Viewing horses in winter with no turnout

[SO1]

So I am viewing a pony on Sunday. He sounds really just what I am looking for since I lost Homey back in July.

Only he has no turnout due to their fields being flooded. I know some places have very little or no winter turnout at this time of year.

If I was to buy him I would have to reintroduce him to turnout very gradually to avoid colic and injury from excitement in the same slow way that would need to be done for a rehab horse. So he may need to be sedated and just start out with 20 minutes turnout tiny paddock turnout and then gradually build up to a day and then turnout with the others.

He would come to the yard I kept Homey on and it is part livery and they do rehab so they can do the reintroduce to turnout in a proper controlled way but obviously that comes at a cost though so would need to be reflected in the price.

I expect most of the people who inquire about him may not realise the faff of reintroducing turnout safely.

It made me wonder how those with no winter turnout have to go through the reintroduce turnout again every year starting with 20 mintues individual turnout etc and then building up gradually if they are working and on DIY livery.

 

[Zoeypxo]

Do you know how long he hasnt been turned out for ?

 

[SO1]

No I will need to ask that. He is being ridden every day.

Do you know how long he hasnt been turned out for ?

 

[maya2008]

In the past when I have been in this situation I just made them good and tired through a mammoth hack then chucked them out. They were fine.

My main herd went from field with nearly no grass to field with grass and were fine two weeks ago. They’d been out but subsisting on haylage not grass.

Newest one came from stable there to stable with me then after two weeks in I popped him straight out in a large ish pen with a friend. Again, fine. He displaced little Welsh filly who went into the bigger field and was straight away fine.

Current box rester will come back into work first then be turned out when he is tired after a long hack, and will stay out. Mine don’t come in at night.

In my experience, the herd dynamic is a much bigger worry than changing from hay to grass or in to out. Introducing a new one to a herd can be much more fraught with danger!

I would not reduce price because a horse had been in with no turnout- plenty of yards are like that over the winter.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Just make sure he likes being turned out in the winter. Seems silly I know but my horse was kept in in winter with his previous owners as he was a NH/ pointer so racing over winter. I bought him in the August, he was fine out 24/7. Winter came and I couldn't keep him out more than 10 mins. It was a nightmare. 5 years down the line and he will tolerate 4 hours!

 

[marmalade88]

As said above a long hack and Chuck out. I wouldn’t be too worried about colic the grass isn’t rich this time year, assuming you’re in the UK

 

[dixie]

Ive always found that if they’ve not been turned out for a while, apart from a bit of a run around they tend to get their head down to munch the grass.
Thats if you have any left in this awful wet weather ?

 

[Red-1]

You want money off because they ride daily rather then turn out, even before meeting the horse? TBH, if someone tried that with me, I would decide that they didn't quite fit the type of owner I was looking to sell to.

I have never had no turnout, but had one on a yard where he had 4 hours twice a week. This was summer and winter, and the reason I moved, but he was perfectly happy and well cared for. The yard was on parkland and he was ridden either in the school or, more often, round the parkland daily. That included hills, a gallop track, XC fences, acres and acres of it.

I have worked at a yard where horses went months with no turnout. They had regular work and went on a walker on their days off. When I was on the yard they all left their stables to do something, but I know when I wasn't there they could have up to three days as a 'duvet day' which I hated. I wasn't in charge of that aspect of their care, so couldn't do anything about it, but wasn't happy if I then had issues riding after 3 days caged in a stable!!!

Even now, at home, winter turnout is only on a surface. Of course, I re-introduce grass carefully in spring, but someone saying they have to pay more for it so want money off, I don't really understand? If they are turning out/bringing in anyway, what does it matter at what time they do it? Also, I would hope you were planning proper introductions over a fence anyway in a yard as you describe, for everyone's safety, so again can't see any extra expense.

As for sedation, I have done this for horses who have medically had box rest but think it is rather extreme simply to manage turnout on a horse who has been in full work. I think there would be other ways to manage the situation.

As I said, if this would be such a problem as to need a discount, I would decide you were probably not equipped to have the horse, hence my original comment. Maybe this simply isn't the horse for you?

ETA - It is not the fact that you are asking about the practicalities of managing the re-introduction of turnout that would be the problem. That sounds thoughtful and I applaud it. It would be the instant asking for financial recompense for something that is unlikely to be an issue, before even seeing the horse, that would be the red flag that would make me not want to sell to you.

