Horses in our out in bad weather?

Mine are out 24/7 as they are on grass livery and no spare stables. Oldest (nearly 40 yr old pony) is well rugged and has 2 feeds a day. Other 2 (one mine and one friends) are both nearly 20, one is a trotter and one a near Irish TB. Both unrugged, 1 small feed a day each and a bit of haylage if snowing or really wet. All 3 have come through the winter looking fantastic. Oldest trots and canters around and is sound as a pound. Not sure they would like to come in now. Lovely 5 acre field with plenty of grass still. We are so lucky!
 
I try to have him out at least for a few hours, they still need to stretch their legs, and it gives the stable a chance to dry out. He was more than happy, cantering in the snow, then munching grass (wind had blown most of the snow away).. :)
 
I always turn out in wind/rain/cold weather - I might bring in slightly earlier if I know other owner's will be, as my boy doesn't like being the last horse out. But would always rather out than in! My own horse is much happier out too - but then having lived wild on the New Forest for 5 years, he would be & isn't a wimp which always helps :D

The only time I keep in is if ice or snow prevents from turning out & it becomes too dangerous to lead to and from the fields safely.
 
Snow blowing horizontally here all day, although the house is exposed to the east my stables and yard are well protected by small area of woodland, which is very fortunate as things have turned out.

I am lucky with mine are at home, and my stable yard is in the paddock so stable doors open and hay inside, ponies have chosen to spend most of the day in the yard, but did go for a canter round and accross the field when the blizzard lifted for an hour or so. Water thawed for a bit as well so did not have to carry buckets out today:)
 
Our two actually live out, but we keep them on a very exposed hill high in the Pennines and we brought them in last night as the wind was too much and they only have dry stone walls to shelter behind. They would have gone out today, but we couldn't get them to the field due to the 5ft snow drift across the gateway :eek:. My YO's husband is going to try and clear it with his quad bike tomorrow though, so hopefully they will be back out. Will be bringing them in at night until the wind drops though, it can get really wild up in their field!
My YO had to dig them out of their stables today...there were huge snow drifts across the doorways!!
 
Last edited:
Mine are all in and have been since last night. I opened the gate to get the shetland in first and the geldings pretty much mowed me over and galloped for the stables leaving me and the little un blinking mud out of our eyes. Normally they get antsy in the morning but two were down so i fed them and skipped out. They couldnt care less as long as their bellies are full.
 
If it's terrible weather I make sure they have at least an hour out for a leg stretch as I don't want them in 24/7 especially when the weathers too bad to exercise them. Any other day I make sure they have at least 5 hours and when it dries up enough they'll go out 24/7. :)
 
Mine normaly stay out 24/7 unless we have loads of snow or real bad weather.

Although I must admit I have bought them in tonight as its horrible here, wet cold & windy so just thought I would give them a night in & a break from it all which they were happy about nice beds & haynets :)
 
Out, by her own choice as she can come into a barn anytime she wants. She might mooch into the yard to say hello to the goats who simply will not tolerate really wet weather.
 
Ours are usually out on a hardcore turnout area around the yard. This morning it was a full on blizzard, but I hung haynets under the overhang of the yard that protected them a bit. I nipped back in for a coffee. Unfortunately I didn't notice that I'd left the elastic electric fence gate open, so they wandered out and into a little grass turnout area (all within the yard drive, and behind a locked gate, so they were safe!). When I came back half an hour later, two silly ISH were trying to shelter their great backsides behind a puny tree - when they could have been behind a row of stables!! I left them while I mucked out, then put them in again. In the afternoon, still in a blizzard, I turfed them out again while I skipped out and topped up haynets. They trotted round, rolled, snorted etc, then came hurrying back in for their tea.

TBH, I've rushed back inside at every opportunity too today!
 
Mine usually go out in it but I brought them in after an hour today as it was so wet and miserable. I figured they may as well stand in a stable eating hay rather then knee deep in mud eating it.
 
HashRouge said:
Our two actually live out, but we keep them on a very exposed hill high in the Pennines and we brought them in last night as the wind was too much and they only have dry stone walls to shelter behind. They would have gone out today, but we couldn't get them to the field due to the 5ft snow drift across the gateway :eek:. My YO's husband is going to try and clear it with his quad bike tomorrow though, so hopefully they will be back out. Will be bringing them in at night until the wind drops though, it can get really wild up in their field!
My YO had to dig them out of their stables today...there were huge snow drifts across the doorways!!
Click to expand...
We are just at the other side of the Pennines and we have a huge drift in the middle of the yard, making it very difficult to get from the house to the stables, especially carrying buckets of water because the hose-pipe is frozen. The horses have had to stay in all day and probably will do tomorrow as well. They usually go out all day, even in the snow although sometimes if its really bad, just for a leg stretch. Not sure where we are going to put all the snow from the drift when we can get to move it. It is only taking about 20 minutes for the snow to build up again every time we dig the stable doors out, I do hope the weather forecast is right and it stops snowing tomorrow.
 
Last edited:
Mine is in on farmers orders as fields are trashed, but if this wasn't the case he would be out every day, rain or shine (but in at night though as I like to let him dry off a bit!)
 
