What is your routine for working field kept horses?

Lego

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As the title really...

Considering moving the coblet to somewhere with more turnout... there are a couple of places available that have grass livery, but would we cope?

He's happy living out in the summer, and generally laid back, so I don't think he would mind, it's more how I would cope. How do you manage rugs etc? Currently on part livery due to shift work and can't really manage going up twice a day every day, but not sure if summer routine of checking myself once a day and others keeping an eye out would work this time of year...

Decisions decisions...
 
Mine are at home which makes things easier but they are out 24/7. Basically I check rugs twice a day, change them if need be but usually nothing needs doing. They come in to the yard for tacking up, etc. Being rugged in winter means grooming isn't a huge chore and they are dry. To be honest I would struggle to cope if they were stabled. Far more work!
 
I go and do mine once a day, check over, water and hay, I don't get to ride during the week because of lack of daylight. I'm hating it this year, I'm on much less land than I'm used to and finding the mud and hay bill crippling.
 
I have fully clipped competing horses that live out. But I do need to check rugs, horses, feed and hay them (and if cold break ice) twice a day.
 
Also, a head torch is your friend. Mine are quite used to being brought in in pitch black if necessary. For example one had to come in for mud fever treatment every evening so that meant bringing them both in across a fiels after 6 in the dark as I work full time. Easy enough with a head torch!
like Rhodders I don't ride on weekdays at this time of year but that means at least they are out moving. Last year one was fully clipped, she was fine with a combo.
 
I go and do mine once a day, check over, water and hay, I don't get to ride during the week because of lack of daylight. I'm hating it this year, I'm on much less land than I'm used to and finding the mud and hay bill crippling.

I feel your pain...
 
I hunt twice a week and my horse is out 24/7 just in at night before hunting but my paddock is old pasture and is very sheltered with old trees and hedges if it wasn't I would have him in they do not like wet but my pasture hardly get muddy I know i'm very lucky he is rugged up a lightweight sheet first then I can wash this and change then a mark todd full neck heavy and if raining in day a premier equine lightweight on top so I can change and dry quick I have 2 sets of rugs I buy rugs like people buy shoes !!! he is fed haylage and scoop of feed on top once a day at the moment as it has been so mild and I have oddles of grass he is on his own in a 7 acre paddock has mates next door. I have a girl go down the days I'm not hunting to feed and check for £3 a day he is very happy living out is fully clipped and very warm I also think he likes being out after hunting as it loosens him up walking about, also very very happy horse.
 
Until last year I kept my horse out 24x7, new horse arrived and she hated being out, I had her a week where she was utterly miserable, found a yard moved her. So I went the other way and then this week I've been looking after a friends 2 out 24x7.

My experience has been it was far harder looking after the ones out, I had to walk across fields in the dark, hump hay across said fields, hump rugs. I guess it depends in the facilities but with no electricity its ghastly. Add to this nowhere for tack and humping that too and I realised it will ever be for me again.

My mare loves her stable so I'm lucky that we've both chosen that route, she doesn't lie down ever in the field so gets increasingly tired to the point of stressed if out 24x7, as it is she's out 12 hours which I'm happy with.

So I'm saying check what you get and what extra you will have to do, that's key to it.
 
If you have a yard, barn, stable etc to bring into for rugging, tacking up, grooming etc you should be able to manage easily. If there's only a field thats another matter!
 
I hunt twice a week and my horse is out 24/7 just in at night before hunting but my paddock is old pasture and is very sheltered with old trees and hedges if it wasn't I would have him in they do not like wet but my pasture hardly get muddy I know i'm very lucky he is rugged up a lightweight sheet first then I can wash this and change then a mark todd full neck heavy and if raining in day a premier equine lightweight on top so I can change and dry quick I have 2 sets of rugs I buy rugs like people buy shoes !!! he is fed haylage and scoop of feed on top once a day at the moment as it has been so mild and I have oddles of grass he is on his own in a 7 acre paddock has mates next door. I have a girl go down the days I'm not hunting to feed and check for £3 a day he is very happy living out is fully clipped and very warm I also think he likes being out after hunting as it loosens him up walking about, also very very happy horse.

we're like this! ^^ 2 horses on 8 acres of old grassland, hedges round 3 sides, and a barn to stand in/against depending on the wind direction. the field stays dry because it's on a hill top and drains well. They have ad lib access to a 3ft bale of haylage.

My dad checks them in the morning, and then I go up on an evening, feed them in their stables, do feet and adjust rugs. Then if the next day is not a hunting day then Dad turns them out after a couple of hours. Otherwise then I plait up once they've eaten and the OH brushes them off, and they stay in (which involves getting 2 barrow loads of haylage down from the field!). Then they'll stay in the night after hunting because Ron likes to sleep and we need to make sure Tom eats up.

