I think I need to move livery yards

Don't feel bad. I am on a yard where they are out 24/7 April to October, in at night and out all day in November, than in and turned out in an enormous arena for a couple of hours a day in the same group they are in the field with from December to March. Is it ideal, no, but the ground here is clay and we are next to a capital city, so land is expensive. It is nigh on impossible here to make a livery yard finanically viable with just enough horses to have them in the fields in winter. They have enough time and space to gallop and play and then they are happy to come in.

However, in recognition of the fact that he has this restricted turnout in those months, he is ridden three to four times a week, taken out in hand to graze three times or so, and walked out in hand once. When it was below freezing for ten days it was a nightmare, because turnout was closed and we could only walk in the forest in hand.

So it is possible to make the best of circumstances, and nowhere is perfect. You should just find the best solution for you and him and then you will make it work. Don't be depressed, we all do the best we can with the options open to us :). And I think that you are very courageous to be doing this on your own with two small children! I have a daughter and I need a sharer and the other owners help me with weekend turnout. Personally, in your situation, I would prioritise having him somewhere where you have people to help.
 
PuddingSummer said:
I’m not excusing it but every other day is quite good for this immediate area, several other yards close their fields for weeks or even months at a time. One yard closes religiously for 6 months every year!
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It doesn’t matter that other places are worse, horses need daily turnout and plenty of it. I hope yards that can’t offer that are forced to close.
 
PuddingSummer said:
This is the dilemma, I assumed I’d be able to bring in regularly but given the issues I’m having that’s not happening and I feel sick leaving them out in gale force winds and torrential rain. Surely extra stabling is preferable to being forced to stand in this shite
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I would feel the same, I could never feel happy about leaving them out in extreme weather

Hope things improve soon
 
Actually I disagree on turnout being the end all and be all in grim weather and poached fields. Ideal yes, but for the worst of wet periods during the winter it's not the end of the world if they are in more. But you need to compensate with them moving, weather it's riding, sensible lunging, walking out in hand etc.

Winter is harder work for sure. It wont be long now though before it turns, a couple of months hopefully and the worst will be behind us.
 
mariew said:
Actually I disagree on turnout being the end all and be all in grim weather and poached fields. Ideal yes, but for the worst of wet periods during the winter it's not the end of the world if they are in more. But you need to compensate with them moving, weather it's riding, sensible lunging, walking out in hand etc.

Winter is harder work for sure. It wont be long now though before it turns, a couple of months hopefully and the worst will be behind us.
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I do feel like I can’t win here because I agree with you, but others are very very clearly disagreeing.
 
PuddingSummer said:
I do feel like I can’t win here because I agree with you, but others are very very clearly disagreeing.
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At the end of the day this is your hobby and can only do your best and you are meant to be enjoying your horse and yes I do not think that out on poached fields is not really any good for either owner or horse. You are the only one that actually knows your circumstances any answer here is someone thinking they know your circumstances. Go with your gut.
 
PuddingSummer said:
I do feel like I can’t win here because I agree with you, but others are very very clearly disagreeing.
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This is just the nature of a forum. You will never act in the perfect way or make the perfect choices to please everybody! Try not to take it to heart, all we can all do is the best with the choices in front of us.
 
What about putting out feelers for a small sole use place close to home? It’s much easier with small children to be at your own place, and you can then bring in/out depending on weather/preference without being locked into any one system.
 
PuddingSummer said:
I do feel like I can’t win here because I agree with you, but others are very very clearly disagreeing.
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Leave them to deal with the fallout

Follow your gut

Mine go out at 8am after feed and hay , come in at 5.30 I check them for warmth, OK, they snack on hay I return at 7.pm check for warmth, they are clearly warmed through, they have stables with yard, they get fed and hayed

I have a large day yard for muddy weather, a large arena, they go in arena at 10.30 am, and gallop around

I stick to this unless fields are dry enough to go out which a lot of the winter they are for turnout

