Out 24/7 in Winter....thoughts?

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Smallhorses

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I am rrrrreeeeeeeeeeeally sorry for bringin up the "W" word :eek: but I need to start thing about "that season.":rolleyes::D

I have a new Welsh Cross yaaaay! :D:D and trying to make plans for the winter.

He is currently on grass livery for £200 pm. This includes use of facilities, hay, feed and checks twice per day :)

My last horse was a TB (a sensitive one) so she needed to be in by night, out by day during the winter.

I am thinking that my boy could stay out this winter. My YO has asked whether I want to reserve a box for the winter at £300 p/m, £100 more than I am paying now (the whole point of grass and buying a hardy pony was to keep costs down) as she is starting to get busy and wanted to ensure I got what I needed first. I am not sure what to do. It's always nice to see them tucked up in their cosy rugs at night when its pouring out but to be honest is that just for my benefit!? :rolleyes:

The previous owner said she liked him stabled at night because they lose condiciton later in life if they are left out over harsh periods of winter but he is a hardy chap.

What do reckon? :)
 
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No reason why he shouldn't be able to winter out (providing he is healthy)

Im sure many people will tell you. As long as he is warm & has food in his belly and somewhere to shelter from the worst of the weather he'll be fine :)

I have a 25 year old Conny X, lives out 24/7 clipped & rugged, he never looses condition. :D and the year before last, wasn't clipped or rugged :eek: ive never seen him look so well

Seeing them tucked up cosy in their beds is more for our benefit ;)
 
If it was down to me, mine would be out 24/7 all year round (preferrably with no rug, just allowed to grow his own hair out). My YO won't turn any of hers out 24/7 though, and as there's only me and one other livery, I'm a little stuffed (though actually he doesn't seem to mind being on his own).

Yours is a hardy type who'll grow plenty of lovely warm coat to keep him insulated from the cold. As long as he gets plenty of grass/hay to act as central heating, I'd imagine he'll do absolutely fine!

My only concern on a personal level would be not having access to a stable in case of injury or illness. If she's going to get so busy she couldn't let you have a stable later if something went wrong, it might be worth looking into having it anyway...but that's me and I can be a little OTT on the thinking ahead in case anything goes wrong thing :D
 
Difficult one....just because he's a hardy welsh cob doesn't necessarily mean he won't lose condition. He should be able to live out yes, without a doubt. Mind you, some are real wooses! I would be inclined to try it myself, as you have rightly pointed out, you are trying to keep your costs down. With adlib hay and adequate rugging he'll be fine i'M sure. Perhaps you should keep an eye out in the area for a stable if absolutely necessary....is that any help? :)
 
24/7 in W is good for horses, better than being in damp cold stable standing in your own wee and poop.

Ok, there's mud but prepare for that and put down some rubble & core in the gateways to avoid poaching.

All at the yard I'm at live out rugless, unclipped and do so very well.
 
Others have mentioned welfare, staying out, losing or keeping condition etc. You don't say where in the country you are but I think you are being taken for a ride! Grass livery at £50 pw???????? £200 a month?????? Around here it is £15 pw, inc use of the school & horses are checked a couple of times a day. Then they want a further £100 a month for the winter for you to have a stable? DIY, with stable, grazing & checks on them & use of school etc are between £22 & £27 pw around here.

I would move....................even Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask when he robbed someone.
 
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Toby_Zaphod said:
Others have mentioned welfare, staying out, losing or keeping condition etc. You don't say where in the country you are but I think you are being taken for a ride! Grass livery at £50 pw???????? £200 a month?????? Around here it is £15 pw, inc use of the school & horses are checked a couple of times a day. Then they want a further £100 a month for the winter for you to have a stable? DIY, with stable, grazing & checks on them are between £22 & £27 pw around here.

I would move....................even Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask when he robbed someone.
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^^^^ This, what they said. You can get field, stable and part livery for that!!
 
