely use that one should we get the snow.

Thankfully the two mares are really go dooers, and the TB (although relatively new) has plenty of meat on the bones. They're all on high fibre diets, and we will up the hay in the field as we need to - like the idea of the hay/haylage mixture too (we have access to both)

Fab - it seems very strange after 20 odd years of keeping horses stabled overnight during the winter, but definitely going to be better for me and the horses! :D
 
Really interested in this post, as like Hedwards I am going to leave out the two native ponies I am caring for this winter. I have always had ponies and horses in at night and out in day for many years, and this worked well for animals in work and vetrans, but things change and life moves on!

I am going to leave the yearlings out as I do not like the idea of shutting them in, I have been very careful with their coats since September and they both now have lovely thick shinny coats and are so warm!

The field and paddock are well sheltered, they have access to a barn and stables if they want and as they are at home I can check on them at any time.
The water is the biggest problem - we have already had tank frozen one night this year.

So far they are refusing hay and enjoying new paddock full of grass, I think my problem is not letting them put on too much weight.
 
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