I don't want soggy legs and feet, i dont want, mud rash, guard their feet religiously, I don't want arthritis, muscles stiff from cold, want them to be warm and comfy. Able to move around do everything poss to make life comfortable

The reward is fit healthy happy horses available to ride whenever needed

You only get out of horses what you put in
 
tristars said:
I would feel the same, I could never feel happy about leaving them out in extreme weather

Hope things improve soon
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Or at least ensure some windbreaks. Rugs can be invaluable, but they need changing every single day, horse needs his body fully checking over, and if you are trying to manage all that in exposed, extreme conditions - hiding to nothing.
Will be lucky not to get blown over, speaking of which, good leg straps rather than fillet strings are a lot safer in high winds - I was once at a neighbours, they were wondering how to get the horses in (could see them backed against a wall, up the hillside), because the storm was so fierce. They obviously saw us, her oldie started down, but his rug ballooned right up like a sail and carried him smash into the adjacent gate. Much later, discovered to have chipped his breast bone and various soft tissue damage. Working with extreme wind and livestock is always hazardous.
What OP describes, and some of the wind velocities already seen this month, isn’t happy reading.
By the time she has cleared her field (good luck with that!); checked fencing and water supply; lugged up and secured quantities of hay (assuming haystack isn’t in the field); attempted to catch, feed and check over and re-rug two animals, carting all necessary supplies to the field - unlikely the poor woman would have either time or energy left to ‘enjoy’ them (or enjoy much else by this stage, it’s unnecessarily exhausting and demoralising), with no evidence her horses are benefitting much, either.
The loan pony would be better with a different loaner, a child who wants to actively ride / spend time with him.
OP would be better in a different situation where she can focus on the elusive one, save money and time. The other yard sounds closer, horse can run in a field every second day, but he does need riding and properly exercising on the other days, to make certain that he does not remain standing inside, which is the crucial issue.
Any riding horse would be far better going out for a decent hack, building fitness and confidence, than mooching and skidding about in the mud holes many consider ‘turnout’.
Good luck with it, keep yourself and the horse safe, and apply common sense.
 
Oldernewbie said:
It doesn’t matter that other places are worse, horses need daily turnout and plenty of it. I hope yards that can’t offer that are forced to close.
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Well, horses sure need to get out of their stables, but some caveats or clarification also needed:
Do you mean plenty of hours / time spent turned loose?
Or
Plenty of space to be turned loose into?
Ideally (from the horses’ pov, not necessarily the people who have to trek to see to them), this might be both, but majority of owners don’t own luxurious acreage, and majority of livery yards could never financially provide this, creating one helluva of a surplus-horse, welfare crisis, and mass exterminations.
Furthermore, merely condemning horses into enclosures (often fairly small) of seriously sub-standard surfaces, described as ‘turnout’ (which it undoubtedly is, as in, the horse is outside the stable and is loose), can be far more compromising for horse health - especially in winter.
100% agree that horses should not be confined 24/7 in stables (unless vet-prescribed), but there are plenty other ways of achieving that, and dependent on the calibre of ‘turnout’, such owners should be congratulated on prioritising their animal’s well being over dogma.
 
My horses don't have any field shelters, they live out 24/7, I do bring them in extreme weather but it's not that often. They are well rugged up and well fed & have never had any issues. Recently I've acquired a fat cobby pony, he hasnt got a rug and he has a very thick coat, I went out to bring them in this recent storm, pelting rain and quite cold, they had already been out in it for about 6 hours and the pony was grazing quite happily.
 
irishdraft said:
My horses don't have any field shelters, they live out 24/7, I do bring them in extreme weather but it's not that often. They are well rugged up and well fed & have never had any issues. Recently I've acquired a fat cobby pony, he hasnt got a rug and he has a very thick coat, I went out to bring them in this recent storm, pelting rain and quite cold, they had already been out in it for about 6 hours and the pony was grazing quite happily.
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Lovely that things are working well for you and yours in your location, that’s great.
Unfortunately, for the OP things are different, and it isn’t. One of those (undeniable) things.
 
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