Is this Turnout Routine ok?

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PercyMum

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We moved to our new place and the fields were awful. Add the terrible winter, roasting summer plus building the arena and we have fields that are not in the best shape. We converted the top part of one of the fields that had been totally destroyed into a woodchipped tumout area with a large haylage feeder for all-weather mooching.

We had been feeding them haylage anyway as the grass is so poor but now the field has turned into a bog (the TB has a habit of racing up and down and performing sliding stops and taking half the field with him). In order to try and save it and nurse it through the winter, I have been turning out in the woodchip area only with lots of haylage. Its about 25m x 25m with cover so I thought would be fine. Once the top paddock has stabilised a bit (also trashed by evil TB) I thought I could turn them out in there for full days but at weekends only. This would give the bottom paddock the winter to recover.

I thought this would be fine but now worrying I should get them out on grass more. On the plus side, they are much cleaner and they can't hooley around in the woodchip area. The TB has already done his SI (2 months off - grr) titting about in the field so thought this could be a good solution? They are out at 6am and in at 1630, and are both exercised 6 days a week.

Any thoughts? if only to alleviate my paranoia that I am being mean to the horses :o
 
Sounds great to me-ours are turned out in the yard (tarmac/stone-approx 1/4 acre for 3 horses) 24/7 in the winter-no grass etc as wet clay, but have open door stables and access to the roundpen for a runaround and roll- they are fed haylage. They cope very well with it with no adverse effects!
 
I'm very pro all weather turnout pens/corrals. Turnout doesn't have to be on grass. You are feeding forage, they have shelter, company, water, room to pootle about and roll. :)

I wish more livery yards with not enough land for decent winter turnout or are on heavy clay, had turnout pens/corrals like that so the horses aren't stuck in their stables so much.
 
Thanks all - was just worried I wasnt being fair to them. They do seem perfectly happy stuffing their faces and not being all mussy and wet! I'll see how the top paddock shapes up but by the sounds of it I have no need to worry if I leave them on this routine until the spring :-)
 
Mine are out in a sand area about 15mx20m ish during the day, every day with haynets to eat from. In stable a night with more hay. Our grass is v wet at this time of year. They won't be turned out on it until April time now. I pull some grass for a treat and put it in the stables every other night.
 
sounds fine :)

if you have time they might enjoy a bucket of fresh grass or some hand grazing time but even if you dont have time i dont think it matters, just a nice treat if you are able.

i always say id rather mine were stabled, with loose time on an all weather and hand grazed, than turned out in a slop. we are VERY lucky where we are now as soil is sandy and drains away like a beach, we dont get mud and it doesnt get rutted, just crumbles back down flat again..............but if we ever move on to heavy clay ill make sure there is all weather area available for a buck/fart/roll/play.
 
I think that sounds great. Our fields are getting trashed so yard has restricted turnout to a couple of hours a day to stretch legs. We also have an all weather turnout pen which is great as can turn out for a buck and a roll rather than paddling about in deep mud
 
You have to work with what facilites you have, and think what you are doing sounds spot on.

I always take the view that I would rather have good 24/7 turnout for the spring/summer months, and if that means retsricted turn out in the winter, so be it!
 
We are planning an all weather turnout for next year - 12 months into having horses at home and getting to grips with wet clay - its on the list but stables and fencing went top of the list for spare cash. Having just shifted my 3 from what was becoming a bog to the only unpoached field left (not much grass but now dry following the cold weather and not churned) it was great to see them have a mad 15 minutes of bucking and generally playing. They need hay in this field in the same way as an all weather area so personally im quite jealous!

As a matter of interest what did it cost to sort out your woodchipped area - we are looking to do this next year in our wet field (its great in summer and dry as a bone but due to clay is a nightmare when you get prolonged wet periods) - section off a piece and have it as a feeding, dry area (possibly with shelter). My older mare needs to be out as much as possible due to early signs of arthritis (and my other two are very good doers and happier out with rugs) so this type of area is now on the top of our list of to do's at home!
 
Ceriann said:
We are planning an all weather turnout for next year - 12 months into having horses at home and getting to grips with wet clay - its on the list but stables and fencing went top of the list for spare cash. Having just shifted my 3 from what was becoming a bog to the only unpoached field left (not much grass but now dry following the cold weather and not churned) it was great to see them have a mad 15 minutes of bucking and generally playing. They need hay in this field in the same way as an all weather area so personally im quite jealous!

As a matter of interest what did it cost to sort out your woodchipped area - we are looking to do this next year in our wet field (its great in summer and dry as a bone but due to clay is a nightmare when you get prolonged wet periods) - section off a piece and have it as a feeding, dry area (possibly with shelter). My older mare needs to be out as much as possible due to early signs of arthritis (and my other two are very good doers and happier out with rugs) so this type of area is now on the top of our list of to do's at home!
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We fenced off the top section with a gateway to the main field area so that we could open it to make a whole fields in the summer. We then levelled the top bart (with the LandRover and a borrowed roller), waited for it to be as dry as possible and plonked about 14 tonnes of woodchip on top. Cost £300 from a local farmer. He put it in with the tractor which did churn up the ground and left us with boggy bits under the woodchip, which we are slowly sorting out. So my advise would be not to use a tractor to do this bit and do it by hand or with a smaller vehicle. Overall, its done very well and is ideal for turning out on and is great as a 'poorly' paddock, as demonstarted by the stupid TB with an SI injury!! Its really worth doing if you can as it has made my wet weather outine much easier. Pricey on the forage though. Hoope that helps - feel free to aks if you have any more Q's!
 
At our yard there are 2 x woodchip turnout pens. They are not very big, and can get a bit boggy, but a lifesaver over the winter!
The one downside to turning out on a small and sometimes boggy woodchip, I have found, is that the horses lose their fitness incredibly quickly. In the field, even if muddy they mooch about, but on the woodchip they tend to just stand and eat. This means they also get colder than you expect too.
But still, better than keeping them in all winter!
 
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