He would come to the yard I kept Homey on and it is part livery and they do rehab so they can do the reintroduce to turnout in a proper controlled way but obviously that comes at a cost though so would need to be reflected in the price.

.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I did the same last year. Horse hadn’t been turned out in ages. I got him off the lorry and chucked him straight out. Being winter and my others out in the field there was little in the way of grass anyway. He only had a few hours the first day, but only because I picked him up mid day and got in before dark.

 

[Peglo]

I took my new horse off the trailer after travelling from Italy to north of Scotland over a week and stuck her straight in a field. The last thing I would’ve wanted to do was box her in again after all that time contained. She had a walk, ate, walked a few more steps, ate.

I really don’t micromanage my horses and feel very gung-ho at times when I read other peoples approaches.

 

[SOS]

I would not ask for a discount on a horse due to its routine with the current owner being different to my routine. I would however consider if it’s the right horse for me if the routine is going to be vastly different.

Like others said, I would work the horse hard and then turn out for short periods of time. Unless the horse gave me reason to believe it would go nuts I would not sedate the horse, just perhaps put some boots on the first few times to avoid little annoying scrapes if they were to roll lots or have a little trot around. If my fields were dangerous (very slippy, icy or knee deep mud) that a horse having a yee-haw was extremely at risk I wouldn’t be turning out at all personally.

 

[w1bbler]

I'm another that can't see the problem. I'd be going for a hack & then turning out, preferably with a quiet herd member. Assuming he'd be stabled overnight then his diet will still largely be hay / haylage.
Don't over think it.

 

[SO1]

Turnout on our yard is very well managed we have grass all year round and fields are rotated so we don't have mud.

I lost Homey to a gastric impaction and therefore am very risk adverse when it comes to colic. A horse who has not had grass for a while would be at colic risk if it went from no grass to lots of grass so I would have to be careful and build it up over a couple of months. There is also the risk of injury due to excitement at being turned out for first time. There is also the risk we would find it difficult to catch as we will not be able to test this as part of the viewing.

The horse is advertised with a ovno offer price. I can afford the full asking price.

Obviously there are risks with any horse and non is going to be perfect.

This is the first time I have viewed in 15 years so probably things are different now and more horses sadly don't get winter turnout. It was not really something I thought about with regards to trying horses in winter.

There is absolutely no way I would just turf him out it would have to be carefully managed.

 

[Gamebird]

Every year (for the last century at least) thousands of racehorses, hunters, and competition horses get turned away for their holidays. They go from (mostly) 24/7 stabling to 24/7 in a field. No-one sedates them or brings them back in after 20 mins.

I'm all for sensible precautions (boots if those are your thing, good fencing, quiet company), but I'm afraid that I cannot see that expecting a lower price is reasonable, and I am inclined to think that turning a horse out for 20mins is more, not less, likely to cause injury.

 

[ihatework]

I think you are right to consider how to reintroduce turnout but I think you are blowing it out of proportion and massively overthinking it. As for a reduction in price!!!!

If you have to do something to make you feel better, ride horse hard, turn out for an hour or two after for a week. Then half a day for another week. Then full day as normal.

 

[Goldenstar]

If he’s a nice horses trying to reduce his price because he has not had turnout for a few weeks will probably lead to you losing the purchase to someone else .
I think you are way overthinking it .

 

[Quigleyandme]

My young horses don’t have access to the fields five months of the year. They just speed graze when put on the grass. They barely move for an hour.

 

[Gloi]

I think that the sad experience you had with Homey is making you worry too much. I'd be more concerned about making a careful introduction to his new herdmates than the winter grass.

 

[SO1]

There are a couple of another potential issue around turnout.

The owners have been super honest about it which means he may not be straight forward when it comes to field mates and more likely to be running around.

I am not going to go into detail as not fair on owners but we think we can manage it.

 

[TheMule]

I think you’re reading too much into it- it has been incredibly wet the past couple of weeks, I expect a lot of horses are in the same position.
It wouldn’t change how I managed the horse when I got it home- introduced to the others over the fence but straight into normal routine otherwise

 

[Lyle]

Can you ask how the current owner would reintroduce turnout? It sounds like lack of turnout due to the wet at his current livery may be a common occurrence. Whilst proper planning absolutely goes a long way to (hopefully) preventing heartache, I couldn't see turnout needing to be introduced slowly over months. A couple of weeks, maybe, but not months.

