Reduced turnout in winter...

ours go out about 9am in a 20 acre field and are out till i get them in about 4ish its just my 1 horse and my YOs 7 so i have to go by her rules, and she doesnt like them out if its raining much my yrling prefers to be out but he is getting used to the routine now. x
 
currently summer turnout 24/7 and winter every other day.I am moving yards though at the end of the month to my own place so the choice is mine
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ziltch, and coping just fine. Will add there is some turnout, still in the summer fields however, I cannot meet the conditions that were place on the continued use. The winter turnout, is limited and quickly turns into a huge mud puddle, which both my horse and I hate, however on a dry day on a weekend it may well be ventured
 
Ours go out at 9am and are ready to come in by 4pm atm,when the grass goes off completely they will be milling about from about 2.30 to come in!
Have been on a yard with no turn out in winter and will NEVER do it again,drove my horse nuts
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,they all need at least a couple of hrs a day for their sanity!
 
I don't really ever have mine out 24/7 as he gets too fat in summer but he's out then overnight from about 6pm until 10am ish. ATM they go out at between 8am and 9.30am, then come in by 4pm. Our fields are a bog already, despite having about 60% rested over summer, so we have a couple of fields that can't be used at all. I can't speak for the others but my horse doesn't care. He is v easy going and just does what everyone else does. If they're all out, he goes out, if they're all in, he'll happily stay in. Mean mummy makes YO put him out even in the rain and wind though because it's better for his arthiritis
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We have a walker so when TO is restricted, they get good walker sessions.
 
One of the main reasons that I keep my horse where I do, is so that they can have 24/7 turnout all year round. They would be miserable otherwise
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Mine are out at 9am ish if not riding and I don't bring them in until 6.30 or even 7 if the weather is ok. They are in a bald paddock opposite the house and stand under the street light once it comes on, but I'm afraid I ignore them. They are fed hay all year round anyway as there is no grass. Plenty of light as the street lamp is between the field and the house and there is another at the top end by the gate.
 
I was going to ask a similar question myself! At my old yard, horses were either kept in for weeks on end and then turned out in a huge herd that churned up the field in two mins flat having been in for so long and along with this came many injuries!

I'm now at a yard that has 24/7 turn out in the summer and in November when we change fields, our horses are restricted to 5 hours.

Ralph however is quite happy to go out for just 2-3 hours and happy to stay in and be exercised as needed.....I have a very easy horse
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Cropi is out from 6.30am until 4.15 two days a week and she literally explodes when I got to get her in, its too long for her. The other 3 working days she is in by 3 at the latest and that is much better for her. Its really strange as she did live out 24/7 at my old yard and I thought she was happy, now, she can't wait to get in her stable
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As from next week we have arranged for someone to bring all of the horses in at 2
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Maggie has been out every day until now (though usually not for the whole day as there is not much grass out, but for 4-5 hours) but from yesterday the horses have moved to the winter fields and they will be going out 4-5 days a week and just 2-3 hours at the time. I guess this will last until end of March or so.

I hope Maggie will be ok with this. She also goes on the walker every day and gets ridden 6 days a week with at least one huge hack at the weekend (no chance of hacking during the week as it is too dark by the time I can get to the yard).

She does seem quite happy to just be out for a couple of hours though, she wants to have a roll, maybe a snooze flat out in the field, and boss her fieldmate around a bit, but apart from that she doesn't even really move... madam is certainly not interested in playing in the field!
 
one is out 24/7.

the others are out by 9am and back in at 4.30pm.

there are no restrictions on turnout- if i wanted them all out 24/7 i could do that.

(this is the reason i am at this yard!)
 
I was on a yard where t/o wasn't allowed when it rained or if the land was wet anytime of year. I bought my own yard so I now do as I please but I heard that last summer the horses on this yard had to stay in for two whole weeks
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Mine love to be in but I have one who has to have a regular ' blast' to clear his head.
 
We are still on summer but think we'll change to winter next week... in summer we have either day or night turnout, in winter we have 3 days of your choice a week, its a struggle but the horses are usually ok with it as they're out every other day.
 
