How much turnout do your horses get through the winter months?

_jetset_

_jetset_

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Due to the area where I live, my horses have never really had much turnout through the winter months. I have only been on one yard which offered grass turnout from October to May (and it is now too far away as I moved house) but every other one I have been on or visited closed their fields in October and do not reopen until May.

As a result, I have searched for a yard which offers some form of 'freedom' for the horses and so far have been lucky enough to have this.

As some of you will know, I am expecting a baby in January so I am starting to think about what to do with the horses this winter... and it got me thinking what type of turnout people would prefer for their horses?

When we have finished our yard at home there will be four decent sized turnout paddocks with woodchip surface where each horse can go out for at least half a day with a net if the fields are too wet / muddy. We are based on clay up here and unfortunately with the rain we have been having this last week, the ground is just holding water in every direction. The poor horses are up to their fetlocks in sticky clayey mud and there are shoes coming off left right and centre, pulls and strains happening and we are only in August!

I guess what I am asking is whether you would class all year turnout as grass turnout only, or would the option of a clean area with woodchip down where they can be turned out for four hours plus with nets be equally as appealing?
 
I would hate to be in your area as I would hate for my horses not to go out every day in a field, but I understand needs must!

I class 'turnout' as somewhere big enough for them to kick their heels up a bit - and I want my horses out as much as possible - mine live out 24/7 unless I have to bring them in (they did about 12 nights in last winter).

Weirdly, the yard I am on has supernaturally good grass, in that fields are not rotated, or rested particularly, and yet we seem to be able to do all year turnout.
 
I think that I would class all year turnout as 'turnout on grass' to be honest. However, if the yard ticked the other boxes that were important to me, I would be glad to pop my horse in a surfaced turnout paddock with a net to munch on and room to stretch his legs. Some yards dont even offer this, so I think that you're being very generous to see things from a livery point of view and not just the owners! :)
 
i feel so lucky where i am too, my yard owners allow us 8-10 hours a day mid winter and its on very well looked after grazing so is really good! Ours are out from beg march to beg nov 24/7, and then 8-10 hours in the winter(dec-mar)!! I know were in a minority and very lucky, alot of people struggle with any turnout at all!!
 
SpottedCat said:
I would hate to be in your area as I would hate for my horses not to go out every day in a field, but I understand needs must!

I class 'turnout' as somewhere big enough for them to kick their heels up a bit - and I want my horses out as much as possible - mine live out 24/7 unless I have to bring them in (they did about 12 nights in last winter).

Weirdly, the yard I am on has supernaturally good grass, in that fields are not rotated, or rested particularly, and yet we seem to be able to do all year turnout.
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Can I come and move near you???

Mine are out at night at the moment and in during the day (my chestnut lady gets horrendous reactions to fly bites and certain pollens during the day in summer) but last summer I had them somewhere they could be out 24/7 in summer if I wished. That was lovely, unfortunately the yard was closed and I was forced to find somewhere else.

I am lucky to have my 17 acre field ready and waiting for my horses when we get planning etc. so just hoping and praying it is sooner rather than later as this baby won't stay put forever :)
 
For me I'd say that turnout is a field, because my horse cribs and he does so less if he's out in a grassy field, so for me I try to maximise turnout. Whereas if he was in a woodchip arena he wouldn't wander about but would just stand and crib!

Very, very luckily where I am it's not too hard to get all year turnout. The yard I'm at has all year turnout, meaning 24/7 365. The only downside being that the winter turnout fields are a long way from the yard (takes 25mins to get horses in) so can be a pain, but they are quite big and don't normally get too trashed. However my lad is prone to mudfever and being on clay we get awful mud, so it's a bit of a balancing act between leaving him out until it gets bad and then bringing in for a few days so it clears up etc.

He spent about 12 days maybe in a stable last winter.. not bad!
 
We have no winter turnout but we have a surface turnout pen if needed. Also they get put on the horse walker twice a day and i will ride my boy, the grooms see to them throughout the day so they are not just shut in all the time. My horse is very happy staying in. I just think people have there own opinion.
 
_jetset_ said:
Can I come and move near you???

Mine are out at night at the moment and in during the day (my chestnut lady gets horrendous reactions to fly bites and certain pollens during the day in summer) but last summer I had them somewhere they could be out 24/7 in summer if I wished. That was lovely, unfortunately the yard was closed and I was forced to find somewhere else.

I am lucky to have my 17 acre field ready and waiting for my horses when we get planning etc. so just hoping and praying it is sooner rather than later as this baby won't stay put forever :)
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It's properly odd - we are on clay too! Top of a hill, which helps, but I have honestly never known anything like it. We don't fertilise, and yet we have grass coming out of our ears. Put it this way - my two were in a field that they had pretty much eaten bare. Three weeks later, it has so much grass the YM is debating asking for a hay cut from it.

