Winter has started!

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Carolina24

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So it's my first winter owning my horse and it began last night. We decided it was getting too cold to have them turned out 24/7 so last night my lad had his first night in. He was as good as gold and it was nice to see him all warm and happy this morning.

Not too keen on getting up at 6.10am wow that was a shocker but I'll get used to it!

Who else is experiencing there first year or has brought there horses in yet?
 
One of my six came in last night as he is out on his own in a little paddock with not much shelter. The others are in fields with big oaks for shelter. But blimey it was vicious last night! We had horizonal rain coming down in sheets. This morning was the first hat and gloves morning! :rolleyes:
I have 2 stables to share amongst 6 horses... gonna feel mean when the weather gets really bad! :p
 
Mine were in last night because it was chucking it down and also really cold so I thought I would let them stay warm and dry over night. They will be out most of the time this winter I am trying to rough them off but I keep going soft its the first winter they are all out of work and I am looking forwards to just lobbing out hay and checking waters and leaving them to it. They were wondering why I brought them in last night because they have grown sufficient coats, but ones a foal at foot and anothers a yearling who had a snotty nose last time in the rain and they were itching to go out again this morning. I interfered too much!!
 
I felt really awful knowing mine was out in that last night. It was windy but dry and mild when I turned her out, and she has been out 24/7 since May. Then the horizontal rain started :(

Made me think maybe I should start bringing her in at night, just so I know she doesn't have to spend the night cold and wet.
 
sounds like I wasn't the only one up at stupid o'clock this morning then - last night seems to be the first night for many. It was horrible weather and my Arab x is so fine that he really needed the warmth to be comfy I think- glad I brought him in. Going to try and lunge him tonight after work but don't finish till 5 so it's not easy now the nights are drawing in. will just have to do what I can.
 
Mine's been coming in since the beginning of september on box rest, think I going to make him into a complete wuss by spring. He was trying to follow me across the yard this morning, but didn't want to get his face wet so walked backwards after me :rolleyes:
 
Mine are still out but fo have field shelters with hay in them. Trying to hang on until the paddocks get muddy then they will come in at night but not ready for all the mucking out just yet. Prefer poo picking the shelters!
 
I was hoping to lunge tonight before I put him in but it looks very blustery out there - what do you all do in winter with riding if you work full time? Do you just have to try and fit it in on the weekend? sorry I know I'm sort out hi-jacking my own thread ; )
 
Carolina24 said:
I was hoping to lunge tonight before I put him in but it looks very blustery out there - what do you all do in winter with riding if you work full time? Do you just have to try and fit it in on the weekend? sorry I know I'm sort out hi-jacking my own thread ; )
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:D:D I think you are entitled to hi-jack your own thread! Paddy will get out in the morning once or twice a week if weather is ok , I do have Sat off work , but we have a pheasant shoot opposite our land , so Sats will be out..:( it would just be like the OK Corral , my OH says he'll get Paddy a rug with a target printed on it for xmas..:rolleyes:
 
mine are all still out, yearling and old lad still naked (probably going to up him to a blanket or maybe hunter clip from a trace though so will be rugged then though), fully clipped highland's only in a LW at night. Still not too bad here though - chilly but the sun's shining :D

As for keeping them fit, it's a combination of weekends, indoor hire up the road and a lot of improvisation ;)
 
My boy came in last Sunday for the first time and I think he appreciated it. For exercise wise luckily I can get up there for 1.5hrs in the day so can ride but also do one day a week ride and lead and the owner of the horse I lead will then take my boy out when she hacks
 
My two are still out naked! Lots of grass left to strip graze and both are fat, they are not coming in at all unless the weather gets really bad. They only came in for 3 weeks last winter and lived out in the snow.
 
Carolina24 said:
So it's my first winter owning my horse and it began last night. We decided it was getting too cold to have them turned out 24/7 so last night my lad had his first night in. He was as good as gold and it was nice to see him all warm and happy this morning.

Not too keen on getting up at 6.10am wow that was a shocker but I'll get used to it!

Who else is experiencing there first year or has brought there horses in yet?
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Its my first winter - have heard lots of horror strories from the yard about last winter so am kind of dreading it. My boy was out last night in his lightweight. He is a connie x and not yet clipped so should be ok but I felt mean and am in a dilemma about what to do this eve!
 
Randonneuse said:
You make me feel so cruel as well...out with no rug 24/7 all year around...I wonder how mine has survived like this 17 years with no vet bill???
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To be fair he's been clipped and rugged for the last 4 years so may be a bit of a shock for him! He doesn't seem too bothered though :)
 
Its gone really cold here today too, heating is now on!
TB has her new MW on, shes nice and warm underneath it now and she starts her sugar-beet & barley tonight.
 
My boy came in last Sunday for the first time and I think he appreciated it. For exercise wise luckily I can get up there for 1.5hrs in the day so can ride but also do one day a week ride and lead and the owner of the horse I lead will then take my boy out when she hacks
 
broke_but_happy said:
To be fair he's been clipped and rugged for the last 4 years so may be a bit of a shock for him! He doesn't seem too bothered though :)
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He'll be fine, don't worry :-) At the worse you can always pop a rug on him, continuous rain+wind is what they don't like :-)
Mine was in France until May 2010 (where I'm from) and it was very cold there in Winter...-20 sometimes with wind or rain/snow...(very rarely both at the same time)
I was worried when he came here about wind +rain so I bought a LW and MW rug last Winter "just in case".
Bit of a waste of time really...he only needed the LW once last year for a day because of freezing rain and wind continuously during 24hours and I found him shivering a bit in the field. (I'm sure he would have survived though..)

MW is still in packaging and hopefully he will never need it!

Good luck :-)
 
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