Having suffered for the last few winters on livery yards with no winter turnout I've found a yard this year that lets me turnout every day from 8 until I bring them in (at 3pm if I'm riding or 5pm if I'm not). On the old yards I used to tell myself that my horses were happy and coping without turnout but deep down I knew it was wrong and now there's no way I'd keep my horses anywhere that didn't allow turnout. TBH I hate having them in at night but I also need facilities (school/stable/tack room) and there aren't any yards in the area that just do grass livery. I am looking for my own place so I can do exactly what I want.

If horses are happier in their stables why do we need to shut their stable doors? Horses are always keen to come in when they get hungry - hence people thinking their horse prefers to be in - but you can bet if you left the stable door open, once they'd finished their feed and maybe had some haylage they'd want to wander around outside. They'd probably wander in and out of their stable all night - but standing in one place for 14 hours a day is just not natural and not healthy. Being inside 22 hours a day is just wrong - though I absolutely sympathise with those people who are in areas where 99% of livery yards don't allow turnout.
 
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If horses are happier in their stables why do we need to shut their stable doors? Horses are always keen to come in when they get hungry - hence people thinking their horse prefers to be in - but you can bet if you left the stable door open, once they'd finished their feed and maybe had some haylage they'd want to wander around outside. They'd probably wander in and out of their stable all night - but standing in one place for 14 hours a day is just not natural and not healthy.

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ha ditto that! My sisters horse will barge out of his stable, even before he's had his tea (ok so he has no manners, but that is a separate problem!) And if I let mine through the gate to wander into his stable, he does exactly that, although he will wander everywhere but go in his stable
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At my yard horses are in overnight and out during the day all year round. In summer I turn out from 6am to 8pm, ATM I'm turning out from 7.30am to 5pm. If we have lots of rain and the fields become waterlogged, or when the weather is very bad, they stay in. (only three days so far since september, so hopefully not too often).

I chose this yard despite knowing that the turnout was limited. My mare has arthritis and needs regular exercise - last winter I was on a yard with daily turnout but a small boggy school and no hacking and it didn't work, I couldn't ride regularly which did her no good whatsoever. This winter when turnout is limited she'll be exercised twice daily which I think will be better for her joints than standing knee deep in a muddy field all day.

I wouldn't want to be on a yard with restricted turnout if I didn't have the time or facilities to give her plenty of varied exercise. On days when she is in I try to make sure she's out of her stable for at least 2-3 hours (incl, exercise, grooming, grazing in hand, groundwork, etc).
 
In the summer we have 24/7 turnout, but from Nov-Mar they have to be in at night. Mine goes out about 7.30am and is brought in for me at 4 or 4.30pm, so at least gets a decent-ish length of time out. She's usually ridden through the week 7-8pm and left if peace for the night about 9pm.

I like the fact that the early part of the evening of her being in is broken up with the ridden work and I feel terribly guilty at weekends when she's generally ridden in daylight and therefore left from 5 or 6pm.
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I leave her a treat ball with grass nuts in on those nights!

Every now and then if it's really wild out they have to stay in for a day, but it's not often thankfully. I'll brave the elements for an in hand walk first and last thing on those days for a leg stretch!

She used to live out 24/7 all year round, but there's so few livery yards who have enough good land to sustain this.
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I do think the 24/7 thing is quite a British one - where I am from you might have your horse out 24h for a few weeks holiday in the summer - usually when you don't ride them - but I don't know anyone who would compete a horse that was on grass 24h a day. I don't think I would want my competition horse out that much - all day turn out would be better than restricted, but ultimately I think that in winter, unless you have fab grazing, horses that are worked and go on the walker are ok as long as they can get out for a few hours (ideally every day, but I guess 4-5 days a week is acceptable as well)
 
Ours are out 24/7 - one of them likes it that way and would fret in a stable. The other one would probably like to come in and given the option will put himself in his stable for the night. TBH I don't have the time to muck them out every day so it suits me as well. I would rather move yard that have restricted turnout. We're lucky though - we have a LOT of grazing.
 
Out 24/7 as at grass livery. We still have plenty of grass although how good it is is debatable to be honest. Not having to put hay out yet or feed hard feed but will probably have to start in the next few weeks.
 
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