Horses living out 24/7

My horses live out 24/7 in a mixed herd. My 15 year old mare is a bit of a wimp and if she gets too cold she cries :rolleyes: so wears a MW rug all winter and is happy enough like that. The 4 year old mare grows a coat like a bear and is left nekkid and is as happy as larry :D

We don't have much in the way of facilities but the horses are happy which, surely, is more important
 
I'm the equivalent of the Barefoot Taleban when it comes to living out 24/7. Adore it, and it suits my hacking only cob down to the ground.

However, I used to hunt a lot in my youth, and I'm not sure I would be happy about turning out a tired horse, after hunting, however well rugged, into a winter night. My hunter used to break out again into a sweat after hunting, and would need a change of rug with straw underneath to keep him warm and dry.

I think if I was hunting now, I would overall keep a hunter out 24/7, except the night before and night after hunting: the first for speed and ease of grooming on the day, the second just to make sure he/she was totally OK.
 
Rose Folly - I think that is one concern for me too. Although due to my shifts I can only hunt him 3 times a month max.

He does have a Thermatex and access to a stable so could dry off/warm up before I put him out. Was also thinking of getting my OH to put up some solarium type lights.

Plus being turned out would help with any stiffness after a days hunting. The only other option would be to buy a shelter that has a door and put him there the night after with a deep straw bed. He would still be able to see his friends then (the stable I have use of is across the country lane from the fields)
 
Copperpot - I have a wooden stable that is, I think, sold as a haybarn. In our case it is in our tiny stable yard. I divided the barn with breeze blocks into two-thirds / one-third, the larger being like a 14 x 12 loose box (doorless of course). I just got the builder to put in two sets of brackets with slip rails and voila! a poor man's loose box.

The only caveat is that we worry about the 'stabled' horse panicking to get to his/her friends; so we usually put the obliging small pony in the yard as well, with the box open and they just share it. Don't know if that's any help?

Agree with you about the moving about being so much better for them than being cooped up. When I played with LDR my horse always went straight out afterwards, and consequently never any stiffness next day.

Will be very interested to hear what you decide to do.
 
My 2 always prefer to live out 24/7 and apart from the brat staying in overnight one year (purely as he was bottom of the pecking order and was always chased away from the hay and shelter!) i intend to always keep them out. They get put in a patch overnight which is the size of a large school with lots of hay and piles of pony nuts scattered round to hunt out but this has only been because of the sheer amount of rain we had and the fields still havent fully drained. I'd rather keep them out out but they would just churn it up within a week. At 22 and 20 they are both like woolly bears, caked in mud and the arthritic cob is coping incredibly well despite still being naked
during hard frosts. We split our herd of 8 up so they are still all within the same field but kept in their own fenced off paddocks. My 2 are happy bumbling along together, it means the ground hasn't got so many feet trashing it and each mini herd has their own routine depending on what the owner wants! They only get a night in a stable if they are under water and need snorkels..only had 1 night in so far this year *fingers crossed*
 
Rose Folly said:
I'm the equivalent of the Barefoot Taleban when it comes to living out 24/7. Adore it, and it suits my hacking only cob down to the ground.

However, I used to hunt a lot in my youth, and I'm not sure I would be happy about turning out a tired horse, after hunting, however well rugged, into a winter night. My hunter used to break out again into a sweat after hunting, and would need a change of rug with straw underneath to keep him warm and dry.

I think if I was hunting now, I would overall keep a hunter out 24/7, except the night before and night after hunting: the first for speed and ease of grooming on the day, the second just to make sure he/she was totally OK.
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I hunt twice a week off the field my boy comes in the day before to be washed off and then back out when dried and had a little rest in his massive stable he has a snuggy hood on and then his rugs these days all rugs breath and are better than rugs a long time ago I would rather wrap my boy up after hunting all day and let him walk round in his field naturally. My field is very sheltered and is good old pasture if it was stark and blowing gales around then he would be in it all depends on circumstances,also if it is very wet he comes in for his feet to dry out he is fully clipped.
 
my TB event mare lives out 24/7. i spent a fortune on a field shelter, and she won't go in it. not even if put a feed in there!
both her and i don't see the point in beng stood still in a stable at all! saves me a fortune in bedding!
 
i swear by 24/7 turnout :)
and it does work after huntin g- in fact i find they calm down a lot more and are far happier wandering round the field and keeping their muscles loose.
mine sweats up again after too - but by the time i've fed her etc (in barn) and unloaded trailer, cleaned it out yada yada yada its generally long enough for her to chill out and cool down/dry off again - then put turnout rugs on and she's fine
mine is hunter clipped too ;)
 
Trules said:
my TB event mare lives out 24/7. i spent a fortune on a field shelter, and she won't go in it. not even if put a feed in there!
both her and i don't see the point in beng stood still in a stable at all! saves me a fortune in bedding!
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Exactly the same here! I shut the buggars in it to do their feet and let them dry out for half an hr and they act like theyve never been out when you let them out :rolleyes:

Its a lot better for older horses to be out as their joints dont get stiff
 
OP - This is my first year with 24/7 turnout for a very very long time, have my old retired mare cobx, new new TB & friends IDx in a paddock, they're totally chilled and happy - we've just put a big bale of haylage out for them, as the grass is getting a bit low, and they are happy as larry. the old girl gets a rug on if its going to rain - and its just a lightweight, the new boy isnt clipped but will be getting a trace clip shortly, he is in a 180g rug at the moment, once clipped i'll layer according to temperature.