I agree with TZ not sure where you are but in the midlands its 50 pw for part/full livery depending on size of yards etc. It can be as cheap as 10pw for grass livery inc facilities and hay. So would also be looking else where as for that price you should have a stable anyway i think!!
As for living out he should be absolutely fine, remeber he can move around to get warm when out, plenty of food and some natural shelter from worst of it. Also do have rugs because even a welshie can be a wimp but if kept rugged to his needs (also allows you to still be able to ride if its rained). We have some TBs on our yard who live out all winter. Good luck
 
I'm planning on having an outside horse this winter too :D My only concern is if we get snow like last year. Taking water out to his field will be extremely tricky, especially if the pipes freeze, and walkways and so on do become very slippery so bringing him in will be a bit dangerous. A stable would be useful if he got injured.
 
My mare is also Welsh but she is a wimp, never gets a very thick winter coat and stands by the gate looking very miserable and annoyed with me if it's nasty weather and she's out (and this is in the day!) - I just couldn't leave her out 24/7 :p

I think as long as ad lib hay/haylage are fed over the winter along with being well rugged up then he should be fine :) As long as he Has access to at least some shelter and wont be the only horse or pony out 24/7. A lady on our yard kept her 3 out 24/7 in winter, I think they got haylage/hay and a scoop of chaff with pony nuts or speedy beet each day and they looked and were absolutely fine all year round!

However, if you suddenly needed a stable because of injury/illness/unforeseen circumstances, would one be available to you? That would be my only worry about not having a stable if in your position!
 
Toby_Zaphod said:
Others have mentioned welfare, staying out, losing or keeping condition etc. You don't say where in the country you are but I think you are being taken for a ride! Grass livery at £50 pw???????? £200 a month?????? Around here it is £15 pw, inc use of the school & horses are checked a couple of times a day. Then they want a further £100 a month for the winter for you to have a stable? DIY, with stable, grazing & checks on them & use of school etc are between £22 & £27 pw around here.

I would move....................even Dick Turpin had the decency to wear a mask when he robbed someone.
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What's with the "?????????????????????????????????"

I am in East Sussex. I have use of indoor, outdoor schools, adlib hay, feed, checks, rug changes. If I had a stable it would also include bedding. I think that's pretty good :D
 
Well down here that sounds reasonable considering she is on full grass livery - with all feed and hay included. I would assume that if she took the stable she would get bedding included as well.

ETA: cross posted Smallhorses, I am in Surrey so feel your pain - everything is expensive down here!
 
Your livery is far too high in my opinion. Some people pay that for part livery. I have only ever been on one livery yard that she was stabled. I had a ex racer on full turn out, just needed some conditioning cubes in bad weather and a HW full rug .

I know have a welsh x nf, welsh x hackney and cob x clydesdale all living out. Until welsh x nf got old she wasnt rugged. Welsh x hackney seemed to forget to grow a winter coat this year so she altered between a LW and a MW but she was still fat so wasnt hard fed. They normally have barley or oat straw with a hayledge net in the evening. The cob was rugged because he had been groomed as his winter coat was coming through and he wasnt fully waterproof but only went as far as a think MW.

Think of it like this, most TB broodmares live out dont they?? And they are what we consider a wimpy breed. This is only an opinion as I have never owned a poor doer, but I do sometimes wonder if these horses loose weight through stress of a stabled enviroment rather than because they wont keep weight on?? Saying that I am moving my Hackney x welsh as I need to get her on livery to work her and meet new friends but it wouldn't worry me about stabling providing I had access to turnout.


And if this is a new horse we NEED a photo. YOu can see my two welsh x's in my signature.
 
Jackson said:
I'm planning on having an outside horse this winter too :D My only concern is if we get snow like last year. Taking water out to his field will be extremely tricky, especially if the pipes freeze, and walkways and so on do become very slippery so bringing him in will be a bit dangerous. A stable would be useful if he got injured.
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I bought an 'H20 to Go' & use that for transporting water to the padocks. They carry a large amount & with it being in the barrow it's easy to manage....don't over fill though because water is heavy (1 gallon = 10lbs)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Planit-Prod...95UW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1309941573&sr=8-2
 
Smallhorses said:
What's with the "?????????????????????????????????"