 

[mustardsmum]

I think that the sad experience you had with Homey is making you worry too much. I'd be more concerned about making a careful introduction to his new herdmates than the winter grass.

I think Gloi is right SO1. We both lost our ponies at the same time and I felt similar worries - only mine was about lami, it was summer and I’d just lost my boy to lami and new pony was a bit cresty. I think you prob need to acknowledge the risks (as I did) and if there are issues with turnout, be aware. But don’t let it become bigger than it is. I was so worried when I brought my new boy home it almost overshadowed the joy of finding him. Speak to the owners, if he is difficult re turnout, take their advice and you will be fine. But try not to overthink it, it’s difficult not to project your worries about what happened Homy onto a new pony but the chances of that happening again are prob quite low. I am assuming this is a Forester, and so should be pretty much ok to turn out, with the normal considerations of introducing a new pony. If you are worried, just limit turnout and increase gradually. Stick a nice big pile of hay out which will also act as a distraction and then relax. Sometimes we just have to take a deep breath and go for it! I hope he is everything you are looking for, good luck!

 

[SO1]

Thanks. I have a 10k budget so not like I am restricted to looking at bargain basement ponies and this pony is not a very cheap pony.

The insurance would not kick in for 2 weeks and whilst I am careful enough to have a slush fund for vet bills, colic can be costly to treat as well as being awful for the pony.

I do livery on a rehab yard and have seen probably seen most types of injuries and medical conditions in the last few years through the rehabs as well as through loosing Homey so I may just be more aware of what could go wrong and less gung ho than most.

The sellers do seem very honest and knowledgeable people and I don't think they are on a livery yard.

 

[Zoeypxo]

I would just turn out for the day, unless you have extremely rich grazing which is unlikely in january?

i wouldn't be Able to catch mine after only 20 minutes

 

[throwaway2022]

I really don’t micromanage my horses and feel very gung-ho at times when I read other peoples approaches.

I often think the same, you’re not alone!

 

[Barton Bounty]

If it were me, I would turn out for 2 hours and build from there, so in 4 days they were out all day if your worried.
Get the insurance set up immediately though ?

 

[criso]

I wonder if they've mentioned the no turnout as the pony will be fresher when you try and this is not typical of how he would behave on full turnout. It could be a plus as if he behaves even with no turnout, it would be a sign of a pony that's easy.

The wet weather hasn't been that long so if it's due to flooding, it's not been long.

I've sedated horses after long box rest but that's more about not wanting them to gallop around and reinjure themselves and a couple of tubes of sedalin aren't a big cost.

I've also gone from muddy winter fields to summer fields with lots of grass. I've just started with a short time and built up to a full day. It doesn't actually cost anything more on part livery, it just means that the yard bring in earlier.

The colic worry is understandable after Homey however wasn't that an underlying issue not a management one and a fairly rare condition? It's natural to have that in the back of your mind and worry about it.

 

[Trickywooo]

As said above a long hack and Chuck out. I wouldn’t be too worried about colic the grass isn’t rich this time year, assuming you’re in the UK

This! I'd be more concerned about injury from zooming around the field. Long 2hr hack should do it. He'll be more interested in grazing than running around.

Also I know it's not exactly relevant but I find the trend of livery yards not accommodating winter turnout so sad. I would never choose to keep mine on a yard that didn't offer some form of turnout throughout the year, though I understand some owners do not have a choice.

Horses are social animals that need down time outside of their stables and without being attached to a lunge line or with a rider on their backs. I find it so sad that so many yards don't recognise turnout as a basic necessity for horses.

 

[SO1]

We have good grazing all year round.

I was lucky with Homey you could turn him out for 10 minutes and then catch him straight away even when just turned out for first time after injury.

I suppose I could also use a grazing muzzle to start off with to reduce grass intake.

I would just turn out for the day, unless you have extremely rich grazing which is unlikely in january?

i wouldn't be Able to catch mine after only 20 minutes

 

[J&S]

If Gamebird can turn out TB's then I am sure a NF pony will be fine! The one time my NF coliced was because of lack of grass not because of it!