Moving to over night turn out

[emfen1305]

I am moving yards in a couple of weeks and have the opportunity to turn out at night and bring in during the day which would better suit my routine and I think would be better for Bud as he is bothered by the flies and hopefully they wont be as bad. My current yard is famous for not having any grass and the new place has quite a bit of it, they have offered me a slightly grazed down paddock for him but I also thought the night turn out would be better for this too. He is not grossly overweight (could may be do with a bit more off but working on that with ridden work) but I am still worried about him and the dreaded L word. He will be out from about 7am-7pm. Do I muzzle at night or leave him? Should I soak his hay for when he is in during the day (though he is quite fussy and will only eat what he wants so not sure how soaked hay will go down!) Hard feed wise he is just on a token amount of Topchop Zero, light balancer and salt. I keep him clipped with covercote blades all year round so he has a little covering but should I pop a fly rug on him at night?

Any advice for making the switch would be appreciated

 

[LaurenBay]

If he is a bit overweight at the moment, then I would muzzle overnight and feed soaked hay during the day. I would not change the feed just yet. Keep a close eye and if he becomes footy then ring your vets for advice and keep him in. Once he has lost some weight then remove the muzzle but keep up the soaked hay.

I'd leave him naked at night also.

 

[Ceriann]

Ive brought mine in during the day this year due to grass. I find mine barely pick at their hay when in, spending a lot of time snoozing! They have fat nets though so maybe too much work!

 

[Midlifecrisis]

Personally I would want to introduce him slowly to new grass...a couple of hours at a time in order for gut to adjust this would take a couple of weeks. Then turn out at night ...if flies are bad then rug if you want to. Bring in to some hay..but don’t soak if he won’t eat it you ll waste it unless you soak small amounts to introduce the idea to him...again over a period of time. If he doesn’t have supplements I d stop the hard feed and give him a salt lick in the stable.
This is what I would do with mine..other people may have more creative thoughts.

 

[Goldenstar]

I don’t muzzle mine overnight They get a small net of hay at mid dayish and some top chop zero in the afternoon .
The ones who are in light work are losing weight slowly even though the paddock is not bare .

 

[emfen1305]

Thanks - a few things to consider - I am hoping he will be ok, in his last home there was no winter turnout from October - May and then they went into a huge field for the summer and he was OK then so hoping he will cope with a bit of grass!