In at night yet?

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Orangehorse

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Mine have been out 24/7 all summer but I am wondering if it is time to start bringing them in at night.

There is very little grass on their paddock, so I have been feeding them hay for ages. There is very little shelter from the prevailing wind, although there are some trees that they shelter by if there is rain. Horse is staring to feel a bit woolly, and he always likes his stable anyway.

There is starting to be a nip in the air and I think they would be happy enough to come in, it is just the thought of all that stable cleaning every day that is putting me off!

Some years they have been in at night all year, but with me doing no competitions it has certainly been much easier to keep them out all the time this summer
 
Are they losing condition? If not, I'd shove a rug on if they are genuinely cold and keep them out.

I hold off bringing in as long as I can as mucking out 2 before a 12 hour day at work is my idea of hell!
 
Orangehorse said:
Mine have been out 24/7 all summer but I am wondering if it is time to start bringing them in at night.

There is very little grass on their paddock, so I have been feeding them hay for ages. There is very little shelter from the prevailing wind, although there are some trees that they shelter by if there is rain. Horse is staring to feel a bit woolly, and he always likes his stable anyway.

There is starting to be a nip in the air and I think they would be happy enough to come in, it is just the thought of all that stable cleaning every day that is putting me off!

Some years they have been in at night all year, but with me doing no competitions it has certainly been much easier to keep them out all the time this summer
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Some of ours have come in this weekend as the weather has gone very cold, it was six on Friday night so very chily for those out without rugs on.

I sadly couldn't turn mine out at night this summer but really want to do so next year.
 
Mine (Section Ds) have been in for three nights now. They have been in during the day all summer and out at night. Now they are in at night and out during the day. Not rugged yet, too hot during the day. They were getting a little fluff.
 
Mine come in at some hour of the day virtually year round for a variety of reasons (flies, vile weather, too hot, too cold, too fat, too thin, etc.), so it really isn't a big change. They don't like being out at night unless the days are really hot.
 
We have to bring in from the 1st of October, the yard owner may hold off this year as no wind/rain etc but we don't have any grass
 
I'm very fortunate to be on a yard that has all year turnout and it's my call what i do, which is fantastic! He comes in for a few hours during the day and i intend to keep this routine up through the winter really (although if we get a run of very cold/windy/wet weather i usually give him a night or two in if needed). The winter field he'll be going into has plenty of nooks and crannies to get out of the worst of the weather and plenty of sheltering trees if needed. He does appreciate coming in during the day though for a kip and to re-charge the batteries and it's good that he's there ready and waiting for me when i arrived on the yard on an evening.

My boy's started to put up his seasonal winter coat now and by the end of the month he'll be needing a clip (everything off but the legs!). I'm holding out at the moment and leaving him naked to give his coat a chance to come through good and proper before he spends the winter months in rugs.
 
Ours will be out 24/7 in all but the worst weather, my boy has a lightweight rug on overnight at the moment, have noticed his winter coat is coming through, however his native fieldmate is still nekked!
 
I am lucky that I have masses of grass, so mine will stay out for as long as possible, hopefully another couple of months at least. They will be rugged as necessary, and as long as we don't get prolonged torrential rain they will be very happy out.
 
Been out 24/7 since April. Don't know when YO will want them in, when the ground starts to get wet I guess but currently the fields look good. Still a fair bit of grass. I've experimented with putting out a bit of hay for mine but he hasn't touched it so he clearly still has enough grass to eat. He isn't rugged yet either - makes it easier to get the summer coat out so I can clip. Hoping ours will stay out til Oct.
 
Planning on switching mine around end of this month.
She is rugged up overnight, has a very fine summer coat and hoping to keep it that way as long as possible!
 
Goodness no - it's still too early! I'm lucky that my yard has 100 acres of grazing so all of the horses tend to stay out until mid Oct/early November.

Some of the hardier types (mine included) will hopefully stay out until December and then go back out again in March/early April.

Mine does come in for a bit during the day just to get him off the grass a bit as he's quite plump. It also saves me searching for him in a huge field in the dark!

He's currently out with a rainsheet on and is as happy as larry!
 
We've brought ours in now. Very early for us, usually like to leave out longer! However, new baby horse had another growth spurt and dropped a load of condition so its best for her to stand inside in the warm and dry eating overnight! So my mare has come in too. Next year though she shouldn't be having so many growth spurts and I'll hold out until the clocks change-weather depending
 
My boy spent summer in at day and out at night, with the storm warning coming last Sunday I decided to bring him in Friday night, the plan was to then change back this week but he is so happy coming in for the night, he gallops to the gate as soon as I pull up and whinneys away until I bring him in, so I'm about a month earlier than my normal schedule but yes, Ben is coming in at night already, because I'm a softy and because he wants too :p
 
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