I am in East Sussex. I have use of indoor, outdoor schools, adlib hay, feed, checks, rug changes. If I had a stable it would also include bedding. I think that's pretty good :D
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Well your not talking Grass Livery then are you........ you seem to be on a kind of assisted DIY......or partial livery
 
ok this is my pet hate, so not aimed at you!!

It all depends on circumstances and individual horses and I have no doubt lots live VERY happily out without rugs etc

yes horses in the wild live out without rugs etc. BUT They live in huge herds, have woods etc to huddle together in when weather is really bad.
But nature is nature and some of them DIE or at least lose so much weight it is cruel.

I am on a yard where the are only 3 horse in the field, there is little shelter and field is open to all the elements. so no way would my horse live out


My last horse was a WCxTB he was the biggest whimp out!! my new WB is more hardy than Beacon ever was.

He knew what he wanted too, once it started to go a little cooler at night he would plant his feet and refuse to go back into the field. He loved his creature comforts. But then he used to want to stay in some nights in the summer too. I think he liked sleeping in his soft bed a lot more :D

So to answer your question yes it is very possible for him to live out. Trouble is you don't really know the horse, old owner said she liked them in so they don't lose condition. This could be her way of saying he doesn't cope well with living out, or she could just love to snuggle them down in the stable at night.

Personally I would book the stable for this winter just in case. Then if you find by christmas/new year he is ok then you could ask her to fill it
 
Toby_Zaphod said:
I bought an 'H20 to Go' & use that for transporting water to the padocks. They carry a large amount & with it being in the barrow it's easy to manage....don't over fill though because water is heavy (1 gallon = 10lbs)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Planit-Prod...95UW/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1309941573&sr=8-2
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I was leant one of these by a fellow livery, but my field was quite a walk from the stables so often, by the time I got to him, the lid had frozen over.. that was with warm water too :eek: :o I wonder if you can get thermal/heated ones...
 
I am in East Sussex. I have use of indoor, outdoor schools, adlib hay, feed, checks, rug changes. If I had a stable it would also include bedding. I think that's pretty good :D[/QUOTE]

Just out of interest, where abouts is your yard in east sussex? looking for 24/7 turnout near sussex uni for september time and your yard sounds great! :-)
 
Provided he has plenty of natural shelter or a field shelter to get out of the worst of the weather then I'd leave him out 24/7. All ours live out 24/7 and have thrived on it. All but one are usually rugged, we use pig oil and sulphur to stop them getting mud fever (patch test first) and when they come in to have their tea they can never wait to get back out again.

A side effect of it is that they are moving around a lot more rather than stuck in for hours on end which has been much better for them, both mentally and physically.

As long as you have access to a stable in the case of emergencies, and that your field drains or has higher areas so they can get out of any bad mud I think it is a non brainer personally. We love somewhere where finally the horses could be out 24/7 year round, never had that luxury before.
 
As long as he is rugged if needed, and has shelter of some kind (be it man made or natural) there is no reason your pony can't winter out!
 
Every horse lives out happily on our yard from TB's to old Shires. We have stables but not one owner uses them for anything other than tacking up or feeding. The horses have well drained grazing and plenty of shelter. During the snow and ice they were got as fat as butter because they stood stuffing themselves at big bales of hay and it was too icy to ride.
Not one horse was too whimpy to live out, they thrived in their herd. However if the grass livery was unsheltered, small or prone to bog, I would bring in at night too.
 
mine all live out 24/7 and only the big girl gets rugged, welshxtb copes fine as does the sec b. I used to have a 20 yr old tb who lived out 24/7 as well. she actually coped better out because she was able to move around, keep warm and not stiffen up, when i did have her in I couldn't ride her straight from stable as she was too stiff
Yes the mud can get a little tedious by feb/march but you get used to it;) i am lucky in that i have a 4 acre field purely for winter use , then a separate approx 7 acre field for the rest of the year while the 4 acre is turned over to hay.
 
