when do you all start..... ??

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hannah28

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thiking about winter ??

i mean like, rugging ? upping feed ? stabling at night ? etc ?

also i am starting feeding sugar beet this winter, when do you know when you need to start feeding it ?
 
I've started my autumn routine already. This includes rugging overnight and feeding twice a day, slowly increasing to bulid back up to winter levels. I have a fine, skinny tb who needs extra tlc. I don't normally do this until mid septmeber, but with the temperatures dropping low at night he needs this now. I have already got my and hay and straw supply sorted and is stacked and ready to use.
 
All mine live out; only one is rugged and she'll be rugged when it gets cold, probably around mid/end November (unless it is extraordinarily wet and cold) - I want them to grow coats first. That's my sole contribution to "winter" apart from, obviously, feeding hay when required but that happens over the summer too with the amount of grass we haven't had (although it is growing slowly now :)) Although we've had a couple of chilly nights it is dry so they don't mind.
 
My lad has the same routine all year round...out in the day and in at night on hay...to keep his weight down. He will be rugged once he grows a decent coat through or if it drops cold, wet and windy. I will start with a light weight and he only ever needs a medium weight in the worst of the winter.
He is fed the same all year - couple of handfuls of chaff to put his vit min supplement into..but he is a good doer and does not need anything else.
 
ours are in during the day at the moment, and in the next few weeks will go to being out 24 hours until november when they'll come in at night.
they're getting a little bit of feed and haylage now, and over the next 8 weeks or so that will get built up to winter levels
they're in fly rugs now and will be until the next couple of weeks, they then have a few weeks to grow a coat before I shave it all off the week before hunting starts, then theyll be rugged up.

bedding and haylage already sorted, stacked and waiting!
 
Have just started bringing mine in at night (although my choice would have been to leave them out another month).

I rug at night, and was doing this last week when they were out as it turned a bit colder.

Mine are both poor doers and are fed the same in the summer as the winter. My feed includes sugar-beet, so they are fed this the year-round.

I would say it depends on the horse as to when you start rugging & feeding beet - if they look like they are cold or starting to drop off weight, then start introducing the beet gradually to their feeds.
 
Mine are in and rugged at night and have been for a couple of weeks now but one of mine can't stand the rain, so that's the main reason, the same horse has to be sedated for clipping so i try to get him to hang onto his summer coat for as long as possible. I don't change their feed unless there's a specific reason to do so.
 
Already feeding (hay and hard) and I'll go on a rug buying frenzi very shortly, I buy new winter rugs every year, buy the time you've sent them off to be repaired, washed and re-proofed, I'd rather buy a few new ones and have the older ones as spares.
 
My routine barely changes......both out 24/7 unrugged unless very wet and cold, they get fed the same all year, no hay unless they come in to dry off.

Only thing that changes is they go out onto 3 acres of lots of grass rather than quarter of an acre of not a lot!!
 
Mine will start staying in at night from about the middle of October. At the moment, they are wearing LW Turnout rugs on colder nights but apart from that they are naked most of the time! They get fed the same all year round, although I will be keeping an eye on my Laminitic boy's weight through Autumn. They will also be clipped about mid-October. :)
 
No changes so far. Don't rug until it goes below 10C during day time or if it is very wet and windy. Hopefully won't start coming in at night until late November. Managed to stay out until Christmas a few years ago, just hope we have a dry autumn.

Not changing Lil's feed as she's still being strip grazed. I'm allowing her much more grass each day than I was but unless she starts to drop condition I'll be leaving her be.
 
Our turnout is dictated by yard so they are always in at night. At the mo he goes out at about 6:30 and comes in at about 6. Once the dark cold mornings come he'll stay in with hay and be turned out at about 9:30 and come in at about 4 (brilliant friend who will do this for me!).

I'm not rugging yet and won't until the temperature really drops (my horse tends to the warm side and hates rugs so the longer I leave it the better for him).

I will increase his hay ration through September and October and introduce speedi beet and alfa pellets to his feed at the end of September.
 
I have just got my rugs back from being cleaned/repaired. Clipper baldes have been sharpened, straw and half my hay is sitting in the barn.. getting there! Mine are normally in at nights by around the beginning of november.. depends very much on the weather and what the fields are like. We have 24/7 turnout but i normally stable overnight during the worst of the winter.
 
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