The question of sporadic overnight stabling

I wouldn't worry about colic or my girl getting upset because she's used to odd things, I just think what a pain bouncing between the two! A horse is a horse, if it rains and you think it will be bad for them bring them in to dry off for an hour or two chuck a rug on and throw them back out. If your horse is being fed correctly they will be keeping themselves toasty from the inside and as long as they have some form of shelter they will take cover when they feel the need. Im a bit harsh though my girl won't get a rug until it actually gets colds and she's out 24/7 until at least October. Then she might get a l/w sheet if its wet and cold! M/Hw's will come out if she gets clipped but thats it. Obviously different for every horse but she has plenty of Irish Cob in her so she's fine! If she starts to drop I just up the fibre and it works a treat!
 
I'm not a strict believer in routine as it gets disrupted when you have to travel and stable overnight at events and stuff. I think horses in too strict a routine stress more when it's changed and they anticipate their day like clockwork.

As for bringing in when it's raining, I've some that are less hardy than others and get a bit run down in horrible weather, so will pull them in when needed. You can tell they are happier in. Others are hardier and I know they aren't phased in the slightest.

I'd be annoyed is i was at livery yard where the manager queried my choice (unless it wasn't part of the agreed arangements
 
I was taught in the 80s/early 90s by an old school PC DC who was a family member. They also trained racehorses and did horse transport.

I keep mine as it suits me or his needs. Hes currently in during the day from 6am to 4pm. He went to that from 24/7 turnout on a bare paddock. At some point this week he will go back out full time, but if I want/need him in then he will come in. Hes the only one that stands in all day. He cant see any other horses unless they are brought in to ride etc. He just gets on with it because I expect him to and hes used to adapting routines.

The only thing that would raise a red flag for me is going from out 24/7 to box rest or vice versa and that would be done carefully.
 
JillA said:
Thanks for posting that - interesting study
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Do you really think more of a exercise in stating the obvious .
If you have horses out 24/7 then bring them and only give light exercise anyone who knows anything would expect the bowel to slow down and the bulky matter to be dryer .
Which of course is why we were taught in times past to give them Epsom salts and as it draws moisture into the bowel .
 
Goldenstar said:
Do you really think more of a exercise in stating the obvious .
If you have horses out 24/7 then bring them and only give light exercise anyone who knows anything would expect the bowel to slow down and the bulky matter to be dryer .
Which of course is why we were taught in times past to give them Epsom salts and as it draws moisture into the bowel .
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Those of us with a certain level of experience might very well know that. A lot of modern horse owners don't, clearly if you read some of the responses above, so it is worth sharing the details to demonstrate the risk. Some owners might get away with it time after time after time, but it only needs once, that one in several hundreds chance. An unnecessary risk to take to avoid summer rain, something a horse is well able to cope with. A major storm, well, you might then consider the risk acceptable, but it is still a risk nonetheless.
 
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JillA said:
Those of us with a certain level of experience might very well know that. A lot of modern horse owners don't, clearly if you read some of the responses above, so it is worth sharing the details to demonstrate the risk. Some owners might get away with it time after time after time, but it only needs once, that one in several hundreds chance. An unnecessary risk to take to avoid summer rain, something a horse is well able to cope with. A major storm, well, you might then consider the risk acceptable, but it is still a risk nonetheless.
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Have you actually read the link or are you just interpreting what you wish to interpret.
They took horses off grass and put them into a box 24/7 (bar light exercise) for a number of consecutive days.
Different situation to the odd night in.

Sometimes die hard old school need to adapt their thinking too ....
 
ihatework said:
Have you actually read the link or are you just interpreting what you wish to interpret.
They took horses off grass and put them into a box 24/7 (bar light exercise) for a number of consecutive days.
Different situation to the odd night in.

Sometimes die hard old school need to adapt their thinking too ....
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You can even read the whole paper, gut motility didn't drop until day 2, before increasing again (fig. 2), that study would certainly not concern me with regards to keeping a horse in for a night, provided I gave it adlib forage. The horses in the study were fed according to bodyweight.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4303976/
 
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Nudibranch said:
Well I learnt old school BHS style in riding schools but I have my horses at home so basically do what suits me and them. Nothing to do with what I learnt!
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This^^ How I keep mine now bears almost no resemblance to how I was originally taught, which was fairly old fashioned. Yes, I was taught to keep a strict routine, have a clear difference between out for summer and in for winter, bran mash on the changeover. No, I don't do that with mine.

Mine now have no routine and are much happier like that. I came home from work a few days ago to find them in the barn as they had apparently informed the OH they would like to come in away from the flies - they are quite good at making their views known. They mostly live out, but have been known to be in continuously for several days if we have a serious storm raging.

