Horses and the weather!

[treacle_beastie]

Its up to you what you do with your horse as long as his basic needs are met and hes happy and healthy!

Mine stiffens up to much being in 24/7 and when I don't have time to ride/walk her I like her to go out to loosen up and socialise. Shes not a lover of being in but obviously prefers it if there is food inside, esp when theres a lack of food outside but she is a mud monster and likes the freedom to roll. As long as shes kept warm and dry with rugs and shes not falling over she goes out whatever the weather.

In an ideal world I would rather she was out 24/7/365 with decent grazing/ad lib hay and a field shelter/access to choose to come into a stable but I havent found anywhere yet! Alternatively a big stable/pen would be ace so they could still mooch around

 

[mcnaughty]

Your horse, your rules ;-)

One of mine is out 24/7 with no rug as that is what he was designed to do (welsh a).

The other comes in at night but goes out every day for a good 10 hours minimum whatever the weather and loves it. I kept her in the other day because of the farrier coming up and I could not get back up at lunchtime to turn her out due to work commitments. She happily stood in her stable good as gold but I felt awful!

My vet strongly believes that cases of colic go up in the winter due to lack of natural activity. They are large animals with a huge gut and as they move around grazing in the field like they are designed to do the gut is sort of massaged by the muscle movements around it. Its a theory that makes perfect sense to me but I am sure others will have their own views ;-)

 

[dark_prince]

Mine likes coming into his stable after a long day of heavy rain..but saying that he's not really fussed about being out in it until I shout him!

 

[Wagtail]

I love to have all the horses tucked up in their stables when the weather is bad. None of them enjoy going out when it's cold, wet and windy. Yesterday, I took the decision to only turn out for one and a half hours each. Normally they go out in three groups for three hours. Yesterday, they were all pleased to come in after half that time. They are out 24/7 though in the summer.