No routine - do they cope?

Clodagh

Clodagh

Playing chess with pigeons
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I have three horses at home now and they are living out. Except the odd night when I get them in! They were in last night as the forecast was rain but are out tonight. I went and fed them, rugged up the two that need it and then left them to it. They have ad lib haylage in the field. I feel guilty though as they wanted to come in, they stood and looked at me after they had finished eating. They have a lovely sheltered field with grass and haylage...but I feel bad! Would I be better off either leaving them out all the time or getting them in every night? (Difficult 2 nights as I work into the evening).
The forecast is snow so they will be coming in from Saturday night anyway.
Do any of you pick and choose what you do with yours and do they cope?
 
I do exactly the same, mine out out as much as possible but in when it rains (stupid heavy clay soil!) this can be many weeks in at night then out for a week then in a day back out for a week etc. etc.
Mine seem to suffer no ill effects. I notice they sleep well when in if they haven't been in for a while but other than that no change in their behaviour.
I know some horses seem to need a ridged routine and fret if their owners are 30 mins late getting them out/ in - but as long as you're consistent in your absence of routine I think they cope.
 
Yup - well my lad has been fine :)

At previous livery yards, he was the only one NOT stood by the gate waiting for me, and even now he carries on grazing until I appear. Also, where he has been living out 24/7 for the last 6 years, since getting mud fever I've been locking him in his field shelter, and it hasn't impacted on him at all :)

Although I'm sure there are some horses that need routine.
 
Routine is what upsets them, or rather having a routine which doesn't change often so when it does it is upsetting or they begin anticipating it abs are upset when it doesn't happen as quickly as they would like.

Mine have no routine except stuffing their faces therefore they never worry what time of day anything appears.
 
Mine don't have a routine either. The weather is my boss this winter and if rain comes, they stay in, if rain goes, out they go.

No complaints and if I did have any, well... Tough bananas.

I don't tend to feel that guilty if the forecast is wrong either. A bit of rain is good for the constitution... Too much isn't :)
 
Mine come in and out depending on weather etc. they don't seem to mind and are never waiting at the gate. I have my own place so no one else to help me and as it was so mild over Xmas I left them all out Xmas day. fed in the morning and checked over then I could enjoy the rest of the day and have a drink and no early morning the next day :) They were totally fine x
 
Yes they cope :)

Due to my broken leg, mine are only in overnight if the weather is incredibly wet - this is to save the fields a bit and from others having to be there in good time to feed & turn out etc...

I prefer to keep mine guessing anyway ;) - on office days (mon-Weds) they will be fed around 6am & 5.30pm, then on non-office days around 7.30/8am & when I'm free to return!
 
Some horses like a routine but to be honest, a routine could just mean seeing someone waving a bucket twice a day or walking along dropping wodges of hay.

I also think routine is something we invent for them.

In the wild they do have a routine but it revolves around seasons and daylight. Their scenery would change daily due to foraging habits and they never stay in one place for very long. No grazers do really if you think about grazers of the Serengeti, Rocky Mountains etc... It's all about survival.

It is our behaviour that shapes theirs.
 
Mine have had a routine over Christmas as I'm off college but when we go back on Monday it's going to be like yours. I don't stable thankfully but I do let them in to eat their feeds in their stables while I muck out and put hay out. On a Monday my sister just chucks hay and feed over the fence in the winter as its too dark when I have got home.
 
I have certain routines like the order I feed the stables and to a certain extent in the evenings at in that I make up haynets, feed then put nets up whilst they are eating etc. I go round and feed the fields in the same order each day but not at a set time and they don't get ridden at the same time each day, if the last is ridden in the semi dark then its deemed life experience! As for in/out its up to the weather and the ground, they don't care.
 
That is great, thank you. They do all look really well and grumpy horse is much less grumpy but those reproachful brown eyes as I was off to my wine by the fire!!
I will be strong and ignore them, my hard feeding times are all over the place to so they don't tend to expect too much there, it just makes their day when I turn up with the buckets!!
You have set my mind at rest.
 
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