Someone please give me a good shake!

cblover

cblover

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Bear with me, I'm having a moment! lol I have 3 acres of land for 2 cobs and a little shettie. I section this off into 3 x 1 acre paddocks and rotate all year round. In winter the land can be very wet and last year I just about lost the will to live. So this year I must look after it better.

I also have new brick built stables but hate to see my horses in them......this is where the shake comes in! lol I think horses should be out with company to socialise, groom, play, eat....you know the drill. Because I think this, winter is very hard work for me. I move them from field to hard standing to stables (for a short while) then out again each day to make sure they have time to be with each other and have enough hay to eat. I don't feed hay in the field but handstanding and stables have hay and all 3 are the picture of health.

Now wouldn't it be just easier if I stabled them at night and turned them out during the day!!!! I could hit myself over the head with a shovel! lol But no, I think poor things standing in there all night by themselves and not moving around and having time with each other. I'm just too soft. Their needs come before mine but I suffer from auto immune hepatitis (which is liver failure) and last winter just about killed me, so I also have to consider my health.

Someone please talk some sense into me!!!!! lol
 
Would you be willing to let one acre be trashed (including feeding hay in there) over the worst and wettest parts of winter? With three fields, you could let this happen to one field every 3 years, and they would come back ok. Then just leave the horses out on that acre 24/7. Shame about the brand new stables but if you hate them, don't use them. Or if you want to compromise, leave them out at night and in by day so that they are in for less time overall. Personally I wouldn't bother moving them around so much each day, it sounds like a lot of work.

Sounds like you really need to make your life easier. xx
 
Thanks for your reply and you're right, I do need to make life a bit easier for myself. I could leave them in all day but I don't want to feed hay in the fields, so nights would mean they are out in a field with little to no grass as the winter goes on. I've fed hay in the fields before and it has made the whole job a lot worse and recovery time in spring has been lengthy. The other way round is more sensible but I just feel for them standing in over night. Bet I worry more about it that they would being in there. lol x
 
I would bring them in overnight IF you are able to cope with the mucking out, they will have enough daylight hours to play and run around - thats more than many horses get

Maybe long term if you feel the stables arent right its worth thinking about modifying them to allow mutual grooming over low walls or even take some walls out (after advice!) and have a long open space for them to move around in together
 
I can see why you don't want hay in the field. However, I find that bored horses on a winter field with no grass or hay are often hanging about wanting to be in rather than enjoying themselves. Personally my feeling would be that where they spend the majority of their time, they should have plenty to graze on. So if they are out most of the time then hay in the field it is. Again, I would use one acre (even split in two and rotated weekly) and put out hay twice a day.


Not wanting an argument of course - I really feel for your situation. Good luck whatever you decide to do.
 
No argument from me! lol And thanks I really appreciate it. Biting the bullet and having them in at night is the most sensible thing to do and a reasonable routine. I need to give myself a good talking to.

WelshD - thanks for your input. I have always wished I'd put bars up between stables so they could interact more....I'm sure hubby will love me for this! lol
 
Is the hard standing in front of the stables? Can you leave them with access to the stable during day/overnight, whichever you choose, and then out on field the rest of the time? So they're not shut in but have access to them if they want to and off the ground
 
if the stables are in the field i would just take the doors off or fix them back that way the horses can choose to come in and eat hay or stay out together, you might find that 2 share a stable to LOL xx good luck
 
Thanks everyone. The hard standing is to the side of my stable block and next to the roadside. Too close for comfort for my liking so I tend to leave them in there if I'm there or won't be long till I'm back. I certainly would never leave them there over night.

My stables are near my 2 acre field and in front of my acre field but directly outside my stables is a hard core base and fencing round most of it. Hubby wants them off that area and either in fields, hard standing or stabled. I think it would be worth considering leaving the stable doors open and giving them access to both.
 
I consider stabling them an investment in their future .
Who knows what will happen to them I have had injured horses box rested for six months if they are not used to are happy with being stabled you can be signing their death warrant .
Horses do not walk round all the time they are in the field quite a lot of the time they do .... Nothing at all they adjust to take overnight stabling into their roultine .
Whether you will enjoy mucking out three boxes a day is another thing then theres the cost of bedding, and the building of a muckheap to do its hard work .
But you get away without feeding in the field.
Most horses if well introduced to it enjoy their stables .
 
I would have a trash area and a straw island which is added to daily and they are feed on there. It stops them from grazing the rest of the pasture bare, they cut it up less, I also have feed stations made from half pallets so the hay is just dropped in those. All the mess and poo stays mainly in one area and you just harrow it flat in the spring.
 
Goldenstar has some good advice there - horses are adaptable beasties and will get used to a stabling routine. Mine are in at night year round and are standing at the gates as I type yelling to come in; and there is plenty of grass - they just like being in.
 
I honestly think that the *right* thing has to be a compromise between what's best for you and what's best for them. After all, if you've lost the will to live and are struggling then you're not going to be at your best and that's when problems start.

Cut yourself some slack. Being in overnight won't hurt them and providing you can deal with the mucking out it's a good solution to protect your field.

