How much turnout/exercise are you managing?

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avthechav

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I know that this is the worst worst worst part....we will be in March before we know it and it will all feel easier but just wondering how much everyone is managing to do with their horses?

Mine are out in the week for about 4hours a day and then ridden and let out on the yard as I am here at weekends....but my field is now a quagmire, I put out hay but it is underwater although not bottomless so they do have to splash around.

Gingie gets 2 good rides at weekend, once over to the school for an hour in the week and a brief hack out on a Friday when I leave work early.

My 5 year old gets 2 good rides at weekend (although not as far as we are going through barefoot transition at the mo and he is having a sore phase) and is led off gingie on Friday. I will hopefully start managing to get him out once in the week to the school now too.

I think I'm going to have to reduce their turn out in the quagmire....I will turnout for 30mins in the morn in the yard before work and then an hour when I get home in the yard. How much turnout and exercise is everyone else managing?
 
I am lucky . my boy is getting about 12 hours turnout a day and has free access to the yard from his stable overnight, but it is my field and he is small and barefoot. my field is disintegrating though. he has his hay on the hardstanding to save mud time too but can come and go as he chooses.
 
mine is getting about 8 hours turnout a day, and ridden two or three times a week. I'm really pleased with this amount of turnout, as this is the first winter I've been able to offer decent turnout to him due to relocating to another county with better turnout than my old one (where you were lucky to get even an hour in winter at some yards). Going to have to up his exercise though as he's a bit footy due to horrendous weather and ground, so needs more movement to sort him out. Going to have to man up and get on with it :(

Let's console ourselves that spring is on it's way!
 
Mine are in this week. I can't deal with the mud any more - The shetlands are out but the other 2 are in and exercised. call me cruel if you will but neither of them look worried...
 
Exercise isn't the problem, turnout is. Kal is getting worked regularly (so at least five days a week) because we have a fab school that has excellent drainage, a horsewalker and access to decent hacking. However, his field is boggy and I'm really concerned about him trashing it :(. YO is working with me, though . . . and we'll try a mix of limited turnout (four/five hours), lots of hay in the field, a companion and switching fields to let his rest.

I hate this time of year . . . and I HATE rain.

P
 
Out 24/7, the field is looking extremely muddy and boggy in parts but down the bottom is reasonably dry. She's out with 2 others, a little unshod Welsh A filly and an unshod 16.2 youngster. She's 14.2 but shod. They very rarely run about as all 3 are a bit precious about cold wet mud splashing on their bellies!

They get haylage on the concrete hardstanding every evening but all 3 are looking very well covered. Mine's fed once a day every day, but the other two are fed if they come up the top in the morning but often they don't bother. They eat haylage all night and then spend the day in the bottom field where it's drier.

For a clay field it's holding up quite well, yes it is trashed but there's some grass to nibble at as they're not idiots who run around. If it wasn't for the hardstanding we would be a bit stuck though! As it is they come in with mud up to about their fetlocks - though it is much deeper in the gateways before the hardstanding.

The rest of the yard is in at night, they go out around 9 and come in at 4. Very lucky!

ETA: riding, trying for at least every other day so at least 4 times a week. Can be hard to motivate in the rain though!
 
Mine are at home so if it is torrential rain then they are fetched in but the go out every day & most days they get out for at least 8 hrs. I have been riding in the mornings but today I actually rode in the afternoon, getting back at 5pm in daylight! Spring is just around the corner :-)
 
Milkmaid said:
Mine are at home so if it is torrential rain then they are fetched in but the go out every day & most days they get out for at least 8 hrs. I have been riding in the mornings but today I actually rode in the afternoon, getting back at 5pm in daylight! Spring is just around the corner :-)
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ours go out 7am-3pm week days and 9am - 3pm weekends. NO exercise as i broken my arm but my horse is long reined 2x a week
 
My 2 are turned out from 8am until 2pm, so 6 hrs max. If wet all day they may come in a bit earlier but try to counter balance this with more exercise.

They get ridden daily, usually in the afternoon once bought in, but as everywhere is so waterlogged it is mainly road work. They do each hunt 1 day a week so get a blast then.

Bored of winter now and fed up of mud, wind and rain....roll on spring!
 
Ours are out on the hardcore turnout around the yard for ten hours a day with hay. They are quite happy on that, but hadn't done a lot of riding over Xmas and New year, so were a bit full of themselves. The winter field has poached areas full of rainwater, so I turned them out in the big summer field for a hurtle round two days ago. My beautiful green lawn like field (due to the sheep) has now got skids all over it and hoofprints, but the horses liked it!

I've been off work for ten days so they have had a lot of work generally! Its been so mild. I usually let them down a bit over winter as its so hilly here and I don't ride in ice, but we have hardly had any so far.
 
Wow, lots of good efforts here! I think I'm going have to console myself with as much exercise as I can manage until the light gets better and if they have to have the odd day in it won't kill them! The fact that I'm trying to work them barefoot doesn't help....I will man up, boot up and get on with it. I'm sooooooo lucky to have them at home, but this month I am missing the indoor school, the lights and the walker!
 