Well Wee S is out rain or shine unless she has a comp to attend :) she's a hardy double native cross so with a rug and ample hay she doesn't care really :)

My veteran used to be the same but as he's now 22 he gets a bit of pampering and has a stable for bad weather :)
 
My young one is out 24/7 no matter the weather. She gets a little stressed out when she's kept in. She's well rugged and always has hay. She's always seems quite happy. My gelding is a wimp and insists on being brought in every night and will kick up a fuss if he's left to stand out in the cold any longer than he deems necessary :)
 
Pearlsasinger said:
We are just at the other side of the Pennines and we have a huge drift in the middle of the yard, making it very difficult to get from the house to the stables, especially carrying buckets of water because the hose-pipe is frozen. The horses have had to stay in all day and probably will do tomorrow as well. They usually go out all day, even in the snow although sometimes if its really bad, just for a leg stretch. Not sure where we are going to put all the snow from the drift when we can get to move it. It is only taking about 20 minutes for the snow to build up again every time we dig the stable doors out, I do hope the weather forecast is right and it stops snowing tomorrow.
Click to expand...

Lol, we are doing the carrying buckets over drifts thing too! Its freezing too, so there will be ice to factor in tomorrow. It will be like the old "Its a Knockout!" tv show - see who has the most water left in their bucket at the end!!

I should have driven to London later tonight, but have given up on the idea, after our lane was dug out by a farmer at 5pm and is already 3-4' deep with snow again.
 
Reading this thread has made me feel guilty about complaining about the weather down here in the south. It's wet today, but that's about it.

It's reading like something Scott of the Antarctic could have written.
Are you sure you are all posting from the UK?

I think my NF would probably be quite happy in a stable. The only time I had her in for 9 days (November) she seemed to quite like it, much more settled.
Even now when it's wet she's all ears back and antsy, though snow she thrives in (just to make you sick, the only 2/3 days we had that is:D).
 
In 30mph winds and heavy snow with 3ft high drifts which is the weather we currently have, mine are in and mighty happy about it!

Normal winter weather they stay out but the weather of the previous 36 hrs can't be considered normal
 
Mine are in at night and out during the day. I have one horse who can't wait to get out to the field in the morning and one who would much rather stay in bed! So when I lead them both out of stables at 6.30am I have one arm stretched forward and one arm wrenched back!
 
Mine are in at night out during the day.. We still have a lot of grass In our fields & they drain well so aren't too bad.. my tb got to go out with no rug on on that 16 degree day we had a couple of weeks back, then the weather changed again & he's refused point blank to go out the last 3 days.. He was literally spinning round in circles rather than go to his fiend.. When he was out Tuesday he spent his time calling at the gate! He'll go back to normal once the weather warms again..
 
Out in rugs we dont have stables Rugged the dartmoor as he was losing weight and the old girl as she was cold. Connie is clipped and rugged only one not rugged is baby highland which is very unusual for me as I dont normally rug anything
 
Pearlsasinger said:
We are just at the other side of the Pennines and we have a huge drift in the middle of the yard, making it very difficult to get from the house to the stables, especially carrying buckets of water because the hose-pipe is frozen. The horses have had to stay in all day and probably will do tomorrow as well. They usually go out all day, even in the snow although sometimes if its really bad, just for a leg stretch. Not sure where we are going to put all the snow from the drift when we can get to move it. It is only taking about 20 minutes for the snow to build up again every time we dig the stable doors out, I do hope the weather forecast is right and it stops snowing tomorrow.
Click to expand...
It's crazy isn't it!! We managed to get to the farm okay as the roads were mostly clear because the wind was blowing the snow off the road, but we had to take a longer route than usual as our normal road always gets the snow blown onto it and we didn't fancy getting stuck in a snow drift. We learnt from yesterdays experience when all the ponies had snow drifts INSIDE their stables and rugs were soaked wet through, so my YO shut all the top doors last night and left a light on in each block. If only the wind would stop we would just turn them out again, as the fields aren't too bad (I think because the snow is drifting so much) but atm the best we can hope for is getting them out during the day IF there is a way of clearing that drift!
 
flump said:
What is your preference? I mean bad weather not light rain?!
Click to expand...


Mine are out in it come rain or shine... (or snow, gales etc...)
Click to expand...

as above mine are out as normal.

Bugs me the:

oh its raining must keep it in or
oh its cold lets up its rugs

Without thinking what would horse prefer out to stretch his legs with a good rug
and oh lets actually feel the horse to see if its warm before upping the rugs:(:(:(
 
Out. Mine choose it anyway, they usually have the option of the barn and only seem to use it to catch the morning sun! At the moment we have lambs in the barn so they don't have the choice but there's plenty of natural shelter.

Totally agree about the extra rug thing. I've never needed to add rugs, and they only wear high neck 100g turnouts. They can regulate their own temperature perfectly well if they can move about, and if it's that cold, like this morning, I'll just put extra hay out. Works well. When the temperature is this low it must surely be better than being stuck in a freezing box unable to move, rugged to the eyeballs or not.
 
I have ten at my yard from 5 months to 31, all live out 24/7 with hard standing bedded shelters, dont have any injuries where they have stood in for days and then let out and go mad and pull things x
 
Mine are always out. We haven't much snow at the moment, probably two inches fell. However the wind has whipped this up in to spectacular drifts.
 
Last edited:
I suppose it really depends on where you are, I mean if you are in Cumbria with the 15ft snow drifts that have been reported then I wouldn't blame you for keeping in but we (in Bucks) have about an inch so mine are out. Horses do not enjoy "duvet days" - they are better out - even if it is for a couple of hours - it is better for their mental and physical well-being.

But its your horse so really your choice ;-)

Mine went out at 6am and will come in around 4pm.... If it wasnt for the fact that the welsh A is a bit footie at the moment, he would be out 24/7 and is very good at finding his own food judging by his waistline!
 
Out during the day and in at night as per normal. He hates being confined to his stable and also stiffens up with arthritis is not out each day. He is quite happy mooching through the snow and I am lucky that his stable opens straight into his field.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top