I actually fully empathise with how you're feeling though because I'm constantly beating myself up at the moment for similar reasons. Until 1st January 2013, all my horses lived out 24/7. They had the odd night in if needed but not reguarly. Then my mare got laminitis. My gelding went away to be schooled and all manner of issues developed. Since then, they've both been in overnight every night and will continue to be even though I could leave them both out.

I can't leave my mare out 24/7 because of the lami risk. When she's out, she's in a muzzle and with other horses and most of the time she's out for the full day. My gelding could be out 24/7 but I've found it easier to manage him if he comes in so I can get hay down him, dry his legs and feet out and, selfishly, I don't have to walk across other fields of horses in the dark to bring him in for a feed and fuss every night (had a nasty accident last year due to a horse in the field we were walking through going for my boy who inadvertently clocked me round the head and gave me a black eye - I've been headshy in the field around loose horses ever since). It also meant, before the darkness set in, that he could be worked in the evening even if it was raining without getting so wet he couldn't have his rug back on.
 
Cortez said:
Goldenstar has some good advice there - horses are adaptable beasties and will get used to a stabling routine. Mine are in at night year round and are standing at the gates as I type yelling to come in; and there is plenty of grass - they just like being in.
Click to expand...

I think that horses who come in get used to coming in and so anticipate it and want to come in. When mine were out 24/7 they were never at the gate if there was grass (but would come to call). But now they've both been coming in regularly for some time, they're never far from the gate at bringing in time, regardless of how much grass there is.
 
My two will be out until probably the end of next week, then in at night until the first warmish/dry nights (hopefully!) early next March.

I totally agree that horses should be out playing, grazing and interacting as much as possible but often when the weather is foul at night in winter, they'd just be standing as much out of the wind as they could, waiting for the dawn.

As long as they know pretty much when you will be there, morning and evening to sort them out they should adapt well - my guess is after a few days, you'll find them waiting for you and when they feel like it's time to be out 24/7 again next Spring, will also probably tell you by NOT being there waiting for you one day!

Personally, when the ground's saturated, I like mine to be able to come in for a proper snooze and a lie down out of the wet: I'll often find a very sleepy M in the morning with a great, round nest in the corner of his box where he's been crashed out in a nice deep bed of straw ... :)
 
We have stables and our come in on a night & are happy to do so - I also have a 'winter field' at the moment there is grass but when it's gone it's gone & they will have hay in fields - we put hay in lorry/ tractor tyres that we move around so no poaching of ground & hopefully not too muddy... I know not everyone likes tyres but we've not had any problems - & I dont mind one area getting trashed - we have spring & summer to sort it out x
 
I have nearly 4 acres for two horses although I have a small pony with me for a few months, my fields would be trashed if I left them out all the time, they come in at night and are quite happy it wont hurt them to come in, mine go out about 6am and come in between 5 and 7 pm they have hours to be with one another, try it you might like seeing them in and I am sure they will not suffer for it.
 
Thanks everyone,really appreciate you all taking the time to reply. I feel better after reading your replies and just need to play it by ear depending on the weather....but for now it's stabled at night and out at first light. My fields aren't attached to my house, that's another concern about leaving them in. I can't go and check them every night before bed. Nothing is ever easy is it!
 
To be honest my stables are 3 miles away from my house so another that can't pop down the path to check up on them as I think a lot of people are like me. I like my horses to be in at night over the winter or otherwise they couldn't go out 24/7 in the summer after we've taken a hay crop off, I do have 3 small winter paddocks that they trash and that I reseed every spring, my horses are happy and healthy and after the high winds and rain we've had they have been as snug as a bug in a rug, not like one of my next door neighbours who's horses are out 24/7 even rugged up they looked cold and miserable.
 
Glad I'm not the only one worrying about our horses not being on the door step to check each night. For those who live away from their horses on private owned land, what time do you put them in and give them a last check?
 
OP, my yard is 3.5 miles from home going the direct route. Its not attached to any house etc.

They come in around 5.30pm when I get to yard after work & go out around 6am before work.

To be honest, it saves the fields from getting trashed by having them in.
I dont find I need to put any daytime hay out till prob January unless we get snow etc.

They have only been in since last weekend (and wil be back out tomorrow & Sat night due to local fireworks displays).
Usually they can go back out 24/7 around the end of feb, unless ground conditions are very wet - tho not completely out 24/7 till April time.
 
You have a similar routine to me if i brought mine in. Spoke to hubby last night and of course field maintenance is important to him so its definitely a balancing act for me to have them out enough and look after our fields. Hay ho! Lol
 
Why don't you get them in during the day? Sorry if that has been suggested, but will probably be a shorter time than at night.
 
It has been suggested but thank you. It is something I've considered and weather dependant I could do it this way round. Recently here the lovely autumn sun has been during the day and heavy rain at night....so having them in at night would be better for them. I just need to kick myself up the backside and get into a routine that I'm more than sure they will adapt to, look after my land and not kill me by the end of winter! If anyone has a big stick we can take turns hitting me over the head with it......with me going first! lol
 
Well folks, thanks for all the advice. Tonight I'm taking the plunge and stabling them. I'm sure they will be fine and they will of course be out all day. It's the easiest routine that isn't going to sap all my energy and this way they will get plenty hay and turnout together during the daylight hours.
 
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