Mine literally only came in during torrential rain last winter (we all hate that!!) - apart from that they were out. One thing they had in the USA which I would love to have/see over here, was stables in a barn, with 'pens' on the outside, so you could have the door open, and the horses could wander out into a (small) hardcore yard. That seems like such a good compromise in your situation, as they can have all day wandering in and out, but it doesn't take up much space.
 
racingdemon said:
24/7..... he comes in the night before an event if we've a really early start, but does everything from the field.... (& in winter is fully clipped out under all his rugs... )
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Mine is fully clipped too - and last winter was the first one where I had to buy a heavyweight rug - and that was only because he got kicked in the head and was feeling sorry for himself in the snow and not moving about as much or eating! And he's a TBx.... ;)
 
Mine is normally a very wimpy TB, but did really well out last winter. Just had a low trace clip, and was well rugged and fed and looked a little poor after the winter but not too bad by any means. Much rather he looked like that and had been out than great condition but stuck in a box all the time!

Only complaint is that yard is a bit funny about putting hay out in fields, so when the grass has been eaten down a bit I have to bring him up for a few hours in the day to eat hay in a stable.
 
thankfully I have always been at yards (well all 3 through my life!) with decent winter turnout although it is a pre-requisite when I have moved. Where I am currently the grazing is very good and although not rotated it is looked after and there is never any shortage of grass. In winter occasionally they will have to stay in for a few days or literally get an hour outside but to be honest on those days when it is heavy rain or snow they are normally waiting at the gate to come in after an initial stretch anyway. As its up on the edge of the moor the weather is that bit more extreme.

I couldn't have Fleur left in October through May, even with say a walker she would go a bit stir crazy as she loves to be out at least for a bit each day!
 
Out at day, in at night. We're very very lucky as in we have summer and winter paddocks - summer down the lane, and winter next to the yard. Therefore winter paddocks are just allowed to get utterly trashed and horses go out everyday, apart from sometimes YO can be a bit funny and say 'every other day' which lasts about a week... Can be funny about putting hay out too, so we hide it ;) However horses seem to respect fields and don't hooly about, so trashing is mainly around gates. Are on clay though, so when it gets frozen the ruts are terrible and I'm hesitant to turn my accident prone TB out, so he gets put in sand paddock for a hooly and ridden. When it snows, I also keep him in as he can't see the ruts and can be an idiot :)
 
It really would depend on how big the turnout pens were tbh...

I wouldn't want the winter turnout to be smaller than about 60m x 40m as I like them to be able to have a bit of a run around if they want and any smaller just isn't feasible imo.

I don't really mind if it is grass or woodchip as, lets be honest, most grass very quickly turns to mud in winter anyway and we are supplementing with hay from November- March in the fields anyway.

However, i think to woodchip the size area I would be after is prohibitive.

What we did when we had the horses at home, was 'gave' them 6 acres for winter (between 4-6 of them) and hardcored about 30m x 30m to put the haylage/ water trough and field shelter on.

that way they could stand on the hard standing if they wanted and the haylage didn't get wasted but they had enough room to go off down the field if they chose to.

We used to roll and harrow the field as soon as it was dry enough (usually April) and then rest it for about 6 weeks before they needed to go back onto it and top it for us.
 
From a slightly different angle your solution would probably suit me, although I would prefer grass turnout. DA ties up so is never shut in a stable. We have the horses at home with no facilities which is a nightmare, but the need for him to be moving 24/7 is greater than that for an arena. There are no yards near me, that I know of, that offer all year round turnout.

We are on sloping clay too and it is not fun, I think I'd sell my soul for well drained grazing & an arena!
 
For the first time this winter my horses will be in at nights!

We just finished building stables this spring so for the last 3 years my horses have had to live out and we had pretty rubbish winters. I am so looking forward to them coming in and have even brought them in during some nights this summer :rolleyes:

I plan to bring them in every night from Oct at the latest and they will be out every day. I am lucky that I have loads of grass so the fields don't get too mucky. If I could I would have someone bring them in at 4pm every night but that won't happen - they will be out before I go to work and back in when I return. I can almost guarantee they will be waiting at the gate though! :)

Can't wait, can't wait :D

As for 'turnout' I think that if you live in an area where grass is not available, anything where the horses can go out for a roll and blast about is perfect. I've seen many BS yards do that over winter and the horses are happy enough.

Edited to add: I can wait for winter though in case you mistook what I meant!
 
He will normally be out from 10am till 4pm - he will be brought in for riding and if any of his field buddies are out he will be chucked back out around 7pm and left out - this is all weather dependant though, it its really wet and muddy hes normally in at night as he is prone to mud fever
 
Mine go out most days. My YO hates it.:D
The only days they stay in are when Im working early shifts and if the weather is really bad. They go out at around 9:30 and come in again before dark so usually around 3ish, unless I am working lates and it will be slightly earlier.

