How many of you manage with limited turnout?

cliodhna

cliodhna

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...for small periods of time? We are building 5 stables at our house..currently having the site levelled and having the groundwork done. Problem is the only turnout at the house will be a 50m X 40m arena with a sand and rubber surface. Grass turnout is only a few mins down the road but is leased.

The plunge has been taken anyway and the work has already begun. Does anyone else have a system like this and how does it work for them?
 
Will you have no turnout at all all year round? When stuck in during winter for periods of time because of unusable fields, I take mine out hand grazing for 30 minutes at a time twice or three times a day, but wouldn't contemplate it all through the year.

ETA there's a place close to us that keeps the horses in most of the time as they have really small fields and barely any turnout. The horses/ponies are always bonkers when they're let out in this tiny fields.
 
So that's a bit under half an acre?

Turn out is turn out, some is better than none. :)

I don't have a problem with horses being kept in this kind of area, at all, it isn't the worst scenario for a horse by far. It isn't the end of the world if you don't run your horse on acres and acres of grass, I know people with horses with grass allergies who keep their horses permanently in arenas/pens that size, they manage admirably.

If the arena is what is available then use it as much as you can, and all weather is all weather. No mud, no dust, no worries about too little/too much grass, no bogs, easy to clean up - lovely.

Give ad lib hay when the horses are out, give them some branches to chew on, toys to play with etc and they'll be fine, you say you do have grazing down the road too then there's no worries.
 
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Can you fit in a track around your acreage? That way they can still roam around and feed hay - will save your school.

Just thinking of the track system which is highly adaptable for small spaces.
 
It is safer to tutnout in an all weather area in the winter in any case. I do that by choice. The horses go out in small groups for 3 hour stretches in the all weather turnout when the fields are muddy or frozen. Of course they have been in the fields 24/7 during this spell of lovely dry weather. However, there are some winters when they are out in the all weather for 5 months at a time if the weather is really bad. They cope brilliantly an are never silly to handle or ride. The key is to make sure that they have access to forage in several places. I tie up hay nets spaced out around the turnout area. I don't see why horses wouldn't cope with this for longer periods of time. Maybe you could turn the out on he grass down the road for 3 days a week and keep them in the all weather for the remaining time? It is important though to poo pick your arena several times a day though or it soon becomes ruined when the droppings are trodden into the surface.
 
Sorry I should have been clearer about the amount of time they'd be spending at the house and how much they'd be spending out in the fields. I would only anticipate bringing them to the house if the weather was very poor in the winter. That said, the weather the last two winters has been so atrocious with the snow and ice...:( I would also like to be able to bring them up for a few days at a time to be worked and then bring them back.

I was in livery a DIY few years back where turnout was very limited and it was very competitive to get it. There were only a few small paddocks, the indoor and outdoor to turn all the horses from the yard out in. Horses were turned out on their own and in the winter some of the paddocks were locked because they got too wet. Basically the horses did not get much turnout. I think it is down to personality, one coped very well and the other hated it and was very sharp from it,did not appreciate being cooped up. At least they can be out for a stretch of many hours this way.

The idea of several haynets is good. I will also look at toys. I will be very vigilant with poo picking, maintaining the quality of the surface will be very important to me!

I am excited to have my own set up, but anxious about not having the grazing to hand. That said they will live out most of the time so I am hoping they will cope fine. Just nervous now that the ball has started rolling and the destruction has begun outside!!!:eek:
Thanks everyone:)
 
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