Those who winter there horses out, advice please

V1NN

V1NN

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Hi their, i need a bit of help & advice and most likely reassurance more than anything about wintering my horse out. I have owned and worked with horses for years but have never wintered anything out. I apologise if this is long but would really appreciate any advice you can give.

I moved from my previous livery yard in April that had very limited winter turnout, to a private yard that has approx 17-18 acres split into a 2 and a half acre field which we have used for summer grazing and then one massive field which the owners have left and left until only now is it about to be cut. So the little field is now like a putting green.

We have 2 donkeys 23yrs and 30yrs about 11hh each they come in overnight and only go out on dry days, a 15hh fine show horse who always comes in overnight, My horse who is 15.2hh a tb x knabstrupper 3yr old, and a 12.1hh welsh sec b 13yr old.

I was hoping to winter out my boy and his little welshie chum out over winter, there is a stable for each of them but they are not in great shape although are useable.
They would be in the big field which slopes downhill slightly from the gate so is reasonably well draining although does still poach a bit up at the gate. Unfortunately there is no field shelter although there is a few trees at one side near the gate, some bushes and the farmhouse itself is next to the field, the horses seem to stand near these when its driving rain etc.

Obviously the grazing is fantastic once i finally have use of it. and i would most likely have to strip graze it for the welshie (although apparently last yr he was on the whole field and just didnt get anything else but he is a fatty so i'd worry.)
My horse would be very well rugged and unclipped because he doesnt do much at the moment, i guess he'd manage just fine but i dont know why but am just so worried about it probably because i have never done it before. He is a very good doer but would get ad lib haylage when it was very cold or snow on the ground and he would get a hard feed twice a day. It is mostly the fact there is no field shelter that i am worrying so much, because at the moment its raining and very windy and he looks so depressed and i guess its only going to get worse. Although saying this he is an outside horse he always wants out when he is in.

There would still be the option to bring him in if it was very bad, however the main reason i want to winter him out this yr is to save on time and money as i am going to be working full time as a postie and then doing an evening course at college 3nights a week. I think if i decided to take him in every night i could just about manage it but it would be a bit of a push the nights i had college, it is just a diy yard i get free livery in exchange for looking after the yo's donkeys you see and they have to come in of a night, the lady who owns welshie and show horse sorts donkeys in a morning and this is how we work it. All the animals are very well looked after and dont want for anything. There is very little storage on the yard as the old barn fell down in last yrs snow so we are currently using my stable for keeping hay and feed bins in but could move this to the old caravan if needed.

My god i make this yard sound awful but it really is great it just needs a bit of work plus its free which i cant pass on currently, i did price part livery elsewhere but at £60 pw i just couldnt justify moving him.

So basically i am asking what you would do in this situation, and do you think my beloved horse would cope wintering out ok?
Or do you think the fact that theres no actual proper field shelter would stop you doing this.

Any advice or tips you can give i will be delighted, thanks in advance. :) x
 
You are talking about a young horse and a native.....so yes, they would winter out quite happily. The welsh if fat I wouldn't bother to rug providing there is shelter of some kind, and the youngster would be fine provided you rug him up if he needs it.
Just make sure the rugs come off daily to check overall body condition and so IF there is a problem, you can rectify it.
 
Absoloutely, let him grow a coat, get a rug on him if he starts to look like he might drop weight, feed him ad lib hay fi teh grass is not good and he will be absoloutely fine!
 
If it helps, my 13 yr old TB X hanoverian wintered out for the first year last winter, along with the 4 year old ISH and the cob. They had access to a big barn but never used it. They spent the snowy weather with their noses stuck inside the big bales of hay and got fat.
Although I have stables, they made it clear that these were only to be used for grooming, tacking up and tea time.
They absolutely thrived being out all winter and never wore more than a classic neck M/W rug, otherwise they came out in heat lumps. (only cob was fully clipped as the snow/ice made it impossible for us to ride.)
YO says there's never been a horse there that hasn't coped with the winter out.
My only tip would be not to rug to early, let them acclaimatise to the colder days before rugging.
 
We winter all 14 of ours out! We have a mixture of native ponies, warmbloods and TB/X. As long as you have the rugging for the horse sorted out then they will be fine. You should also be prepared to rug the welshie if needed, although he shouldn't need it IME some are not as hardy as others and don't thrive unrugged in winter. We use large bales of hay and haylage in the fields all winter so that they are eating constantly and the horses get hard feed as needed to supplement what they are getting. As long as they have somewhere to get out of wind and driving rain they will be find.
 
The welshie has a few rugs of different weights that i can use, but yes he's a tough little sod although quite fine i'd say, and my boy has heaps of rugs inc some very heavy ones with necks and without necks so can swap and change, like i say not an actual field shelter but some natural shelter x
 
Well i have a 7/8th TB that is fully clipped and rugged and in hard work competing at dressage every week, schooling every day or lunging and hacking. She gets haylage in field when grass gone and gets two feeds a day of soaked grass nuts and vits/mins. She does perfectly fine no problems at all!!! So dont fret - we are on a yard with individual grazing, most ppl have a stable but out of 25 horses - 5 come in at night during winter (two VERY old ponies - three warmbloods) -the rest live out - and there are cobs/TB/Warmbloods all happily living out.
 
My welsh yearling and my cob both winter out with no rugs, hard feed or a *proper* field sheter. They have ad lib hay when theres snow on the ground/grass has gone and they have trees for shelter. Both happy and healthy, warm and fat coming out of winter. Yours will be fine :)
This year am wintering out the TB too, she will have hard feed, and be rugged but only because shes a big wimp!!
 
If you stand by the hedges during driving sleet, you might be surprised just how sheltered it is there. I 've been caught out a few times poo picking when the weather turned and the hedges and trees considerably lessen the chill factor of the wind and rain.
 
Thanks so much everyone, , i have recieved some great advice, and feeling much better about things :) x
 
I dont have a field shelter, don't have hard feed, just haylage. I have 2 welshies and a cob. As someone else said, don't rug until the last minute. I probably won't until late October so I can see a good winter coat although the rug does help to keep them clean before riding! I have thought about moving them to somewhere with stabling but I don't know how well they would do being in all the time, I think they are happier outside! Good luck xx
 
My Welshie has access to a field stable all year and he never ever uses it in the winter...he was quite happy last winter out up to his knees in snow digging and playing in the snow every day. It was the first time he wintered out with no rug on too...bit of a gamble as he is a wimp for a cob, but he was fine, survived and looked very well throughout.
 
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