transitioning a horse from 24/7 stabling to 24/7 turnout?

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Becky.tinnion

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Has anyone done this before and how long did it take to go from one to the other? my horse is currently at college with me stabled 24/7 and on haylage but will be going home soon and want her to be on 24/7 turnout Asap to save on livery costs but don't want to do it too quick if it's going to effect her?
 
They are at higher risk of grass sickness if they are turned out after only living in .
I would start with one hour turn out and increase gradually until out all day .
I would then bring in later and later until the horse was coming in a 1am and going out first thing .
Then just leave out overnight .
I give protexin to horsed during the change over .
My new horse had only had very restricted turnout for a long time ( couple of hours couple of times a week ) he's out at night now in during the day I took about three months to get to this point .
 
Good advice from goldenstar.

Just like if you were to stable an outdoor horse you would have to introduce hay bit by bit. Their digestive system needs time to adjust to the new textures, pH, and digesting grass requires slightly different bacteria. If you do it too quickly, some bacteria die and you can get an overgrowth of other, more toxic ones hence illnesses such as grass sickness, colic due to gas or impaction, candidiasis etc. It's underestimated how much horses rely on bacteria to digest roughage.

You may be lucky and nothing more than runny poos for a while but err on the side of caution.
 
Just to add to the good advice above - add some Protexin Gut balancer to the horses feed. I always use it now when changing yards/routine or putting horses on grass. We moved to 24/7 t/o last week and have had no issues but I'm feeding a good dose of Protexin once a day. Even my grass sensitive horse with hind gut issues is coping fine :)
 
Scarlett said:
Just to add to the good advice above - add some Protexin Gut balancer to the horses feed. I always use it now when changing yards/routine or putting horses on grass. We moved to 24/7 t/o last week and have had no issues but I'm feeding a good dose of Protexin once a day. Even my grass sensitive horse with hind gut issues is coping fine :)
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So was that going from just out during the day to 24/7 turnout? so this protexin sounds like something i should try, could anyone tell me how much and how long that much lasts so i can be prepared? thanks :)
 
Becky.tinnion said:
So was that going from just out during the day to 24/7 turnout? so this protexin sounds like something i should try, could anyone tell me how much and how long that much lasts so i can be prepared? thanks :)
Click to expand...

It's probiotics. Any probiotic will do.
 
A small word of warning... if the horse does happen to get very runny smelly poos, please do not continue with probiotics. It's likely to be a problem in the hindgut e.g. fungal infection.
 
I managed it with four of mine over a period of 3-4 weeks. I built up from 1 hour turnout to a whole day, then gradually brought in later and later until I left out all night wearing a grazing muzzle at first to introduce the amount of grass as we have rich grazing. Had one pony that had mild colic as I didn't muzzle at first, but apart from that had no issues. Guess it depends on the type of horse though, these were all hardy native types that generally cope well with diet changes
 
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