How many of you are now on restricted or no turn out due to the unusual weather?

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For the first time in thirty years our livery yard has had to severely restrict turn out. At the moment we are getting instructions on a daily basis, so for two days we have been allowed three hours turn out, some days no turn out. All depending on what the weather is doing. A combination of all the rain, followed by a huge heap of snow, then more heavy rain has turned the fields into boggy, muddy marshes.....
Just wondering who else is in the same boat? How many who usually have all year turn out have had to restrict?

Most of us have simply accepted the fact that it's been strange times and although ideally we want our boys and girls out at the moment it's just not practical..
.the odd one or two are moaning like hell tho. I feel really sorry for the farmer, he is watching his crops rotting in the fields.... His livery (and hay fields) looking more like paddy fields....! Some people are so selfish...
 
Yes we are now all of a sudden. Whereas a week ago it was a bit more suit-yourself, now the farmer is really worried about his ground.

Rightly so, the weather is going to be very tropical-monsoon over next day or two... the thunder and lightning here in Bath makes me feel like I'm back in the tropics!
 
Mine are at home but I am bringing them in during the day as they are not happy on the horrid ground, and I'm worried about their skin, hooves and injuries in deep mud.....
They come in to boxes/yard from 8am to 6pm......
 
No turnout at my yard again - they are only allowed out in the snow/after a frost in the winter as we don't have separate summer and winter turnout.
 
Yup 75% of my field is under water and is the worst one on the farm so YM has said I can use a different paddock which is still wet, but un-used over summer so long grass and tolerable. I had kept ponio in as the mud is clay and therefore heavy and sticky and I can't justify him becoming a pasture pet through tendon damage.

But my god, the side swipes and the bitchiness about it is ridiculous. Apparently I should've managed my paddock better. Nothing to do with the 2 full to capacity dykes and a very nearly breached drainage pond then :rolleyes:
 
I was able to turn everything out all day during the snow - no mud, big piles of hay which didn't get trodden into the ground, nice clean happy horses and fields protected by the snow - if it wasn't for the frozen manège I could happily have snow all winter!

Now we're back to wet wet wet and I have had to keep everything in - luckily my lovely liveries appreciate that I am managing the turnout for the good of all and they are happy for their horses to stay in when its ridiculously wet. As soon as it dries out a little I hope to be able to get them out for a few hours a day.

I will say though - I am clear that I offer 'turnout' not grazing - there is a big difference. I offer livery to horses whose owners actually want to work them and they each have a turnout paddock which is available to them everyday but if it gets trashed then they are stuck with it - thankfully they are very sensible about it so we all still have reasonable turnout available and so when our horses are out they are not wading about in mud :-)
 
Our yard which is ll full livery were only turning out the quiet horses so mine went out today for the first time in a week, she loved it. Best but no snow!!! Lol
 
I'm glad I now rent a yard!

However in 2011 I was on a yard that the YO liked the fields to be "green" all year round... no joke... and hated mud at gateways so as soon as it started to rain for more than a week the turnout was slashed. No turnout if it was raining but if it wasn't they had to be in by 2pm.

As Nugget La Poneh mentioned, the bitchiness was ridiculous as everyone seemed to be stressed including the horses.
 
We only really have mud in the gateways at our yard, very very lucky where we are. In our field we are only putting the odd net of hay out too, as we still have grazing.
We aren't restricted at all.
 
Not enforced by yard, but we all have our own turnout paddocks and my normally dry one looks like a mud bath bog. My horse has just got massively infected mud fever in one leg so is now in stable permanently with riding out down the road only.

Joy
 
Nope! we've had no restrictions placed on turnout on our yard, but then there is only 4 horses who have individual grazing, we have been left to make our own decisions. Mine did stay in for a couple of days due to really deep snow and thick ice. It's now all gone, we have had overnight heavy rain for the last couple of nights, but due to high winds the ground is actually drying out. Feel very lucky having read the previous comments.
 
Ours are out as much as we choose. The fields are huge, don't flood and drain well. It was a priority when looking at livery in the area. However, driving back to my former home today in another county, field after field is under several feet of water and the roads are impassable. We've been lucky.

However, mine come in at night for hay at the moment so they are ready for work before it gets light in the morning.
 
cant remember the last time ours were turned out.. our winter field is a pretty good size (i dont know anything about acres lol) and theres only 6 horses at our yard. we do have a hardcore we can turn out on, but theres no grass and only 3 at a time are allowed out, the horses get pretty bored
 
Ours have shelters which now are kneed deep in mud once they step out the door. The paddock where ASBO and his lady friend share is all churned up with very little grass. Two horses are lame, abscess and as yet not diagnosed for the other one but feet are warm so also probably abscess. One had mud fever..the list gies on. We took four out today to ride for the first time in 10 days ad they were very happy to be on terra firma..took them through the flooded road which washed the mud off but that's just more wet! :(
They can go out if they want but are opting to stay inside.
 
We have been severely restricted the last few weeks. back yo turning out but the gateways are horrendous and I keep getting stuck! I may well keep him in coyple of days this week so I can really get his legs dry. Had a touch of mud fever before the snow and having got rid, would like to keep it away!
I think we have had few people moaning but I think most liveries can see that the weather really has been extreme so it's hard to maintain normality. The horses are coping well, though. I do feel sorry for my YO. Must be horrible trying to manage grazing when it's ark-building weather!
 
