If limited t/o only in your area, would you move house?

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BeckyD

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I've been reading the posts from people saying they wouldn't put up with limited t/o and they would move yards. What if you were living in an area that has (as ours has) clay soil so fields get very very boggy/heavy/slippery and thus t/o has to be restricted at times - not only to protect the fields but also to protect the horses? Would you move area (with a house/job move) so that your horse could have unlimited t/o?

I'm interested to see people's replies - when I was younger our area was terrible for t/o - I can't think of anywhere local to my old village that did winter t/o. Maybe we should have moved!!
 
For me the answer is absolutely - yes. But then one of the questions I would ask prior to moving on to a yard was how much turnout was there in the winter months. If my horse couldn't be turned out daily for several hours then I wouldn't move there in the first place. So hopefully the situation would never arise.

I do understand that some livery yards don't have the acreage for unlimited turnout - but then I would argue that they either have too many horses, or not the facillities to offer a livery service full stop.

Also, yes, some land does not drain well - so I can understand limited turnout in areas like that. If I was in an area that had badly draining soil then I would put up with limited turnout - but it would still have to be on a daily basis - rather than adhoc basis.

I don't believe that horses spend the day galloping around (ours certainly don't) - so the argument that preventing turnout during the winter months protects the horses from damage doesn't wash with me.

Provided it is looked after land recovers (mostly) really, really well. So providing fields can be rested and stock rotated I can't see why turnout out would be limited or denied.
 
TBH I would probably research an area first to check that it had decent turnout before I moved there! But if I HAD to move to an area with limited turnout, Id probably do something else like have turn them out in an outdoor school or something.
 
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When I moved to my yard, I was told there was all year turn out! If Id have known there actually isnt, I wouldnt have moved there!!

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That's just awful!!
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I'm seriously considering moving as this year we've been banned from turning out for the past two weeks, and I think the YO is going to do it more in the future. Also wants to take away some fields
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TO is a must in my book
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I don't believe that horses spend the day galloping around (ours certainly don't) - so the argument that preventing turnout during the winter months protects the horses from damage doesn't wash with me.


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Mine does - you should see the state of his field - it's disgraceful!! Skid marks longer than you could imagine, and enormous holes. I think he's the only one that's a bit of a loon though.

Ours have been in for a week now, having been out pretty much every day until that point. And it looks like they'll be in this week too. I did ask whether there was winter t/o and was told yes, unless the weather was terrible in which case they'd be kept in for the day (I don't think it's that terrible at the moment but I guess it depends on your definition).

I've never had my own land (rented a bit for a while), so don't know what goes into pasture management/rotation etc. so it's interesting to hear more about it, thank you.
 
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When I moved to my yard, I was told there was all year turn out! If Id have known there actually isnt, I wouldnt have moved there!!

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That's just awful!!
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I've been told that before - then you get a few drops of rain and 'due to the exceptional weather...blah blah blah' you find you can only turn out for half the winter
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- VERY annoying!
 
my first yard we had to keep horses in fully from christmas until easter there wasnt a school and he wouldnt let you ride in the fields moved from that one fast
 
I can understand why YOs have to restrict turnout ocassionally in winter and therefore ask liveries to keep the horses in for a few days if the fields are very wet, and I'd rather they did that to help manage the condition of the fields than just let them get poached. But I do think it's important for the horses to be able to stretch their legs somewhere - in a school, on a walker etc.

I wouldn't want to be at a yard where they were kept in regularly - in fact I have just discovered that looking for a yard at this time of year has an advantage in that you can actually go and see if the horses are in or out!! I don't know about moving house though- that is an expensive option! I'd probably just be willing to drive slightly further afield to find a yard with decent turnout.
 
I allow my liveries to turn out every day regardless of weather as I feel the horses need fresh air and space, however, if it is pooring down and gail force winds I do see the livery horses just stood with their backs to the weather with their heads hung low (not grazing) whilst my horses are in a lovely clean spacious stable munching on fresh haylage and playing with their 'lickit' toys/balls whilst the livery horses owners are at work and totally unaware how miserable their horses look having been turned out from 7am in the morning before they go off to work!
 
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I allow my liveries to turn out every day regardless of weather as I feel the horses need fresh air and space, however, if it is pooring down and gail force winds I do see the livery horses just stood with their backs to the weather with their heads hung low (not grazing) whilst my horses are in a lovely clean spacious stable munching on fresh haylage and playing with their 'lickit' toys/balls whilst the livery horses owners are at work and totally unaware how miserable their horses look having been turned out from 7am in the morning before they go off to work!

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I want to move to your yard!!
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if it is pooring down and gail force winds I do see the livery horses just stood with their backs to the weather with their heads hung low.....

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Yes - poor old loves, it's awful when the weather is so horrid they just stand all day like that.