24/7 turnout

And zero exercise. Well, it may as well be Zero, I rode on Saturday for 20 minutes. Due to weather/work/no school been hardly able to do anything. Roll on Spring!
 
blitznbobs said:
Mine are in this week. I can't deal with the mud any more - The shetlands are out but the other 2 are in and exercised. call me cruel if you will but neither of them look worried...
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Your not the only one I have one on box rest, and my other horse will only stay out on his own for just over an hour then wants in, his ridden most days and he does not seem bothered in the slightest, At least my field is getting a rest it is just full of water so I am not worried about the lack of turnout really.
 
Mine go out from 7:30am-4:30pm. Sid is an old man so he only goes on a gentle hack once a week, my mare is ridden 3/4 times a week. We're lucky as we can move our fencing to get away from the worst of the mud but it is still a nightmare... especially when your welly gets stuck whilst leading a very eager horse!;)
Bring on Spring...
 
mine are out 24/7 unless the weather forecast is bad as tonite, I will get them in about 10pm, fields are fine tho, I was riding on the beach until 4.45pm this eve so light wise we are turning the corner, just got to stop raining please !
 
Mine have been in for the last two weeks and only had a handful of days out since Christmas. The fields at our current yard are really boggy and basically trashed from the other horses which have been going out everyday. I think turning them out would be just asking for injury at the moment as they do play a lot and like to have a good gallop round. They are ridden 4-5 times per week which is mostly hacking for at least an hour each time, sometimes schooling (usually if weather is really awful!) as we do have a small Indoor school. On the days they aren't ridden, they are turned out in the outdoor school for a roll and a gallop around. Sometimes they go out in the school on the days they have been ridden too. Call me cruel, but they don't seem bothered and I don't really see a problem either as long as they are getting plenty of work.
 
I am doing very well so far. Both ponies live out 24/7 on a hilly field so the only real mud is along the fence. I have a sharer so both ponies are getting 2 schooling sessions and a lunge session in the week and they both get hacked out at the weekend and taken for a good old gallop if the farmers field which always seems to be dry?? Who knows, but so far so good.
 
4 hours turnout on a sand paddock as the grass is being rested for a couple of weeks. Exercised for 30mins 4 evenings a week then ridden for approximately 1 hour at weekends
 
Our field is utterly trashed - heavy clay with a stream running across in two places. The mud is bad that I've taken to stone-hopping until I can get to the stream and then walking down that (rock at the bottom of stream = no mud up to knees!). Mine came in last night with mud all the way up to her belly but she does like a run around.

They're out only when it's dry in an attempt to save the field, and when they're in mine is turned out in the school for total of 2 hours (1 hour morn, 1 hour eve) and then either lightly lunged and walked in hand, or hacked out. This is my first winter as a horse owner (I'm the sort of idiot who buys a horse in October/November) and I didn't quite realise how relentless is was going to be, or how bad the mud got.

Edit: Oh, and the mud fever! I will never ever have a horse with white legs again. Tried 7 day mud away/pig oil and sulphur/mud guard/muddy marvel cream and nothing really works.
 
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Mine are out 24/7. I'm riding about 4 times a week for an hour a time. Finding it hard at the minute. Fields are fine, just muddy by the gate ways. Spring seems a long way off!
 
About 7/8 hours a day turnout, ridden for 30mins Tues & Weds (after school). Then 60/90mins on Fri & Sat & out to a show on Sundays x
 
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Mine are out in the mud with hay for around 7 hours a day. Those that are coming back into work (3 of them) are worked for around 30 - 45 minutes at the moment. My school is not brilliant but we're on walking work so hacking on the road is doing what's needed.
 
Ours are out between 5 and 8 hours depending on whether they are being ridden and trying to hack out 4 days a week. Fields are getting poached but we do still have grass!
 
Mine are out everyday usually from 7am until 5.30 pm...except if I need them in early because I'm doing something or the weather is dreadful.
Actually really surprised at how well this field is doing. It's very wet/muddy by the gate but the rest is fab & still got tons of grass! I do have another winter field that I can use but I don't think I need it just yet :)
Work wise the young TB is ridden 5-6 times a week...I'm in the saddle for between 6.15-6.30 in the morning (unless I'm having a lesson or going to a comp) no arena but access to some good tracks & a dry-ish field.
The old boy is lightly ridden a couple of times a week
The pony is currently ridden about once a fortnight.

They all look well & are happy, which is the most important thing :)
 
Ours are always out 24/7. I always feel as though we don't really have as much space as we should have for them, but even though parts of the field are totally swamped there is still space which is relatively dry. We have stables always open (effectively used as field shelters) so they can always get onto concrete as well and we put hay in the dry areas so that they don't stand around in the wet. There isn't much in the way of grass but there is some to nibble to keep them busy and they are given lots of hay twice a day to ensure plenty of forage. I appreciate we are very lucky to have our own space and therefore 24/7 turnout! Hope your horses are all coping OK in the mud. x
 
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