They are both hunting about once a week (aged 20, rising 4...), and get one or two hacks a week besides that, and are hunter clipped, with their ears and half face left fluffy. They both wear Rambo Supreme H/W turnouts, and a fleece underneath if necessary. They are on speedibeet, linseed meal, and alfalfa plus (and joint and digestion supplements from hack up - amazing stuff!), and Tom gets a mug of oats on top. I'm reducing their feeds because they look so well (fat!) at the moment!
 
If you have a yard, barn, stable etc to bring into for rugging, tacking up, grooming etc you should be able to manage easily. If there's only a field thats another matter!


Exactly, the type of grass livery with facilities is just not available around here, just having a field, even one with a shelter is a killer in the depths of winter.
 
I check once a day and ride when I can. It's easy for me as ponies are just used for hacking and don't wear rugs. They have a decent field shelter and large hedges which suffice most of the time. When it is extremely wet I stick them in a spare cattle shed, which they don't like compared to their field.

Sometimes I wish I could get dry clean ponies from a dry clean stable but my ponies are very happy and I do minimal work. And it's free grazing.

However you keep your horse there'll be downsides and upsides.
 
Three out on about four acres. Well draining, free access to a barn which has round bale hay or Haylage in a round feeder. Shoes off as just too busy at work to ride much, they are all in lightweight rugs. We have no electricity but do have a generator and a bore hole, and we do have stables which are only used for tacking up and farrier visits. I would struggle to do three stable kept horses!
 
Depends on the set up you have. I have 2 out 24/7 and one on box rest

The two that are out are with my friends pony so I've taken it upon myself to feed them all at the same.time. I chuck feeds out and they eat by the gate luckily they dont swap around the buckets. But they all come over when they see my car. I have a barn with stables opposite, but slightly to on side so the outside light is bright enough for me to check them over and pick out feet etc

3 evenings a week my friend does night feeds and I do the other 4.

We pay a girl to do some poo picking for 2 hrs a week and I finish off the difference at the weekend

When we feed hay I get a round bale delivered and that goes into the field shelter and the cost will be split. Last yr my 3 stood at it for about 23 hrs a day and it would last 2 weeks. But we've not needed to hay yet this winter

I prefer having hay in side as it doesn't get wet and muddy and horses are stood in mud all winter
 
I have three that are living out 24/7 predominately (although have been in the last few nights due to snow).

In general horses living out are a lot easier as you are less tied to a routine, assuming they have some grass to keep them occupied.

I give a bucket feed in the morning, and have just started giving them a slice of hay each too. This is all made up the night before then barrow it up to them.

I then do any rug checks/water/poo picking etc. If none are being ridden, then just ignore them for the day, then put more hay out before it gets dark.

Rugging is easy - they just stay in the same ones unless a very dramatic change in weather conditions.

I do have access to a yard/stables so just bring in whatever needs riding, then turn straight back out after.

The things I have found useful are:

- a head torch
- a pick axe for breaking ice in troughs
- a waterproof rain sheet for exercise (so that there are no issues rugging if ridden in the rain).

I have 3 horses on 3 acres for winter (Nov - feb) - then have separate grazing for spring summer. This is a godsend as whatever happens to the winter field, it has 7 mnths of resting. TBH if I didn't have separate winter grazing I would bring them in at night as not to compromise the grass.

The horses are very happy with their routine, and as they are getting more natural exercise, rarely have any silly moments either when ridden or in the field. Definely easier than having them stabled but you do need to have enough land.
 
It's so much easier if they live out. I've never stabled (but have stables they have permanent access to, they can wonder in and out as they please). It takes me about 15 mins to do them in the morning and at night, I give them their feeds, check rugs (I dont take them off daily unless to groom/ride/change), check water and poo pick their stables and yard where they tend to stand about this time of year (as big hay bale is there). If you get a big hay bale it saves having to put out haynets etc. and minimises wastage (I have a big net over it on a pallet). The only thing thats time consuming right now is my water tap has frozen solid in the tackroom so I have to drag a hose from the shed attached to my house to fill loads of buckets every night!
 
Depends on the set up you have. I have 2 out 24/7 and one on box rest

The two that are out are with my friends pony so I've taken it upon myself to feed them all at the same.time. I chuck feeds out and they eat by the gate luckily they dont swap around the buckets. But they all come over when they see my car. I have a barn with stables opposite, but slightly to on side so the outside light is bright enough for me to check them over and pick out feet etc

3 evenings a week my friend does night feeds and I do the other 4.