But at least your liveries have the choice. I've kept my horse in on days like that - but equally when I've been caught out, he's the one in the middle of the field happily stuffing his face.
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I can't tell you the number of times I rushed up to the yard to bring my previous horse in on days like this - worried that she was cold and miserable. Likewise, she was usually in the middle of the field wondering what all the fuss was about......
 
but then again - restoring badly damaged land costs money in machinery, time, fertiliser, seeding, etc and then that would be added to the livery charges to recoup the costs and then the liveries would moan about their bills going up

not a win win situation
 
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but then again - restoring badly damaged land costs money in machinery, time, fertiliser, seeding, etc and then that would be added to the livery charges to recoup the costs and then the liveries would moan about their bills going up not a win win situation

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Keeping land in good order requires all of those things as well - regardless of whether they are grazed in the winter or not. And why would bills go up - you can't run a business like that without the correct equipment, so that cost would allready be absorbed in to your bill when it was first set.
 
agree - tractor etc probably already owned - but the depreciation and maintenance costs on owning seeders and fertiliser spreaders that are used maybe once a year has to be offset against the cost of a contractor to do the same thing. I worked out that the contractor was cheaper for my land as it also meant I benefitted from his bulk buying of fertiliser

normal land maintenance is one thing

restoring totally poached up sea of mud back into a grassy field without the weeds that grow on poor soil taking over is something else entirely - I've done it for 10 acres of derelict poached, neglected, pooh laden land and wouldn't do it again so I do have the costs in mind of land management

I wish it was as 'easy' as people sometimes think it is - but it's not and for something to do with your time it's about as exciting as watching grass grow ;-))
 
We've got all year t/o at my yard, but no, I wouldn't move house if that weren't the case. I too couldn't afford it.

It wouldn't bother me if we had limited t/o in Winter, Molly is ready for in after 2 or 3 hours anyway. If I can't get down to bring her in, someone else does it for me (I'm on a very friendly yard where there is always someone there until about 6pm).
 
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I wish it was as 'easy' as people sometimes think it is - but it's not and for something to do with your time it's about as exciting as watching grass grow ;-))

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Doesn't seem terribly difficult at my yard........... It's all part of the yearly routine.
 
I'm the only one on my yard at the moment so as it's DIY & I know the YO very well it's up to me if I t/o or keep in. Fields VERY wet now (clay soil !!) so I've only been t/o for a couple of hours on a weekend or occassionally during week when there is someone about to bring back in/scrub mud off feet, etc. as mine just comes up to gate when she's bored !! If she's in it saves her munching on the gate !! So no, I wouldn't move house or horse unless absolutely had to. Also yard only has fields & stables, no other facilities but we are on edge of Epping Forest so MILES of tracks in winter (some a bit hard for fast work but pretty much unrestricted riding in summer) & nice quiet streets nearby for roadwork so I'm happy where I am !!
 
once land is in a good state it is easy to keep it there so long as teh soil samples are done and the correct fertiliser chosen - but the idea of turnout in winter on unsuitable soil types which then cause significant major damage to the root structure of the grass is something entirely different

whilst it may appear that there is grass back again where it had been poached mud - that grass has little root mat strength and so becomes easy to poach out again very quickly

so if a yard hasn't got spare acreage so that land can be rested for 9 months or more to recover from significant damage then it isn't easy to have the pristine grassy fields that people want and yet offer turnout in winter on poor soils

clay is very difficult and lots of yards cannot have winter turnout on clay - one place I was at was a lake in the winter and there was nothing that could be done - some of my contractors land is clay and he reckons that in an average year there is about 2 weeks where the soil is ideal for arable working - the rest of the time it is too wet or too hard
 
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so if a yard hasn't got spare acreage so that land can be rested for 9 months or more to recover from significant damage then it isn't easy to have the pristine grassy fields that people want and yet offer turnout in winter on poor soils

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And that's one of my points in my OP. I think that I may just be very lucky. My horse is on excellent grazing all year round, on good, well drained soil. However, we also have enough acreage to accomodate 14 horses easily, plus stock, to enable rotation and adequate resting of fields.

The land is very well managed and having a rotation of horses, cattle and sheep obviously help. As well as the mechanical assistance it gets in the form of spraying, rolling, harrowing and resting.

I've never kept a horse anywhere where this isn't done - so again perhaps I have rose tinted glasses on to a certain extent.....

I think that a lot of yards overstock - so don't have the land to rest - and perhaps are not willing to put back on to the land what is taken out and therefore insist that the animals are kept in.
 
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Ahhh! I thought you were very quick to up sticks

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I will add 'Can't Read' to my other talent of not being able to spell!!!
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re the overstocking - quite right - and whilst some just won't feed the land they take from - others cannot or will not afford to manage the land correctly without passing the costs onto the liveries - back to the moaning about price increases

fertiliser and seed costs, contractors diesel, machinery repair costs are all going up the same as the prices of hay and horsefeed

and adding a minimum wage to the hours of labour if you do the work yourself still 'costs' and should rightly appear in any yard accounting

I haymake off my land now and there is no way I'd recover the capital costs of the machinery involved in that - so the contractor does that as well and carries the capital and depreciation costs of that machinery in his books and costs.

so think we actually agree ;-))
 
I could have the boys a mile away but there is no turnout at the yard.

So I travel 30 miles round trip and pay to have them on part livery.

Whilst we have 24 x 7 from May to October, November to April we have four days a week t/o. Not a huge problem as mine go in the school in the mornings and I then exercise and put them in the school again evenings.

Some horses do damage themself on very wet conditions. This year Cairo has - we think he tried to play like a 3 year old and slipped in the mud - he is far bigger and heavier and 19 years older than Chancer.

Luckily mine do love their stables and are not bothered on days they don't go out but 3 days a week in is the minimum I would now accept for the winter months.
 
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