Leaving Horse in Stable during the Day

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worldchimp

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I just wanted your thoughts. If it is bad, miserable weather during the day, do you leave your horses in the stable (depending on the ground conditions in your fields). If, the answer is yes, what do you do about feeding your horse at lunchtime? I work fulltime and can not get back to feed him in my lunchbreak if he is in the stable. What do you do in this situation? (if there is noone else to feed them)
 
No, I rarely keep mine in to be honest. He's well rugged up, with plenty of shelter in the field.

If he does stay in for any reason though, he's given plenty of hay to see him throughout the day.

I don't feed my horse at lunch time, so it's not an issue.
 
I cant, my mare stresses at change in her routine, i left her in on friday and came up at lunchtime to find she had colic
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No, I rarely keep mine in to be honest. He's well rugged up, with plenty of shelter in the field.

If he does stay in for any reason though, he's given plenty of hay to see him throughout the day.

I don't feed my horse at lunch time, so it's not an issue.

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^^ this. I very rarely keep mine in during the day though, she would totally trash her stable in a temper
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The weather would have to be really extreme for me to keep her in. She really is happier out in the field. If she had to stay in because of snow, she would get a large pile of hay or haylage and not very much at all in the way of bucket food.
 
Mine is in today as we have to go down a busyish road to the field, and I didnt fancy it with gale force wind, a recovering broken foot and a wild 4yr old
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She is in with plenty of hay, half in a haynet (I usually hate them, but slows her down) and half on the floor. She also has a treat ball thing to play with.
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I very rarely leave mine in during the day...unless its really bad and YO invokes the day-in, day-out rule.....

I muck out in the mornings...give them a mahoosive haynet and plenty of water.......then go back down at tea-time and skip out, top up hay and water and feed if need be.
 
My horse goes out in all weathers. She's only in during the day when unwell and then I have to pay the yard or ask a friend to feed during the day.
 
Mine are actually happier in when the weathers rotten, there out atm but will be coming in shortly.
My Diva WB has stood in the same spot since he was T/O this morning
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. I can't stand to see his misery for much longer. This is the benifit of keeping & working from home.

I never do a mid day feed, but i feed ad lib Haylage, so the horses are never without food.
 
Mine is in today as it was forecast for heavy rain but it hasn't rained since b****y 7am! So she's going out at lunchtime. Anyway, in answer to your question, I'm afraid I agree with pretty much everyone else - no bucket feeds during the day, just plenty of hay (would give her a stable toy but she's scared of them) and that's it until bedtime.

She'll be in such a foul mood when I go back but hopefully the fields will be slightly drier (big mud fever risk for mine!).
 
My boys are in at the moment - one is agrophobic and hates being out in the field as it is, so if weather is bad I keep him in as he spends the whole time cantering up and down the fenceline. The trouble is, I have to keep my other lad in to keep him company
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I bought haynet with tiny holes, and fill them with hay, carrots, parsnips, horse treats, bits of apple, bread etc. The 'treats' fall out as they munch through their hay and they seem to enjoy it. They also have licks in their stables.

I like them to have a bit of hay left when I go back to the yard in the evening so that I know they've had access to food all day and haven't gone hungry.
 
Mine love being in and are quite happy all day as long as there is company, hay and water. I left them in this moring as it was blowing a gale, I'll turn them out for an hour or so at 4pm while I muck out to stretch their legs
 
only if the hunt are round or farrier or similar.

am a bit confused though how do you give a midday feed if horse is out? cant see how any different?

if they do stay in they get the run of the yard while we sort out in the evening then.
 
Would your horse be fed normally at lunch then? If so, can that person do it for you?
If not, then a haynet and maybe a snack ball in the morning should suffice until you can get up there in the evening, then maybe turnout while you muck out so they can have a breath of fresh air and a leg stretch.
 
QR- there would have to be some form of hurricance for our lot to stay in....... they are horses and dont melt in the rain..... however I do know some who hate bad weather so each to their own...... if they have to stay in for the farrier etc then they just get a shed load of hay.......... I dont feed them at lunchtime when out so wouldnt when in....
 
I have never left ours in during the day. They are rugged and get some morning hay in the field and will spend some time looking miserable during the day, until they get hungry and go to hunt grass that is.