I would have them out everyday but the YO is scared of them and so wont handle them when im at work. Plus she likes the fields to look pretty so moans at me to keep them in.:rolleyes::D

If I had the option of turning them out on a surface rather then a field then I definately would. I end up putting hay out anyway. Through the winter Gin used to be turned out in a yard which was hardcore with a haynet. I loved it as there was no mud and she got to stretch her legs.
 
As a YO I know it's a nightmare to please everyone!

I offer 24/7 turnout mid March until October (or late September, just depends when it starts to get too wet).

In the winter, it depends. Last winter we went down to 6 hours per day. The previous winter, for a few weeks we did go right down to 2/3 hours as it was so wet!

We have 1 acre paddocks, and I advise those that have an individual paddock to split it in half so one half is grazed while the other half is rested. We have a lot of grass!

Ours is rock hard at the moment and we desperately need rain, the grass is very brown now! But I know come September I'll be asking for the rain to go away, ha ha.

We're building a new yard next Spring and I'm already looking into pens outside stables. The stables will also be 14' x 14' but it would be great if they had 14' x 20' outdoor pens too.
 
Just a word of warning OP - We put a thick layer of woodchip surface round the gate areas in winter, but regularly have to top up as it soon rots down to mud!! So not sure how long your turnout areas will last.
 
mine is in at night and out during the day in winter. he's out from about 8am til about 6pm- although ideally i would prefer him to come in at around 3pm so that he's ready for me to ride after work but the yard won't bring in at that time so i'm stuck with getting him in myself when i get there. we aren't allowed to put hay in the fields though which bugs me as the fields are never rotated/rested and so by winter its all mud and no grass - they say it'll cause fights. i suspect its because they are worried it'll mean wasted hay actually as they spend a lot of time fighting beause they are bored!

on my old yard there was no turnout whatsoever october- may. we could turn out in the sand arena (20x40) if we kept them supervised but that was it. didn't really seem to bother the horses i had at the time but couldn't go back to that now :)
 
I'm lucky too - we rent a 3acre field all just for daughters pony & it never gets churned up or muddy - he loved being turned out in all the snow too!!!
 
mine and my liveries go out all day every day from 8.30 til dusk. gateways are hardcored. hay is put out every day. some live out 24/7. elderly, infirm and pathetic come in early if hanging around. but spring is expensive (reseeding/rolling.harrowing/fert/spray) but the ground does recover fairly quickly. but sadly ............ the liveries still moan about the mud!!! one thing as a YO that i cant control is the weather!
 
Mine go out 7-4 every day in winter, the gateways and the track to the fields are woodchipped but as someone else has said that often needs topping up, hay is also put out in the fields.

I realise I am very lucky where I am and I would also be happy with a woodchip turn out area. :)
 
We make sure that we have a small enough number of horses that they move to fresh grazing for the winter and owners have the option of having their horse out for 12 hours each day if they wish. Maybe not good commercial decision but makes for happy horses and owners.
 
As much as possible, but there are times when it would be stupid to put them out - Billy had to stay in for 6 weeks due to bad mud fever (he liked to sleep standing in the mud) and as our fields are clay they can drastically change very quickly :p
If it is really bad there is a woodchip area where they can go out in, so at least they are out of the stable!
 
Nicoleak0 said:
We are on sloping clay too and it is not fun, I think I'd sell my soul for well drained grazing & an arena!
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Snap :p

OP - It wasn't until I joined HHO that I even heard of a yard that didn't have year round turnout. I'm from Aberdeenshire and absolutely every yard I was ever on, as well as any my friends were on, turned out all year. To me, I'd expect to be able to turn out all day in winter if appropriate, though not necessarily overnight. Once I moved to Edinburgh, the first yard I kept them on did turn out every day, but also insisted they were stabled overnight in summer too, so I quickly moved! Next one allowed 24/7 out in summer, and in winter you could have 24/7 out, but only in specific fields. If you were nearer to the yard, you had to take them in at night but they could be out all day, unless it was snowing.

Now, I have them at home and have 10 acres for my two (which is now actually a TB and her Shetland companion). Last winter with two full size horses they went out 7am to 3pm, even in the 2 feet of snow. I'd not be happy with much less, as even then I thought they stood in a bit too long - but the TB would be a cow to bring in if you left her any later. Yes my gate area gets churned beyond belief (also on disgusting clay) and they are caked in mud; but I've grazing down the field that is fine, and the mud will dry eventually :rolleyes:

But - to answer your question - I think I'd like my horse to get some grass during the day, because in all honesty they don't move much if it's just hay right in front of them. But your situation would be better than no turnout at all. I think a compromise might be an hour of grass turnout, then into the hardstanding/woodchip with hay for the rest of their turnout time? (Though also bear in mind horses will get fatter if just stood eating haylage all day).
 
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