We have had no turn out since November. The horses are all used to it now, but it has been hard making sure mine gets exercised at least once sometimes twice a day. We have been provided with sacrifice pens to turn out in while we muck out but the ground is so terrible, it is tendon city out there and I prefer not to turn out in them.
 
Ours have had slightly restricted turnout - coming in at 12 instead of 2. I don't mind at all - the fields look really good compared to do many I have seen. Ours go out every day whatever the weather - even if its just for a few hours and they are all calm and relaxed as a result.

I never thought my pony would settle being in so much but we have such a good routine at the yard that they are all relaxed and happy.
 
Our farmer expects common sense and most people are pretty good. I'm fortunate in that I can get up to the yard in my lunch break and get mine in and mine have had at most half a day out since about the beginning of December, but that's fine and they're ok. On days when it's really bad I just turn them out into one of the small paddocks for an hour - it's better than nothing and they have feed balls and carrots hidden in their stables to keep them occupied. It's far from ideal and I would love them to be out more, but it's been exceptionally wet - there are fields flooded which I've never ever seen flooded before. It will soon be Spring and we will all be moaning about too much grass and keeping them in anyway during the day to prevent laminitis!! :D
 
Have never EVER had my fields so wet.

If I had not got the livery, mine would be up in the top fields in daytime as those are very well drained, but the silly-billy has left her horse to trash both the paddocks :rolleyes:
They have been out 24/7 till Fri night when the thaw started here - and have now been in overnight.
However, from tomorrow they will be confined to 1 small 'diet' paddock to wander in, it will become bog :( but it does have a good field shelter in & they cam come in at night.
The paddock I put them in yesterday is now this afternoon underwater for almost half of it - as said at the top, I have bever had it so wet, since the family brought the field back in the 1970's!
 
I have had no turnout since beginning of December, school has also been unrideable and have no hacking :(
Moving yards Thursday so cannot wait, think my boy will have a bit of a shock after being stuck in for so long bless him :o
 
At the yard I'm at the horses get turnout most days but depending on weather and ground it can be 1 or 2hrs or 6 hours. It just depends. They stay in if it is really bad.
It's not ideal, id rather my horse out all day but on the flip side the fields are just about hanging on to the grass and this is the first winter my horse has not had mud fever.
 
I have my own place and I'm restricting grazing, I just don't want to trash my fields and at the moment when its hacking down with rain, they don't particularly enjoy being stood out and I can't get them in as I'm at work... It won't do them any harm for a while.

I'm sure soon we'll all be worrying about having too much grass!!
 
My boy has still been out almost every day - there was one day when the snow was bad that he didn't really go out but other than that he's out, even if it is just on the muddy track with a hay net.

The fields in use are pretty trashed but the rested fields are ok.

It's costing a fortune in hay though which is frustrating.

I worry that the last couple of winters, and last year wet summer might be a sign of things to come and I think a lot of yards are very unprepared for long spells of bad weather.
 
It's been a nightmare for a lot of folk with so much rain, snow and mud. I am very lucky in that my horses live out in a 10 acre field with very good drainage (no doubt because it used to be a graveyard, but I try not to think about that!) and hardly any mud. A horse I used to own but gave away to one of my best friends is actually coming home again to stay soon for a few months until her fields dry up - he has had to be kept in for the last few weeks due to mud fever.
 
With the solid ground and snow, none of us went out for 10 days and we couldn't ride. That was a safety issue and all the liveries were walked in hand, by owners and or livery. Everything started work again on Friday with lunging and yesterday, YO has started to turn out. I say started as not everything went out, so they could ensure it was safe and monitored and not having 22 horses all out and kicking off. Mine will both go out today. The mare will go out with her friend, the youngster will go out solo. He and his friend have completely trashed their paddock and in an effort to try to reduce damage, we agreed those particular 2 should be turned out separately today. Ours is turnout not grazing so I really do view it as the chance for mine to go out and just be horses. My yard is on top of a hill so I know that come the snow, we are badly impacted. On the other hand, we have great hacking for nearly all the year round virtually car free so its swings and roundabouts. The grass liveries have good grazing and of course, no pratting around and actually, some of them are now a little overweight with all the extra haylage that has been put down over the snow!
 
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Ours were out in the snow and are now in as the thaw and the rain has turned the fields into lakes. My new lad has gone from being out 24/7 a fortnight ago to being in 24/7! I moved just before the snow so he saw grass for half a day and then it was covered. However, I am really pleased with the way he has coped with such a massive change of routine. I'm planning to go and take him for a walk at lunchtime - did this yesterday complete with bridle, lungeline, hat, gloves, hi-vis etc as he'd never been off the yard since we arrived because of the ice and was totally delighted by how good he was.
There's no real moaning on the yard - people are all nice and seem to use their eyes and see the problems that face the YO. Everyone would love to be turning out but understand why it's a bad idea.
 
claracanter said:
Yes, we were in for a few days but our now out for two hours a day and yes, some of the yard are in uproar
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'Some of the yard are in up roar'? This shows no respect for the YO or any care in relation to the paddocks. When it is as wet as it has been over the last few months, coupled with the heavy snowfall the paddocks need looking after so they will be able to recover. If these totally selfish individuals have their way the paddocks would be trashed & take much longer to recover, it ever. Then they will moan about the quality of the summer grazing & of course it would have nothing to do with their selfishness they are showing now.
 
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