South east/central England- what levels of turnout do you have a

[Pc2003]

I am just trying to guage what is reasonable/normal at the moment. Our yard has for the first time restricted turnout. This is the 6th day in a row where we haven’t been able to turnout at all. It was lovely yesterday and again today. The fields were flooded and we have separate paddocks but it’s always been up to us to manage until now. We all try be sensible and not turnout when wet but the farmer has now padlocked the gate.
I was considering looking at different yards but they all seem to be like this. Is it the norm?

 

[9tails]

It's been exceptionally wet this year. I reckon our yard have been in on and off for at least three months, with occasional few days to a week out, but if the horses had been out the fields would be nothing but rutted mud. Last year they were out all winter, the year before we had a lot of days in again but nowhere near as bad as this year.

 

[TheBigPony]

Apart from having to bring in at night between October and May there are no restrictions on turnout - they all go out everyday regardless of how much it has rained or even if it has snowed. We are lucky though as we are on sand.

 

[Pc2003]

We are clay so it is bad, but they only go out daylight hours and it’s up to us to manage our own paddock. Which we have all done until this week

 

[criso]

This year has been terrible. We're in the London clay basin so struggle at the best of times

The herd has been temporarily split as bored horses get a bit too playful and there were some rugs ripped. So each group is going out for 3-4 hours each. It's not much but at least they are getting a leg stretch. They are not going into the summer fields until things have dried out as those would be trashed within a fortnight if they went out there in current conditions.

Having said that alhought the grass is coming through and the last week or so they haven't been overkeen to come in but are heads down grazing any grass that pokes its head through the mud.

 

[TheHairyOne]

24/7 as always, but I am not using the spring paddock yet to stop it getting churned up. The last few days they have been leaving the hay though, so grass is growing.

At my old yard I reckon we would have had about 2 months of no turn out by now, which is why I am no longer there!!

 

[PeterNatt]

I have lived here in North Hertfordshire for 27 years and this has been the worst year ever for the fields this Winter. They have been totally saturated with water and I have good drainage within my fields which are of clay soil.
I have two horses on about 4 1/2 acres and I just hope that we will soon get some windy and dry weather which will dry the field out so that we can harrow and roll them. My two horses are in at night and out in the day.

 

[Cecile]

I can almost hear my grass growing, I am heading for far too much, last night one came in and done a green cow pat, gates are being shut and they are in stables today.
I need 2/3 nice big horses to eat grass so then the ones on restricted can follow on after, don't think I will be able to convince my husband on that idea
Rain is forecast for me again this weekend but today is wonderful

 

[Hannahgb]

Ours has been very limited since Nocember. Worst winter with horses for a long time

 

[MyBoyChe]

We are fortunate that our YO never restricts turnout, although she does ask that a couple of us fence back a bit so she cant see the mud from her kitchen! She knows the fields will recover and we each have our own field to manage how we like. That said, we are on clay, the fields are sodden and the horses are all ready to come in after a couple of hours out. Each of us has been turning out in the day and coming in at night through choice and they have had more extra days in this winter than ever before. We are all thoroughly fed up, the horses too, we seem to get a couple of decent days and then the heavens open and we are back to square one!

 

[Goldenstar]

Not in the SE but I have my horses at home and this is the first time I have had horses on no turnout at this time of year .
I am not turning out the in work horses and the out of work horses are getting restricted turnout in a brown bog that used to be a five acre field .
It’s never been like this at this time of year .
No sign of any grass growing yet it’s so depressing .

 

[Kikke]

We are in South Oxfordshire and have 8-4 turnout during the day at present. will turn into night turnout when a bit dryer. We have had 7 days of no turnout this winter and that when there was snow on the ground which I think is fair enough and really doesn't happen that often.

 

[SEL]

Ox / Bucks border and only mine are out of the whole yard - medical requirements. Their field is horrendous but there is standing water on all the fields so they'd trash anything else. I think we need a fortnight of no rain for everything to dry up

 

[Sussexbythesea]

We manage our paddocks as we see fit. We’re all still turning out daily as normal. My winter paddock isn’t too bad compared to many I’ve seen. No need to feed hay.

 

[MuddyMonster]

Out every day as normal here - I've chosen to keep in a few days, but could have turned out if wanted to. We had restricted turn out in the snow, but more due to the ice.

 

[Pc2003]

Thanks for the input everyone. We have been told no turnout for at least another 5 days which I find really tough. Was 16 degrees and nicely windy here today. However unfortunately one of the liveries came down with bad colic tonight. Never had had it before. It’s touch and go as it stands. There is a lot of unrest at the yard. Really difficult times

 

[Bubblewrap]

Out in the day, in at night. We don't have restricted turnout as its not a livery yard, so pretty much up to us, but land owner/farmer wants us in at night through the winter. x

 

[SO1]

He has had 3 days in this winter due to snow but other than out every day for about 7 hours. However we don't have 24/7 turnout & YO manages the grass carefully. Also he is in a decent size field & only 3 of them & they are not that playful so they dont tend to churn up the ground.

 

[Luci07]

If you are on clay as we are, then it's not surprising that the farmer has said to stay out for a bit. It's tough and my yard is self regulating but you have to apply common sense and the fields are gettImg trashed. In fairness, this time last year, everything was out full time so I think you need to make some allowances fr this dreadful weather.