Living out - how often do you check?

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Dolcé

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Just out of interest, following a pony from the next yard escaping and being gone for 4 days before anyone went looking for him, even then I think it was only because a post was put on the local riding club facebook page, I am totally disgusted but am I just over reacting? We check on all ours at least twice a day and would like to think we would notice if one was missing. This pony was in with several other ponies belonging to other people so I can only assume that either nobody has been near for 4 days (quite likely) or that nobody has noticed the field had a pony missing. What is an acceptable timescale between visits to check on your horses. The awful thing about this is the field has lots of ditches, drops and marshy bits in and the pony could have been stuck or injured somewhere for 4 days without being found.
 
4 DAYS?!? :eek:

That is negligence on every single owner in that field. Complete disgrace.

Mine are checked at least twice a day, plus have a bevy of local dog walkers on lookout duty and my number on the gate.

Its a common courtesy to me that when Im there I check the other 2 as well as my own. If they need a rug/feed/first aid I supply it and their owner does the same. Last year I noticed straight off when one had jumped out and sorted out rescuing him as his owner was at work. Everyone should help each other :D
 
That's unbelievable! My field has three geldings in it, all owned by different people and we all go up there every day, at least once to check them. I run my hands down all their legs to check for injuries, and I'm sure the others do too, we all pooh pick and check on water. We have lots of grass so don't put hay out at the moment but that'll come soon. I couldn't go 4 days without seeing my horses unless I was on holiday or ill. Can't believe people leave them that long! My youngster is on full livery and I still like to see her every day, even knowing my yard owner is fabulous!
 
I check once a day, but there are seven other horses in the field and the owners of six of them (inc YO) also check them every day, and we'd all obviously keep an eye on each other's as well, so they're well kept on!

Sadly one livery never checks her horse, in fact I've yet to meet her in the 2 monts + I've been at this yard... but that's another issue. :rolleyes:
 
I genuinely think that if the post hadn't been put on the RC page then it would have been the weekend before it was noticed as we only ever see the liveries at this yard on a weekend (we pass the yard on the way to ours). The YO obviously hadn't bothered checking either and that is quite a scary thought. The owner, when finally collecting the pony, joked that she was a bad owner - understatement comes to mind!
 
As often as poss, I do spend a lot of time in the field tho, my worst time is when we work dayshift, our 2 are checked at 5 30am and again at 8pm when we get home, nightshift they are checked at 5 30pm and again at 8 am the difference is at night a lady I know checks them while walking her dog usually about 8 30 pm.
 
We have two out 24/7, 365.

We feed and poo pick daily, and have a couple of other dog walkers / locals who keep an eye. If something is wrong, we usually know about it within a hour or so.

Four days without seeing the ponies... I would suffer withdrawal symptoms.
 
i in the mornings to see my two and check the other 2 in the field at the same time. My friend does hers in the evening and checks the others at the same time.

The the 3rd owner lives on site so sees them throughout the day.

If me and my friend didn't do either end i'd be going twice a day despite the fact its a 40odd mile round trip for me. the amount of times one of us has to redo rug straps or repair a bit of fence it doesnt bare thinking about them being see any less often
 
i check my fieldys twice a day.. leg check, rug check . shoe/foot check. liveries head count ie 5 in field .. yes five there, and through the day they are seen whilst doing pooh picking, checking fences, owners catch them etc.
 
4 horses living out, I check them all once a day in the morning, go back in the dark but will only see Charlie. The other owners also check them daily as well. They live in a 14 acre field, if i cant see one of them I will always go looking. Could never not see Charlie for 4 days!!
 
OMG! we check ours at least once every day (there is always either me or my sister there first thing every day) even if they are not coming in for the night. I am at the yard doing other things on the days/ nights they are not coming in whether im working or not. I tend to drive past and see the boys at the fence give them the once over whenever I need to go somewhere that is a 5 min drive from the yard too.

Unfortunatley I do know a couple of people who do not check thier horses and can go 3-4 days without turning up atall, relying on others to check for them. :( that I dont agree with.
 
I check them once a day every day. To be honest our and the others fields is one big field divided and they would notice if one was injured so overall they get checked five times a day.:)
 
thats really shocking!

my pony lives out 24/7 i check twice a day- always before 9am in case anything has happened during the night, and again before dark just to make sure all ok.

just cause he lives out he still has his feet picked out daily and a full check over to look for cuts/lumps/bumps etc

As theres no automatic water i fill field buckets daily.

i also walk the field daily to poo pick and check fencing or anything that is in the field that shouldnt be etc....


On top of this there's two other owners who each visit twice a day, usually at seperate times, so the horses get looked at 6 times a day
 
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