Its just so much easier, i have much more time and energy for exercising/riding! I am lucky in that i do have stables avaliable should we need them (ie. prolonged hard frozen spell) as my mare wont cope with really hard ground. However dont plan to use the stables unless absolutely neccessary!
 
I currently have 9 horses - 5 TB (mostly young exracers), 2 TB crosses, 2 Connemaras.

All are out 24/7, unrugged, with 1 token feed per day. Within a week or so I'll start to feed hay ad-lib, but right now they all have enough grass.

8 of these horses are in full work, ridden 5+ times a week - and all are in perfect condition.

Most importantly all are happy and healthy - something most of them aren't when grazing is restricted.
 
Copperpot said:
Do horses in general prefer living out???
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Why is it a surprise that they do in most cases?! I really cant work out why so many horsey folk have it in their heads that horses are better off stuck in small, cold stables all the time - it goes against everything a horse is about! So yes of course they prefer living out in general.
 
I was thinking the other day, if we kept any other type of animal (dog, rabbit, gerbil, cat - anything!) in a cage with the same proportion that a horse has in a stable, for the same amount of time per day, it would count as a cruelty case I think. Especially given that so many horses are in 23/7 except for exercise, pretty sad really.

The Equine Behavioural group in Wales did that experiment where they challenged horse owners to try re-branding the stable a 'cage' like you would with any other animal, and found that owners had a significantly harder time advocating bringing their horses in when it was a case of 'I think I'll leave him in his cage tonight so he's clean for the morning' and 'just stick him in his cage and i'll be down later to muck out' and so on....Interesting that we think of 'stables' as a good thing, really!

I was thinking about this in relation to the professional yard I'm currently on - my horses are the only two who live out. the others (proper dressage horses) get a few hours out on a nice day. Are there any high level pros who have horses out 24/7? I know most advocate SOME turnout but i'd be itnerested to hear of any e.g. olympic riders with horses that live out!!! And if not, why not.....? Out of interesting I think I heard of a racehorse trainer who was doing it.
 
Same...my horse very happy ou 24/7 so much so that he isnt bothered about coming in for his feed which i still do evn if im not riding (token amount) so i can be with him groom him wash his muzzle etc. He and I never happier but it is weird to get used to.
 
I have two who both live out 24/7. One is two and a half, and the day I bought her was the day she started living out 24/7; she hasn't been in since. Her and my other youngster, a 6 month old PRE, both live out on 40 acres in a very happy mixed herd. Better for them and better for me.
 
My Arab lives out 24/7 with a medium weight rug and he is fully clipped ,except for legs and half head. At the end of last winter he had a little too much condition on him, so this winter his adlib hay is in a hayledge net. He has access to a lovely big field shelter, which on days like today when it has rained incessantly he makes use of.
 
Magic Melon, it's not a surprise, I was asking a question and wanted people's expeiences.

As I said before since my first horse I have only ever been on livery yards and this is the way things were done.

I was at one yard where 24/7 turnout was allowed in summer but my horse at the time just kept jumping out of his field and coming back to the stable even thou he had company.

It is only since I have retired one that I have come to notice the benefits and how happy he is.
 
Forgot to say thank you to everyone for your comments.

It obviously can work for a horse in full work as well as my retired one.

It's not for financial reasons or time reasons as he is on 7 day part livery. It's more for his happiness and to hopefully stop him living on his nerves.
 
When I started out with ponies there was none of this expensive livery idea. My pony was in a field with others. Years later it was rug this and that No wonder people think keeping a horse is so expensive, more fashion accessories than you could shake a stick at. Keep life simple, keep in harmony with the natural elements out there get the pony/horse that suits our conditions but above all keep it simple.
 
I have five hardy native ponies. They have access to four acres, a wooded area, a field shelter and stables. In the past few weeks they have almost invariably come into the stables by early afternoon. During the snowy period they stayed in the stable yard 24/7, although they were never shut into the stables and could wander in and out. I've noticed that when they do go out into the paddocks they tend to gather in the little wood where they are protected from the wind. The field shelter is rarely used.
 
Boolavogue, have you tried a light, thin smear of green oils? I had one that had an awful coat at the start of her first winter with me, & I found it did pretty well as substitute waterproofing for her coat. I'm sure yours isn't in that state, but if it worked on her it should work on anything.
 
BoolavogueDC said:
Yep, my sports horse mare lives out. All I need us an effective way to stop her getting rainscald On her face and she'd be just as happy out as in.
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Check your diet when they are deficient (or in excess as well) there bodies get run down and they succumbe to things like rain scald and mud fever. A good (and they aren't all so you need to do your homework) multi vit and min and ensure they have suffient protein should help.
 
Yep, my two have always lived out, only coming in if the field needs a rest or for a period of boxrest for my PBA after injuring a tendon.

Like others have mentioned, after hard work (endurance in our case) followed by a trailer ride of 2 hours or sometimes more, I personally think they're better out (rugged if it's an early or late season ride) as the general mooching keeps muscles gently moving and therefore decrease stiffness.
 
Mine used to be out for 4-5 hours a days, then about 18 months ago de ides to turn her out over night with 16 hours of turnout and rest worked or stable. So much better. She changed so much!!
Our gelding is out 24/7 nothing better. Such a happy horse out in the field
 
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