But then we have good hedges, a field shelter, some gorse bushes which they love to shelter in (despite being on top of the field) and dips in the ground where its possible to get out of the wind. I wouldn't fancy turning out in a flat field with no shelter in cr*ppy weather if I'm honest
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To be honest if its just ad hoc days then i shouldnt worry about a lunch time feed. just pleanty of hay and a snack ball will suffice thats all mine gets on an ad hoc day in, however, when he does come in for "winter" he will hve about an hour a day just to stretch his legs and kick his heels he will have a lunch feed and i am lucky enough that i have someone who can do this for me x
 
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No, I rarely keep mine in to be honest. He's well rugged up, with plenty of shelter in the field.

If he does stay in for any reason though, he's given plenty of hay to see him throughout the day.

I don't feed my horse at lunch time, so it's not an issue.

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Same as this for me
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no- my horses don't melt in the rain and are quite big enough that i don't have to worry about them blowing away!

one of mine weaves so is best kept in a routine and also i couldn't be bothered with all that mucking out!!!
 
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Mine love being in and are quite happy all day as long as there is company, hay and water. I left them in this moring as it was blowing a gale, I'll turn them out for an hour or so at 4pm while I muck out to stretch their legs

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Ditto this. Ours stay in a lot and are happy to do so. I do, however, hay them at lunchtime, but if I or someone else cannot, they just get a fair amount of hay given to them in the morning and are left to it. WHen I left the yard earlier 2 were down snoozing away
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Ours hates being in -breaks up his routine and makes him restless. Is currently only in during the day when the shoot are on the farm (11 days/year) and tbh if anyone else was brave enough to go out with him (obviously if we were sure they couldn't get shot!) he'd be much better off out.

If yours really has to be in make sure they have loads of (soaked if necessary) hay(ledge) to keep them occupied. Def not additional hard feed for them when cooped up.
 
One of mine stays out 24/7 although I'd rather he had a stable and the other is happiest in his house with a haynet and a ball around lunchtime. He completely changes from a stress monster outside into a happy and chilled ned. Mind you when he was a foal he would be sleeping in the warm barn whilst mummy was out eating and as a yearling he pulled enough hay out of a round bale to make himself a little nest so I don't think he was ever destined to be a hardy boy!
 
My mare is still out 24/7 but I think I may have to bring her in at night now, as there isn't going to be the company for her but as long as there is she is out and very happy. If she does have to come in at night I will feed her ad lib haylage, so there will always be something to eat. So no need to just feed some for morning, just chuck loads in to last the day... However I would try and keep her out personally.x
 
Mine only ever stays in if its frozen solid underfoot from a frost.
Gets turned out with nice Stormbuster to keep him warm and left in the field for 12 hours. If, he was broken, for example and had to stay in - I would give him half rations hard food and a big pile of haylage. He now has 14 x 14 ft stable so could probably exercise himself in it its so big!!
 
QR I have left mine in during the day, in fact they are in today as the weather is vile, heavy rain and wind and our field has no natural shelter and gets very windy too.
I understand they are horses and are hardy creatures but I do sometimes leave in during the day if weather is awful or it is more convenient for me to do so.
None of mine get feeds during the day as they are mostly good doers anyway, but just get a good supply of haylage to last them until I go and muck out etc.
They seem quite happy to be in to be honest when the weather is like this because from experience when I have seen mine and other people's horses out in heavy rain most of the time they have not been grazing but either sulking at the gate ( heads down and looking miserable) or else standing by a fence or similar doing the same.
I don't mollycoddle any of mine but if you have a stable there and are paying for it, my belief is to use it. If there is no natural shelter for them and the field is very exposed and most of the nutrition has gone from the grass (at this time of year), then why not keep them in a day or so and feed hay/haylage.
 
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But then we have good hedges, a field shelter, some gorse bushes which they love to shelter in (despite being on top of the field) and dips in the ground where its possible to get out of the wind. I wouldn't fancy turning out in a flat field with no shelter in cr*ppy weather if I'm honest
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that is my problem - an open very exposed flat field in an area that does have extremes of wind and rain because of the local geography
 
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