At our yard the horses are only out overnight, and with grazing muzzles on (most of them) as they are new fields and quite thick. However mine will be out 24/7 as of next month and can't have a muzzle on (not allowed to walk around too much while she's healing) so she will just be in a bare field (if I can find one).
I've got one at livery who is out 24/7 on good grass and needs to go on a diet.... My other one is kept at home and comes in at night but is out on extremely good grass in the day. She mainly comes in at night because of the rain lately TBH - she's not really greedy and won't gorge herself.
2 of my horses live out all year 24/7 ad I dont strip graze them at all, they just wander round a 6 acre field.
2 of my horses are on a DIY livery yard and as 1 of them is a lammi I strip graze and let the other horse eat it off before the lammi pony follows her up the field.
In the summer they have 24 hour turnout, currently the field she is in as very little grass, the only field that doesn't. But to monitor I bring her in during the day couple of days during the week at the moment and when she moves into a field with lots of grass she will come in every day for a couple of hours. I also have a grazing muzzle which we use aswell.
Deanna's in at night - She may go out 24/7 once she's back in full work and her weights at a better level, but she comes in to get away from the flies anyway
Spider is out in the day at the mo, muzzled every other day. After LD on Sunday though she will swap to night turn out and in, in the day - still with a muzzle on every other night.
Connor was 24/7 until he got kicked!!!! He is so underweight though he needs as much grass as poss. He will now be in the seperate field 24/7 for at least 2 weeks, then back in with the others and out just at night to avoid the horse that kicked him!!! Not sure what we will do when it comes to winter though! They hopefully would have settled by then.
mines on 24/7 only comes in to be ridden/checked over/pampered with then straight back out again
He's a TB so doesnt have as much a risk of weight problems. whilst i know all breeds can get lammi. This field is also used for winter TO aswell so its not completely fresh grass.
We get our horses in at about 7am for breakfast and they stay in with hay till 1pm. Then they are out till 5pm, they then come back in for grooming, riding and tea. Then are turned out all night.
If the grass is a bit rich in the spring/summer we electric fence the fields into smaller paddocks.
Old girl wanders about 24/7 but tends to come into the yard at night and stand in her box. Welshie is on the starvation paddock and gets a couple of short sessions a day on the 'proper' stuff. She comes in at night to limit her grass intake even further!
out 24/7 without restriction, YO refuses to strip graze or restrict in any way, all have to be out in a lush field, can not keep in and I don't like grazing muzzles.
Joey pie is in a small starvation paddock at night, and goes out in a paddock with a bit of grass during the day. Shadow is in said paddock 24/7 to keep it down and keep her weight even.
Pickles out 24/7 only coming in for a few hours to be ridden. We dont have enough grass to need for grazing muzzles. And pickle supriseingly doesnt easily gain loads of weight despite being a fairly chunky type, and his field mate is a tb x both are at a pretty good weight at the moment
Mine is out at 7am in at about 5pm because the fields are so lush, when the fields are right to leave her out i.e with no grass on them YO rotates the field, its so frustrating. I wish I could leave her out but she gets so fat and lazy (although riding her straight of the field is the safest time to ride her).
My mare comes in from 7.30am until 5 then she is usually ridden and then turned out for the night. Our field is used all year round so the grass is short. I do not fancy using a muzzle. However despite coming in all day she still has a massive grass belly and looks in foal. And, the cheek of it - she will try and eat trees and things when we are hacking out. Just loves eating!
I agree I don't like the idea of grass muzzles either and my chestnut mare would not tolerate one. She would just get frustrated and take it out on all the other horses
Mmm, think some horses may cope ok with being muzzled but i know my girl would just get angry and frustrated, especially if all her pals were munching away happily. On the other hand she loves being in her box all day away from the flies - there are some horses that would hate being stuck in. They are all different. You just have to find what works best for you
None of the above! Horses are in a small paddock out 24/7 and being hayed at the moment as the other 4 small paddocks are being done for haylage. I am lucky enough to have my own land tho' and have divided it into small paddocks of approx 1 acre each and rotate as and when necessary. On the down side - my grass is <u>FANTASTIC</u> which causes problems of it's own!!
muzzle (on yearling)as not allowed to graze down, they have to go onto big lush fields
other mare is now lamanitic and not on ANY grass at all, just a patch of bare soil.
moving soon
I like to have him out 24/7 but the grazing is so good at this yard that I've just started bringing in during the day (from today actually). He was out 24/7 for most of the winter, came in for about 2 months I think and even stayed out with another and a huge pile of hay in the snow!
Our horses are turned out in large fields in groups so tried sectioning off a little patch for him and another, however owner of the other only puts hers in occasionally so mine just jumps out if he's on his own. Grass isn't really long enough for a muzzle plus one or two in the field can be bullies so I don't want to give them something they can grab hold of! So, from today he's in during the day with soaked hay and out at night. Will come in around 10am Also gets him out of this baking sun and away from the flies.