Weanlings living out

arwenplusone

arwenplusone

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I have always been of the opinion that in their first year, foals/weanlings are better off living in over the winter. Not sure why, I guess it is just what I have always done.

Recently & since money is tight and prices are through the roof I've been wondering if Mouse could live out.

Do any of you keep your weanlings out? Do they do ok? Just interested in thoughts & opinions really.
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i'm sure there will be far more UK-centric opinions posted but I know lots of people in Canada that keep young horses out 24/7 until they come into work. That said, obviously they need appropriate shelter, preferably free choice forage plus appropriate supplementation, age appropriate companions etc. I'd add specifically for the UK non-muddy footing as a must. But just on account of it being cold, I wouldn't say no.
 
Callie went to my friends to live out. She asked nicely if she could come in, and now comes in at night.....She managed about 2 weeks out at night, although before weaning she did live out at night and in during the day.
 
Hmm. I'm not so much worried about the cold - more that she would be unhappy and would want, like Callie!, to come in anyway.

She wouldn't be with other foals though, she'd be with three geldings...
 
Like TS says, as long as your ground is suitable, they have adequate shelter, are fed and checked appropriately, then I don't see why not.

Here, I can't have them out at night as we are too wet and holding, it wouldn't be fair on them but I do have to say that both the boys and Kitty have the thickest coats I've seen on foals this year and would have happily managed outside 24/7 if our ground conditions were better.
I know several TB studs who keep their youngsters, even weanlings, out, but they do have the space and the better ground which makes such a difference.
I think also, that even if you choose to keep them out, then you should have back up in the shape of a stable/shelter that can be used in the case of very wet weather as that takes them down far more than just cold weather ever does.
 
My foal is still on the mare and both are living out, main reason is that the mare doesn't like being in and I have nothing to put out with her till the spring so baby is keeping her company. The mare is not in foal so I don't mind leaving her foal with her. Ingi is about 6 1/2 months now and part polar bear I've just been out to give them more hay and her back is white with frost! It's the rain that gets them, if they have shelter they should be fine.

All the foals we have bred at home live out, plenty of hay, some hard feed and shelter and they do great.
 
I should have said, she would have access to a field shelter and ad lib hay if she was out.

It is tempting to give it a bit of a try. Need to have a chat with YO.
 
My weanling is out 24/7 with 2 bossy ponies, no shelter but tall hedges and trees and rug. 8 acres of old, lush pasture, ad lib haylage (that they're not touching as still so much grass) and he's happy, exercising (which is good for his joints), very woolly and as fat as butter.
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If I had a choice I would definitely winter Weasel out but then I am manic about horses getting stables vices and would do anything to avoid them. As it is she is in at night and seems quite happy and settled.

If Mouse has access to shelter (and would be allowed to go in it by the geldings more to the point) then I would be more than happy with that if she were mine.
 
Ours live in all winter. We are just next to North Sea with no shelter, and when the weather comes in from the Arctic we get it first!
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So we have big airy barns for the young horses and mares, they get regular exercise in our outdoor arena. Our barns are deep littered (twice a day they get fresh straw down) and the horses get ad-lib home grown haylege, and one hard feed a day. We do a "big muck" every other week when all the neds go out to the fields.

We just could not leave ours outside during the winter months, as we have no shelter, our fields would get ruined and our horses would not thrive the same. One I hate to see is horses standing knee deep in mud on a cold wet and windy day.

However, if I had plenty of land, with good shelter and big barns for horses and youngsters to come inside and outside as they wanted, then that is what I would do if I could.
 
Mine live out, currently the two weanlings are with 2 yearlings and Aunty Gerty. They are on about a 10 acre field (OH thinks it is 14) with plenty of hedging and trees, they do get hayed daily but still a fair amount of grass (unless its frozen solid like today).
They are rugged and about to start back on small feed a day of suregrow. I do like to bring the weanlings up to the yard at some point in the winter and give them a month of coming in at night and extra handling. We do it during the winter as I have time then as not showing or foaling down the next lot, rather than due to the weather, but must admit I love tucking them in at night in a deep straw bed when its cold and wet outside
 
I've currently got 3 weanlings living with me - one NF and two Section As. They are out 24/7 as are the two yearlings. I do not have the luxury of stables but there are field shelters. They are well fed and have ad-lib hay and seem quite happy. One yearling has been out since he was born (NF born on the Forest) and the other (the one I bred) was only stabled at night for her first month. She's out with just a lightweight rug which is really more for protection against rain. They are all handled every day when they are fed.
 
