Turned out hunters

[Goldenstar]

Do any of you or have any of you kept your hunters out ?
If so how do you do it ?
Do stable them the night before and after ?
I have just got a 5yo ID who I will lightly hunt and was considering trying keeping him out .
I have a paddock with good hedges and a shed .
He's clipped but I have a good heavy wieght rug .
Any tips or thoughts anyone

 

[irishdraft]

I have 2 ID hunters who live out 24/7 both are clipped out & hunt approx once a week I have plenty of good grass so they just have unmolassed sugar beet and pony nuts, hay ad lib if required. I dont bring them in beforehand, brekfast in the field then come in & get cleaned up & off we go. I hunt with the bloodhounds so we always wash off at the end of hunting so by the time i am home horse is clean & dry, so its feed in the stable for the older one then turn out, the young one gets very stewed up so i just turn him straight out when I get home then go back 30 mins later with his tea, havent had a problem to date & have been doing this for 8 years

 

[FelineGroovy]

The woman from whom I occasionally hire (informal basis - it's not a professional yard) keeps her hunters out 24/7: one ISH, one Connemara, both trace or blanket clipped (can't remember, sorry), rugged as necessary, and not stabled before (tho' I think I would be tempted to), nor after - to discourage stiffness. She is meticulous however in her post-hunting routine, and about checking them over, drying etc etc before turning out. Seems to work for her & her horses (admittedly both good do-ers & (part) natives) are definitely healthy & happy.

 

[MissTyc]

I have a hunter who lives out. Never even crossed my mind this was odd - if TERRIBLE weather I keep him in the night before, just to help the cleaning, but he goes straight out when we get home. Never been stiff, always ready to go again the next day lol

 

[Goldenstar]

I have 2 ID hunters who live out 24/7 both are clipped out & hunt approx once a week I have plenty of good grass so they just have unmolassed sugar beet and pony nuts, hay ad lib if required. I dont bring them in beforehand, brekfast in the field then come in & get cleaned up & off we go. I hunt with the bloodhounds so we always wash off at the end of hunting so by the time i am home horse is clean & dry, so its feed in the stable for the older one then turn out, the young one gets very stewed up so i just turn him straight out when I get home then go back 30 mins later with his tea, havent had a problem to date & have been doing this for 8 years

ID how many hours are you actually hunting ?

 

[simplyhunting]

All mine live out ( full tb's) hunting once a week- mostly full days, All fully clipped. I just give them adlib hay, stud mix(cheaper than cond and the same) and added sugarbeet if required. I just feed them in the field early before hunting , pull them in to scrub them up and off we go! Just bung a coolex on after hunting to ensure they're dried off by the time they get home and they go straight back out once rugged up. They all much prefer this to being stabled and it works well- apart from having more mud to scrub off in the mornings !

 

[Goldenstar]

Thanks everyone , I am going to give this a go when he comes out of the isolation box.
Bad luck he's a grey though.

 

[TGM]

Ours are out most of the time, although come in for a few hours each day if it is wet to rest the land a bit as we are rather short of land. They are normally out the night before hunting but we don't meet til noon and none of ours are grey! When they get back they are put in the stable and cleaned off and checked before being turned out again. One in particular settles and eats up much better if turned out after hunting than if kept in. One is blanket-clipped, one chaser clipped and the pony is hunter clipped. They are well rugged and have thick holly hedges and adjoining woodland providing shelter in their field.

 

[HuntingB]

My pony lived out 24/7 and hunted full days once a week.
I would take a container of hot water, wrapped in a rug so that when we got back to the boxes, I could wash off sweaty bits, then they'd be dry when we got back. Leave mud to dry and brush off when we got home, then back out to her field.
Snuggly rugs, lots of hay, she loved it and never looked so well.

 

[irishdraft]

Goldenstar actual time spent in the saddle 3 to 4 hours depending on the day but bloodhounding is faster with more jumping than the fox hunts, the ones in this area anyway & both mine are grey lol

 

[Goldenstar]

The thing is Irish draught I am having trouble getting my mind round how to deal with afterwards we got home at five thirty on Saturday in the dark ( I was driving not hunting and picked them up at the side of the road ) so horses just go straight on board dirty and they are sorted at home .
They where ridden for over six hours yesterday .
I am just not thinking out side the box here am I .

 

[marmalade76]

Plenty of people hunt field kept horses including me. I alwas hunter clip mine as with the fantastic turnout rugs we can now get they're always kept dry and warm enough. I will keep mine in the night before if there's a stable available, if not just hose/wash legs in the morning and with neck covers there's not a lot of mud to remove.

 

[Bernster]

I noticed you'd found a new horse, so just wanted to say congrats and hope you have a lot of fun with him. Even if he is grey ;-)

 

[spacefaer]

I've just sold one (an irish draught) )who would've hunted from the field quite happily. I've got another irish draught who I struggle to get enough feed into -if he was turned out, he'd be a hat rack after a month. .... and I've got a ISH which would live out but I never know which field he's in during daylight hours - it'd take me ages to find him on a hunting morning!

 

[Goldenstar]

I've just sold one (an irish draught) )who would've hunted from the field quite happily. I've got another irish draught who I struggle to get enough feed into -if he was turned out, he'd be a hat rack after a month. .... and I've got a ISH which would live out but I never know which field he's in during daylight hours - it'd take me ages to find him on a hunting morning!

Perhaps your ISH could just meet you at the meet.

 

[spacefaer]

Don't give him ideas Golden star - I put him out this morning in a 5acre field of fresh grass -and watched him jump 2 sets of post and rails and an electric fence to get to the field he wanted to be in. He passed 2 mares, one of them in season, to get there. ..... love him dearly but! !

 

[Goldenstar]

I noticed you'd found a new horse, so just wanted to say congrats and hope you have a lot of fun with him. Even if he is grey ;-)

Thank you Bernster it will be our first time out on Wednesday , he'll be for MrGS eventually when the wonderful Fatty needs an understudy so he can have an easier time.
Teeth done and clipped and scrubbed today which took up good haylage eating time he was well put out by the end.
Hope he's does not grow horns and become a devil at the hounds .