We pay a girl to do some poo picking for 2 hrs a week and I finish off the difference at the weekend

When we feed hay I get a round bale delivered and that goes into the field shelter and the cost will be split. Last yr my 3 stood at it for about 23 hrs a day and it would last 2 weeks. But we've not needed to hay yet this winter

I prefer having hay in side as it doesn't get wet and muddy and horses are stood in mud all winter

I have two, living out, full clipped, well rugged. Adlib hay fed on hard standing with grass mats, from hay hutches. Have feeding tyres (copra, speedibeet, micronized linseed) on mats too.

I have head torch, access to stables and access to covered, lit indoor area, and normal yard facilities e.g. lit arena (but all 7 minute walk away).

I don’t think grass livery (for full working horses, in winter, when working full time), is that much easier. It sounds like it should be. There are pros and cons of everything.
 
I have two out 24/7 on grass livery. The yard the field are at has full facilities, so I can bring the one I ride onto the yard to groom/tack up/farrier/vet etc, I also have access to an arena to ride in. My field is 5 acres in total, split into two, half for winter, half for summer. No field shelter, but there are lots of mature trees lining the field. Field is 5 min walk from main yard.
In the winter I do two visits a day to check, hay and feed. No hard standing for hay so I strap a large haynet to my back to take up to field, head torch is my saviour! When I ride in winter, I get my boy in when it's dark, usually by the time I've washed off and tacked up its light enough to head out, or I just go in the school during the week. I can't poo pick in the winter here as the fields get too wet. Previous yard I was at I was able to do it all year round. Rugs are not changed unless weather changes, or they're damaged. I check horse I don't ride under her rug regularly.
In summer if the grass is plenty like this year, then I do one visit a day to check and feed, plus poo picking.
I don't think its that much less work than having them stabled in the winter, but it is much easier in the summer! i find the cost of the additional hay is still less than what I'd pay for a stable + bedding. Plus my horses are much happier out, and the TB has pretty much no field related injuries or lost shoes now!
 
Mine have always lived out but your set up is key. On my old livery yard, it was awful! Field was a 5 minutes walk away through mud, I had to push my barrow through it with small bales of hay as no access for large bales. To top up the water there was a series of rubbish hoses connected together with leaking connectors and one tap on the yard that would always be turned off the second you walked away. All you got was a dribble and that was if the hoses were not frozen. In that case it was pushing containers up to the field. Nightmare! The feed room, hay barn, tap and field were all on different corners of the yard, which was a quagmire.

Now I have my own yard and it it perfect! Hay/haylage is put in the barn when delivered, which is at the the back of the shelter. Feed is in here also. The tap (highly insulated) is also in the shelter. I walk through my gate into my mud free car park, then through the little wooden gate to the shelter where I turn on the tap, open the barn, chuck hay and feed in the feeders, turn off the tap and leave! There is a little light in there too so in the dark it is enough to check them over.

I can go up in normal clothes and know I wont get dirty, and everything is all withing my 30ft x 20ft shelter. it's brilliant!
 
I feed them hay twice a day at 7am and again just before dark. I rotate fields rather than poo pick (there is enough land)

My best advise is to save some grass - then if you know that you are going to be late the next day I give them a bit extra grass overnight, then I don't feel guilty if I have a lie in.

I also save an acre or so so that when I go away for a week in February, they can have this - although I have someone who looks after them I know they can't get here until 9am, so that takes the pressure off!
 
I have two living out 24/7 in full work, fully clipped out, they are at home so easier, I have a yard they come on to for grooming/tacking up but I havent stabled them at all this year, one of them hunts once or twice a week. i dont think the workload is much less at this time of the year as i poo pick daily & soak hay for both plus 2 hard feeds a day but the plus is i can be a bit more flexible in routine although they are fed at the same time each day
 
At my DIY (24/7 a year round turnout) my YO checks them every morning and gives them a hay bale per field. And in the evening she checks them again, and any other time.

Our yard motto is 'see something need doing, then bloody do it!!'
I'll carry on in a minute on 1% battery!!
 
Back again!!
All horses that need feeding for an illness or for weight gain YO brings them in and feeds.

Sometimes I don't get up everyday to the yard- busy. But when I can go to the yard but can't get ponies out (light issue- no lights on yard) I check rugs, warmth, give them a carrot each and check for injuries.
 
Thanks for the replies so far everyone :)

As people have said- I'm sure the set up is key. It's deciding what to compromise on! Good turnout for him, or good facilities for me? He spends more time at the yard than I do, so horse has to come first, but if theres nowhere to ride him or I'm too knackered after diy, what's the point of keeping a riding horse there?

I work shifts, so couldn't do stabled diy without assistance, hence current part livery. Hmm...do those of you who don't have an arena on-site just accept that winter riding is limited and get on with it?

If I did make the change to grass livery, I'd be saving at least 250 a month I think- worth it? What are the downsides? I currently put on a warmer rug for the night-will he really be warm enough in the same one? I know he won't melt but he's still my fur-baby :)
 
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