Since being weaned a month ago Cookie is living out 24/7. She is in a field with two other pony geldings. All three are rugged and she is very happy with her 2 'uncles'. I don't have shelters but there are hedges to two sides for protection. All three get fed every evening.
Up until weaning she had been in every night and didn't object to staying out.
Once weaning is fully over and she can go back with Toffee I may bring her back in but not rushing to do so.
 
I'm struggling to think of a TB farm here or in KY that winters their weanlings inside! IME field shelters are few and far between and some fields IMO could do with more natural shelter. I'm talking of young TB's worth upwards or 6 figures, in whatever currency you'd like to choose. I know value is relative, but everyone always goes on about how wimpish TB's are - well sorry, they only get like that with pampering....
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Winters in KY can be especially harsh, with temps dipping as low as 0F, which when you consider 32F is 0C, you can see it's no joke. The only time I recall everything coming in on the farm where I worked in KY (everything being about 1800 head) was during the ice storm of Feb 2003, that decimated Lexington.

Suffice to say, mine live out lol
 
Ours have lived out all winter in a big field with no shelter absolutely fine. They get lots of hay and hard feed once a day and are in the main unrugged. The only time I do put rugs on them is when it is pouring down for days at a time...then I feel sorry for them as there is nowhere to escaoe it and so take pity and bring them in to dry off and stick rugs on. They have massive coats though and so in this dry cold weather they are unrugged and very happy (albeit they do look like hairy yaks!).
 
Our 2 babies (will be 2yo in May) have only ever been kept in for 1 week of their lives and that was when they were weaned!!

In fact little girly one was born outside in the rain, and it rained for the first few days of her life!
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They are however Welsh D's so perhaps more hardy than other breeds
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My ID X TB colt was sent away to be weaned and was turned out with 2 TB colts very valuable chaps (one by Deploy and other one by Royal Academy) - it was a private flat racing stud. They had a field shelter, but never used it, there was always hay in there and they never ate it! They were given two short feeds per day and the grazing was good.

These people always wintered-out their weanlings and they were none the worse for it.
 

Does the age of a foal have an impact on ability to be in or out, rugged or not rugged? As Cookie was a mid June she still looks like a foal. Are the older ones more able to cope as they are physically stronger?
 
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I'm struggling to think of a TB farm here or in KY that winters their weanlings inside! IME field shelters are few and far between and some fields IMO could do with more natural shelter. I'm talking of young TB's worth upwards or 6 figures, in whatever currency you'd like to choose. I know value is relative, but everyone always goes on about how wimpish TB's are - well sorry, they only get like that with pampering....
tongue.gif
grin.gif
Winters in KY can be especially harsh, with temps dipping as low as 0F, which when you consider 32F is 0C, you can see it's no joke. The only time I recall everything coming in on the farm where I worked in KY (everything being about 1800 head) was during the ice storm of Feb 2003, that decimated Lexington.

Suffice to say, mine live out lol

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That's certainly my experience of North American TB producers. My friend boards yearlings for a fairly high powered breeder in Ontario and they are out BUT with a good shelter and looked at daily. I don't know any commercial producers that blanket weanlings/yearlings and in fact, personally (only my opinion!) i would prefer to avoid it because I think it's almost impossible to get a blanket (or even a couple if the weather is inconsistent) that always fits a growing horse. I have seen horses definitely affected by ill fitting blankets and I think it's a risk to be avoided in growing horses. That said, for most single horse owners it's relatively easy to keep checking fit and replacing blankets as necessary.

I would say though, as I said earlier, that in most parts of North America the major difference is that rain and mud are not the norm. Yes, it's very cold but the ground is frozen and/or covered in snow for most of the winter and the horses are rarely wet through for any length of time. When i lived on the west coast - a climate more like most of the UK - we more often limited turnout both in area and duration on account of mud/wet. Horses deal well with cold, less so with wet.
 
Mine are out unrugged and agree they can be dangerous things at times, yard i am based at had a promising colt that got picked on one evening last winter and when found in the morning was in a terrable state tied up in his rug...result back injury and wobblers = good for nothing now!
 
My filly born 1st May is living out with my 20 month old arab (its his first time ever living out) he was gradually introduced to it as had been kept in overnight even in the summer before I bought him and was a bit of a stress head, since living out, with a field shelter and big hedges, plenty of ad lib hay and a bit of a feed everyday he has completely chilled out and my filly is happy as well even in the cold temperatures we have been having.
 
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