How do your horses use their field shelters?

HollyB66

HollyB66

Well-Known Member
Joined
29 October 2009
Messages
1,411
Location
Kent
Visit site
I've never had a field shelter for a horse, only a stable or turnout 24/7.

So, I would like to know how your horses make use of them?

If you leave the door open, do they go in when it rains (or do they still stand out)?

Do they take themselves out for a poo? or just poo inside?

Do you use rubber matting or shavings or something else?

Any other comments would be appreciated. Many thanks :)
 
My lot are out 24/7 with an open shelter to use . They tend to use it more in the summer for shade away from the flies, in the winter they only seem to use it as a toilet! exept in really bad weather they are out in the field more than in it. It has a road chipping floor and i put straw or shavings down in the winter.
 
My ponies love their field shelter. It's open all the time and in the summer they go in to escape the flies. When it rains they do go into the shelter most of the time rather than stay outside. I use rubber matting and shavings- as well as a wooden platform on the floor at the entrance of the shelter so that if they just stand in the doorway it doesn't ruin the ground. They actually use it sometimes to sleep inside and in the winter I use it to put hay in for them so that it doesn't get trampled into the ground. One of my ponies hates being stabled so the shelter works well for both of them- they just come and go as they please.
 
Mine have an open fronted shelter on 2 of my fields. They mostly use it for escape from the heat/flies in summer. In winter they use it when we have the awful driving wind and rain, but are usually found outside if just cold or wet.
The shelter I use in winter has hardcore all round the outside so they can step off the mud. I don't put hay in the shelter though unless wind severe, as all they do is walk about in it and muck over it!
 
Ours are only out during the day and use the shelters more in the summer to escape the flies and for shade and in the winter they seem to prefer to stand out in heavy rain and snow :rolleyes:. In the winter, we sometimes put a bit of straw down, but not always and they mainly use it as a toilet! The floors just concrete, but in winter we put their hay in it so it doesn't get muddy or wasted, which works quite well. We have other fields without shelters though, and they don't seem to care to much!
 
HollyB66 said:
I've never had a field shelter for a horse, only a stable or turnout 24/7.

So, I would like to know how your horses make use of them?

If you leave the door open, do they go in when it rains (or do they still stand out)? No doors, all open fronted. Some go in when it rains, others don't, usually it is the flies and the heat (has been up to 40C recently)that drive them in

Do they take themselves out for a poo? or just poo inside?Glorified loo. The only horse that has dung areas is the stallion - thoughtful of him:)

Do you use rubber matting or shavings or something else? Nothing in summer, all soil floor. In winter I put straw down, their choice whether they lie on it, mess on it or eat it

Any other comments would be appreciated. Many thanks :)
Click to expand...
...........
 
So, I would like to know how your horses make use of them? My lad has access to his all the time day and night. During the day he will only be found in it to get away from the flies and heat of summer - never uses it in bad weather. I use mine as a stable at night all year round with a corral area penned off outside.

If you leave the door open, do they go in when it rains (or do they still stand out)? He stands out in the rain, snow and hail.

Do they take themselves out for a poo? or just poo inside?
My lad only poos inside at night because he is in there and his corral outside every night.

Do you use rubber matting or shavings or something else?
I put rubber matting down on the earth and then a shavings bed on top. One tip if using a mobile stable is to get some foot wide rubber strip in rolls and screw it all around the bottom of the shelter right up to the floor so the shavings bed does not escape outside!
 
Our horses seem to rather stand under trees when raining, or when its hot. We have an open fronted shelter & to be honest the only time I see them using it is when they want to scratch there bums or they are kicking the sides. The sides are made out of corrogated iron & i think they love the noise it makes.
 
charliefox said:
My lot are out 24/7 with an open shelter to use . They tend to use it more in the summer for shade away from the flies, in the winter they only seem to use it as a toilet! exept in really bad weather they are out in the field more than in it. It has a road chipping floor and i put straw or shavings down in the winter.
Click to expand...


Ditto this. We have large barns that they have access to and they stand in them far more often during the summer. I used to put a bed down when they were younger but now I don't. I do have French drains laid along the front of the barns so they stay good and dry inside.

We had the floor dug out and crushed stone put down and compacted.
 
My horses love theirs, they use them daily at the moment to get away from flies, they use them to get relief from persistent rain, in the Winter they use them to sleep and doze in and to shelter from bad weather. As far as toiletting goes, my lot are not too bad, I do find the odd one but they have an area they use just a few yards away where they normal go to. I chuck straw beds in during the Winter. I leave the doors permanently open and often turn up to find three squeezed into one partitioned area together with the rest standing empty.
 
My boy rarely goes in ours in winter, cold and wet - no problem. He's in it all the time now the sun and flies are bothering him.

He goes in specifically to poo :D

We just put shavings down and leave it, don't take out the wet, just the poo. Take the whole thing out every 6 months or so and put down fresh. That's straight on to the ground.
 
the two exmoors make use of it to escape the heat, all three use it to escape the midges at dawn and dusk and sometimes they use it to escape rain/wind. occasionally I'll find one in it snoozing by themselves. they all use it to pee in! it is 3 1/2 sided, crushed hardcore floor with a shavings bed on half of it (about 16x16)
 
Ours is a mobile one, just on grass. They're in there when it's hot to get out of the flies, we put hay in there to save it being trampled, and they're in there first thing in the morning as it's a nice suntrap when the sun comes up plus they can just about keep an eye on the back door, and they're also in there when it rains. Our oldie is a very neat and tidy boy and I'm sure he told the other off for pooing in there once, because he's not done it since but I have seen him being booted out by the oldie and he went off to the poo pile! Neither have had a wee in there AFAIK.
 
I've never had a field shelter for a horse, only a stable or turnout 24/7.

So, I would like to know how your horses make use of them?

If you leave the door open, do they go in when it rains (or do they still stand out)? Doesn't have a door, they just use it as and when they want, mainly in the summer to get out the heat and away from the flies

Do they take themselves out for a poo? or just poo inside? Lets just say i poo pick my field shelter everyday!!

Do you use rubber matting or shavings or something else? Don't have anything down in mine
 
If you leave the door open, do they go in when it rains (or do they still stand out)? We leave the door open all the time. I find they use it most in windy weather to shelter, if the flies are really bad and they go and shelter in there when it's raining.

Do they take themselves out for a poo? or just poo inside? It depends. Sometimes they go inside, sometimes outside. They do tend to go inside more often if they have been standing in sheltering/eating hay though.

Do you use rubber matting or shavings or something else? Nothing at the moment, but we will put some shavings in there in the winter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top