I knew a lady had a horse I would described as institutionalised (it came from a European dressage yard), the poor thing had a breakdown if its routine was off by 15 mins, and the poor lady was basically a slave to her horses routine. Any change in routine was a week of hell. Not good for either of them. I suspect that one would have colic'ed if suddenly stabled, so what would she do if it was injured. Luckily didn't happen whilst I knew them.
 
ester said:
You can even read the whole paper, gut motility didn't drop until day 2, before increasing again (fig. 2), that study would certainly not concern me with regards to keeping a horse in for a night, provided I gave it adlib forage. The horses in the study were fed according to bodyweight.
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Thanks for the link ester, I was curious as to whether the horses were given ad-lib forage and whether it was soaked. Looks like the answer to both is no.
 
In my experience in a normal animal as long as you watch what comes out the back end and the dropping do not start to become hard or they are not passing as many as would do normally periods in or out to not make a lot of difference.
The grime reaper for horses seems to be periods of frost and warm weather when out, we lost three in the space of a month one February in our village, they were a bit older but well cared for. It could be because its cold and drink less water, not moving about much, there is little grass and are eating a lot of dry fodder.
I have one post GA that was supposed to be on box rest for two weeks, even though eating and on fairly wet haylage his gut was slowing up, his normal dropping are a bit like a rabbits, so in the end I decided the lesser of two evils was turning him out in a small paddock. Within a day he was back to normal.
 
Mine come in every day for a rest, feed and a groom. It keeps them happy, means I have regular daily contact with them to stop them becoming feral from 24/7 turnout. This may be half an hour, may be four hours. They let me know when they are ready to go back out.

Similarly if it's pouring with rain and windy they will make it crystal clear they want to come in for the night. They have grass and hay every day, so doesn't seem to be a problem for their digestion.
 
JillA said:
Those of us with a certain level of experience might very well know that. A lot of modern horse owners don't, clearly if you read some of the responses above, so it is worth sharing the details to demonstrate the risk. Some owners might get away with it time after time after time, but it only needs once, that one in several hundreds chance. An unnecessary risk to take to avoid summer rain, something a horse is well able to cope with. A major storm, well, you might then consider the risk acceptable, but it is still a risk nonetheless.
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Sorry but I don't see this at all. Mine come in in the daytime, in at night, sometimes stay out or whatever I decide usually at the last minute., What I do is determined by the weather. If I left them out in the summer rain which they should be able to cope with they simply get stressed wanting to come in. That is a far greater risk of colic.

I have had colic in summer twice. It was due to rain. I left the horses out in rain when really I should have brought them in. Two of them coliced. The ones I have brought in according to their wishes and the weather have never coliced. To my mind it is a far greater risk leaving them out in the wet than bringing them in.

I too think the die hard old school need to adapt their thinking sometimes. I never learnt stable management (except from what I read) I just used commonsense and it seemed to work quite well.
 
Mine are due to be sporadically stabled tomorrow afternoon for their farrier appointment because I will be at work.

In other news, my Tb gelding ate a live snail with his breakfast this morning, I saw it just in time for him to gobble it down with a lot of crunching, he would not concede it and looked most pleased with himself, but I am kind of worried about that causing colic.
 
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I bring mine in if I want to poo pick, fix fencing or if the flies are bad. If they look a bit bored or I fancy giving them a good groom/tidy up - I may leave them in for 1 - 4/5 hours at a time and ive never had any problems with colic. They eat dry hay and their normal feed.

I dont generally bring in overnight in the summer if it rains but others on my yard do and again, no colic.
 
I asked the vet this problem a while ago because I had an older horse who became more prone to choking when her teeth started to get bad. After visiting her once in the winter he said to just put her out overnight so she could pick at the grass rather than eat hay. I was really worried because I was always taught strict routine or you would get problems, and this would mean leaving her out as much as possible but bringing her in when the weather was really bad. She ended up having a very varied routine which reduced the number of chokes and she was fine. He said it was fine for them to be out sporadically as long as the diet doesn't keep changing dramatically and they don't find the changes too stressful.
 
I would imagine as long as there is hay and not particularly rich grass going through their systems it doesn't make much difference. I would worry about horses stabled for long periods of days and nights who are then turned out onto lush grass.
 
I try to keep mine out 24/7. However if I feel it's super cold compared to previous days, or for whatever reason, they come in.

Usually I stable my ponies in over winter on the majority of nights because they are wusses, but I don't know how my TB will react to this as he hates his stable to the point I think he is going to harm himself and it's safer to let him rough it the night with just rugs - which he should be fine with, but inside I do feel a little sad for him.

So really, I just take it day by day.

I've never been one for routine if I'm honest. Everyone else with the exception of a lady who never stables her horse as he would rip himself to bits given the opportunity to rub on something with sweet itch, everyone else does this too. ;-)
 
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