Is Living out 24/7 365 really best for your horse?

Yes. I'd be quite happy for mine to live out 24/7 but it wouldn't suit them. In the summer they hate the flies (even with fly rugs) and run around like lunatics, so they come in during the hottest part of the day and go out at night. In winter it's the rain, with heavy clay soil it get to a point when the fields look like swimming pools. The TB had a little mud fever last year, had him for 14 years and never a sign before but it was so wet and his immunity is compromised by cushings. They stand by the gate and are very happy to come in. Also, yet to find a rug that stays absolutely water proof
ridefast said:
Do what you believe is best for your horse, and don't judge others for doing what they believe is best for theirs
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junglefairy said:
Cortez I disagree. An hour or so exercise a day then cooped up in a stable for the remaining 23 hours is completely unsatisfactory both for the mental and physical well being of a horse.

I have worked at competition yards where this was the norm so do have experience of horses living in these conditions.
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An hour or so is NOT enough exercise for a permanently stabled horse; where did I say it was? In properly run establishments horses go out at least twice a day, usually once for exercise, once for work, and I have seen one yard where they also went out twice for hand grazing in addition. Modern systems are not a patch on the "old days" when horses were in real work (I'm talking the pre petrol age here).
 
It's the we that is so hard on horses and fields (and people) here. Horses are fine with dry cold - I know many horses of every type that live out unrugged in very cold climates and thrive so long as they have shelter, adequate forage and open water.
 
I'd love mine to be out all the time, but living on heavy clay, even though I have nearly 6 acres, gets trashed in winter. Atm its so wet and there's water lying over the top in places :( they come in everyday, even if its for a few hours. They come in quite happily on their own into lovely dry stables with plenty of hay, and all of them sleep :)
 
I have kept horses out full time, including thoroughbreds, unrugged, in very cold but DRY climates (Colorado, USA). But here in mild, very wet Ireland it is better (for the horses and for the land) not to be standing in the wet all the time.
 
MiniBlitzen said:
Depends on the field. My horses winter out very well, but its a very large field, hilly bits, flat bits, streams, varied shelter from forest, woodland and hedges and its well drained so is never mucky, rocky areas, varied plants to browse, they even have a little waterfall to admire. My horses are delighted. If you stuck them in a small boring muddy field they might not be so happy. I've never had an unhappy horse here, regardless of how institutionalised they are before they arrived. Few horses are lucky enough to have such surroundings though
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Can I come live in your field too?
 
mine would live out happily, but sadly we have had a very wet winter, so although they have quite a lot of land, it is next to a river, and part of the field now has the river overflowing through it :( i tried keeping them out last year all winter, but they both got mud fever. if i had better draining land they would stay out. so many places do not have enough achrage for the amount of horses, and also have no natural shelter. today in this horrid rain ours are grazing up near the woods for shelter- woods are along the whole side of the 30 achres they are on (mixed herd of 10). mine also came into the barn when it was very hot in the summer, as the field shelters only have room for about 5/10 of them.
mine are in a large barn together, about 4x a normal stable, so they are quite happy as they can touch and move around.
my tb ex-racer, who spent nearly 8 years living in as a racer, actually is very happy being out as much as possible, he keeps weight fine and doesn't need stupid rugging. but has thin skin and 4 white socks which are sadly very prone to mud fever.
all very well saying natural is best- but most horses don't have achres to roam full of natural shelter and plants. we all do what we can to provide the best for our horses :)
 
Im very lucky to have found 24/7 turnout for my horse with four other horses. They are all heavies with coats like mammoths. my lad is a idx and has flourished since I moved him there in October 2011..The vets advice was to keep him out due to copd. he has got a stable if it gets really bad, and I bring him in every morning to check under his rug and give him a feed. I think theres a huge difference between caring for a horse who is outside 24/7 and just throwing a rug on it and going back when the better weather comes!
 
Knobberpony hates being stabled and panics.I spent ages trying to acclimatise her to being in for a little while,but the one time I left her in the stable while I went 5 minutes down the road to pick the girls up,she doubled barrelled the door in her attempts to get out.When I returned,my horsey neighbours had come out to see what all the noise was,she was soaked in sweat and there was a hole in the door.I've never put her in since.Ironically,she loads like a dream,but used to shake once she was on the trailer.She doesn't any more though as she has worked out that the trailer means going out and having fun.
 
I am very lucky to be on a yard which allows 24/7 365 days a year. Most people at my yard however do bring in their horses.
Nell does generally live out, it is what she prefers, I do bring her in sometimes, in the baking sun there is no shelter for example, also as it has been so wet today I will be going up to bring her in to give her some respite from the sopping wet day out there, I think she is happy to come it at times like this, if however I had my own land and the money to do so, I would have a lovely big barn for her to wander in and out of as she pleased :)
Keeping out all the time is not necessarily easier, I have to lug water out to my paddock which is hard work in good weather, let alone wading through water and mud with a heavy wheelbarrow,plus it means more poo picking over a wider area and Nell does not have a preferred spot, she goes everywhere!!! :rolleyes:
 
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