Living out 24/7 all year round - experience and ideas please

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Jazzy B

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I've recently moved to a private yard, which I have full run of (no sharing :D). I have my own horse and have loaned a companion for him.

In the next couple of months, they are going to be moving into their winter grazing which has two stables and hard standing accessible from it. I'm in two minds whether to bring them in at night or just leave the stables open so that they can come and go as they wish. Does anyone have any experience of this, and what works better? If you do leave the stables open for them to wonder in and out as they please, what kind of bedding do you use? I read with interest on another thread that one posters horses just used their shelter as a toilet so she used rubbing matting to discourage them and encourage them to do their business outside.

Any ideas and experience of this kind of set up gratefully received as this is a new one to me, having been on livery yards forever!

Thank you
 
As long as they have some sort of shelter, forage - grass/hay (and hard feed as required), and rugged according to weather (and clip, if you clip yours) then there is no reason they couldn't be out 24/7 quite happily.

Thought of only having to poo pick is wonderful! No early starts to muck out or rushing to bring in at night :P
 
I do just what you are suggesting. After years of keeping competition horses and ponies stabled at night, last year I took on two youngsters to look after. I debated was unsure what to do but Blue Cross Field Officer encouraged me to leave them out unrugged.

My two stables are in one of the paddocks, so I left the doors open for them. I put shaving down as bedding and find this works well, especially when icy I let them spill over apron concrete. The ponies used the stables regularly for shelter from bad weather, often lying down in one together.

Usually I put their hay outside on ground but when it was snowing hard or very wet they liked having the hay inside the boxes!

After years of dashing outside for morning stables, morning feed etc, last winter was very much more relaxed as they looked after themselves.
 
Mine are out 24/7 all year, they will have a bit more shelter this year as I am moving fields, but they don't have "proper" shelters. Regarding not wanting them to use it as a toilet, personally it would be great if they did all that in one place, how easy would it make poopicking not to have to traipse round a field!! I love having them out, they are happy and healthy, and during the week if I am stuck for time or the weather is foul then I just have to hay, check water, check ponies and they're done. I can't imagine ever having to do the early morning muckout again, I don't think I could keep them on a yard without 24/7 turnout all year.
 
Absolutely leave out with the stables left open - ideal situation, not sure why you're even questioning it! Of course it'll be healthier for your horses and so much easier for you! I leave my stable doors open so mine all come in and out as they want. One stable is rubber matted which is ideal for this IMO, they still lie down on the mats but its so much easier to keep clean. My other very large stable just has concrete so I usually deep litter it with straw for the winter. I've got hay bars in there as well as haynets tied up under the over hang so its very handy for keeping the hay dry.
 
Thank you very much everyone, guess after so many years of everything being very high maintenance with having to walk to fields etc it just all seems a bit too simple.
 
Sometimes I miss the ritual of bringing in at night and mucking out and things :) putting a horse 'to bed' with a nice warm mash and their stable blanket on has such a cozy feel. But since I got used to 24/7 turnout it's definitely the more stress free option of the two and I never worry my girl is bored or that her haynet is empty. We have a shelter and stables in the field and the doors are kept open at all times.
 
Don't be so sure about rubber mats making it clean, we have rubber mats across half of our field shelter, they poo in it like nobody's business then my sisters horse lies in it, he spends the whole winter absolutely stinking! We do put a thin layer of straw down on the mats (about a bale a week added over a few days) and muck it out weekly but he still stinks
 
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