Jackson said:
I'm planning on having an outside horse this winter too :D My only concern is if we get snow like last year. Taking water out to his field will be extremely tricky, especially if the pipes freeze, and walkways and so on do become very slippery so bringing him in will be a bit dangerous. A stable would be useful if he got injured.
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Honestly snow isn't a problem. There is a bonus that your horse will have very clean legs too.:D

Use a sled to pull water to the field, way easier than carrying. When they snow gets above 6" plough (shovel) pathways and keep them cleared. I have pathways with 'snow walls' up to 3' high just on my yard sometimes.

OP, The only disadvantage I can see to having a healthy, normal horse outside 24/7 is no access to stabling should the need arise, and I am sure that if there was an emergency then your YO would find somewhere for you to use, and presumably there is a covered area for the Farrier to use anyway.

As for slippery paths, start stocking up on ice salt and/or grit now if you don't use it then that's fine, if you do, then you can be smug about your stash when everyone else is running around like headless chickens looking for some:D
 
What do I reckon?

200 quid a MONTH, blinking hell!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Anyway, I thought you were moving him again in 3 weeks time to a yard with your friend?

"I bought my boy from a private home about 10 miles west from where I live. He is currently still there with his old owner (who seems, all in all, a nice person).

My friend has bought a new yard 3 minutes from my house. She moves in 3 weeks. I will be moving my boy to the new yard in 3 weeks time.

My friend currently has her yard 10 miles east from where I live."
 
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My two, a fell and a welsh lived out 24/7 during last winter unrugged and with no hard feed, although they had ab lib hay.

Both came out of winter looking fab, a little porky even, so it evidently suits them just fine.
 
You know mine lives out 24/7 and from my experience with two very different grass livery stables are this:

1. make sure he's getting good grass or forage ie hay etc. I believe if they are getting enough forage they can keep themselves warm. Warmth comes from the inside.

2. Good quality rugs are a must, full necks and as light as possible in weight but not tog if that makes sense. I'm a huge fan of Amigos.

3. Never layer more than 3 rugs it then becomes ineffective.

4. Check him and feed accordingly

5. Make sure you or someone can get up there in snow and that enough forage is provided.

That's my experience. Indie has never dropped weight in winter (infact often puts it on!) and from better quality forage this year has been much warmer only needed 1 heavyweight rug in the coldest of temperatures this past winter rather than 3 the year before!

Edited to add my gosh you lot if you think that's expensive try living near Guildford Surrey where Grass Livery (full ie including feed and hay and rug changes if needed) is £240 a month and that is the CHEAPEST I can get with a sandschool!
 
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Well, mine lives out 24/7. He's an ISH, trace clipped in winter and rugged. They have access to field shelters and get lots of hay. I live in North Scotland, and high up. We always have snow, and lots of it, which stays around for ages. The last 2 winters it's been up to his knees for weeks. He, and his field mates love it!! They love rolling in it and leaping about. Never had a problem keeping weight on him. I've owned 2 Horses before him, both kept the same, both part TB and again they were just fine. I pay £25 a week for grass livery which includes as much hay as I want. No arena, but excellent hacking (off road) and he's checked several times a day. In winter if I can't get up (happens a lot) I never have to worry. The YO tends to offer tepid water a few times a day rather than leaving it to freeze. They seem to like that!! Besides hay, I only feed a balancer with some chaff and thats all through the year. I tend to layer a lightweight rug under a heavyweight. Mainly so that if the heavy one gets ripped at least he stays dry!!
 
My horses, TBs lived out all year with no concerns at all. PF is still living out in Argentina (where it is winter at the moment) with temperatures below zero. She has a MW rug on, but Little Cigar is nekkid and doing extremely well.
 
Until I moved to full livery mine was out 24/7 whatever the weather, appropriately rugged to suit of course, he was always fine and very healthy :)
 
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