Living out and somewhere to lie down?

[NightStock]

Hello,

Hope you are all enjoying a frosty but sunny Saturday?

For those of you with horses out 24/7 and no use of barn, do you have a dedicated area that has a non-slip surface they can lie down/roll on?

I have an area of hard standing for eating but it is not suitable for rolling/lying down on. Does anyone use the mud control mats with sand on top and do the horses use this for lying down? I am looking for suggestions to provide a non-slip option as fields are so wet currently!

Thanks

 

[Pearlsasinger]

We have mud control mats in our shelter and as hard standing outside it. They did have sand on but it washed off. We have shavings in the shelter, the horses sometimes lie down on the shavings, sometimes on the hard standing and sometimes lie down/roll on the field.

 

[onebigjump]

Mine live out 24/7. They seem to lie down or roll wherever takes they're fancy. I doubt they would use anything that I had put down specifically for them to roll or lay on

 

[Meredith]

Mine seems to roll or lie down where ever it is muddiest. I fenced off a drier space and got up one morning to see him lying in the middle of the boggiest part of the field.

 

[HashRouge]

Is this none grass turnout OP? Because my lot all roll/ lie down in whatever patch of their field they feel like!

 

[NightStock]

Thanks for the replies, you can lead a horse to water an all that!

Yes all grass turnout, with a very small yard area she can stand to eat/drink and shelter but basically concrete and even with bedding, not suitable for lying in/rolling.

She has given herself a couple of frights when trying to get up on the mud after heavy rain, she is an older lady but vet is happy with her otherwise. I'm thinking just somewhere with a bit of surface would be a good option for her, whether she actually uses it, is another question of course?

 

[laura_nash]

She has given herself a couple of frights when trying to get up on the mud after heavy rain, she is an older lady but vet is happy with her otherwise. I'm thinking just somewhere with a bit of surface would be a good option for her, whether she actually uses it, is another question of course?

A few months ago my cob was lame so I had him into a yard area with access to a large open fronted barn bedded down with a thick straw pellet bed (on top of an old peat bed, not concrete, so should have been super comfy). He chose to sleep in the only bit of mud available instead (in one corner of the otherwise gravel yard). Even when it was pouring with rain he still preferred the mud to the bed with a roof.

 

[J&S]

On dry nights in the winter when I leave mine out they have access still to their stables and a dry bed but never ever use it except to pop in for a poo!

 

[JennBags]

One of the reasons I started bringing mine in at night in the winter was that he'd lie down and my fields are so wet, he'd have a wet belly all the time which I think can't be good for him.

 

[Goldenstar]

This probaly won’t be allowed on a livery yard but I have in the past skipped all the droppings out into a barrow and mucked out the rest of the box into another and used that bedding in an area in the field the horses used it loads for rolling and lying .

 

[Alwaysmoretoknow]

My useless trio of retirees have a lovely, ruiniously, expensive double field shelter furnished with rubber mats and nice, deep micanthus bedding and hay so nice you could eat it with some milk and sugar. Will they go in it? Will they fek. They much prefer to stand in and sleep in the muddiest, most exposed part of the field and guilt stare me through the kitchen window. I often wonder how horses have survived the process of evolution.

 

[Not_so_brave_anymore]

I've kind of created a couple of "rafts" in my muddy field out of all the odds and ends of leftover manky hay (just kept chucking hay onto the mud until it stopped sinking!) I nearly always see the pony lying on one of these patches, but I do also sometimes see her lying right in the mud. (Ps she has a lovely field shelter, with rubber mats and a proper thick bed. Apparently she hates it!)

 

[GinaGeo]

Mine have a gravel pit.

But they all choose to sleep in either their open stables or their field shelter. All are matted with the thickest EVA Mats. I don’t bed them anymore - but that just means they don’t pee in them. The mats are plenty thick enough and they’re often flat out snoring. The rest of their track is thinner gravel, hard rubber mats or concrete.

 

[NightStock]

Thanks all, you have given me a few thoughts and a lot of laughs. I might try with the patch of old hay to start with go from there.

 

[Palindrome]

Mine love a round bale of straw in the field. They eat some, spread it around a bit and then sleep in it. They also have a round bale of hay but they prefer to sleep in the straw.