Turning out 24/7, what do you wait for?

Mine are out 22/7 all year round (in for a couple of hours each morning for breakfast, a snooze and a munch of hay).

I don’t have summer and winter fields as such, I strip graze over winter out into standing foggage. It’s always a few days either side of Badminton in early May when the grazed winter grass suddenly takes off and I need to fence them off in their equicentral summer to autumn grazing.

The grass goes mental over the course of a week.

Means I never have to turn them out on ‘rested’ fields in spring which would scare me to death 😳.
 
Mine are out now as it's dry but they can be out for a few days then if it's torrential rain they come back in. This Winter they have been in at night the most since we moved here but I try to have them out as much as possible and just flex with the weather. I'm lucky to have hardstanding in front of the barn which is where I put the hay and they can stand in the middle of the barn if they want. My gelding is a bit of a bully so I can't leave the stable doors open although sometimes I just shut him in and let the mares have the choice. This has been a very long Winter!!
 
Dry fields that can feed them so good covering of grass. All spring/summer fields are rested for 6 months. No fixed date but usually April.
They stay out as long as possible and 2025 it was late November when they came in at night.
 
Mine haven’t really been in consistently this year - just the odd night here and there. They are happy out at the moment - it’s very mild here and I think the grass has started growing.
 
I chucked my youngster and the two retirees out last night. Since end of Jan they have been coming on to an area of hard standing with a shelter on the wettest days and then just out in the field on drier days. Last night they all looked quite happy. I put hay out for them this morning but they haven’t touched it yet. There’s more rain to come in the forecast, so I will move them back onto the hard when it does.
My 3 competition horses have been coming in at night since end of Jan. it’s still too wet, although drying quickly and not enough grass growth for everyone to live out yet.
I am minded though that we moved here in mid March two years ago without any stabling or shelters everything had to live out and they all survived. 🤞they can all go out mid March again.
 
Mine are always out 24/7 with the option of coming into their hard standing/ mud control corral with shelters and round bale hay. They’ve gradually had access to the whole 10 acres or so over winter. They normally go through 2 round bales a week (free access but netted) but the one I put in Sunday is less than half eaten so the grass is definitely starting to come through! I went round starting to shut off some of the inner paddocks so they’ll have to be back on the outside track by the weekend or so.
 
Mine are out all year anyway. But their current field is unusually dry right now - yesterday honestly felt like summer. I was sweating doing the horses in a t-shirt. My summer field (imported clay) is still flooded at one end though - they won't be on that before May. I'm currently grazing off the far meadows which can't be grazed in summer because of the protected plant sp that grow there later in the year. It saves on hay, but it's a looong old walk with a wheelbarrow of muck or water!
 
Ours are always out 24/7 (barring extreme weather), but currently in small winter paddocks, which are either mud or snow depending on temperature. In the spring we need to wait for the big fields to be dry enough that tractor or ATV can get in without too much damage, so we can fix/change fences, harrow, etc. In theory we might consider how the grass is doing, but in practice, by the time the maintenance is done, the grass is ready. (Also needs to be done around plowing and planting - which fields are ready at which times depends on whether they're wet more from snowmelt or rain, and if they're drying out more from heat or draining etc. But planting always takes priority if fields are ready at the same time.)
 
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