Winter/summer routine changeovers

S

skewby

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 October 2006
Messages
1,940
Visit site
For those of you who have a different grazing regime type thing in summer and winter, i.e. mine either goes out 24/7 in summer or (ideally) comes in during the day and is out at night, and in winter is out during the day and in at night, how long do you run each period for? As in, when do you change over and is it up to you or is it down to your yard?
 
I have turned my gelding out for the summer. When I do it depends on the weather, I wait untill the field is dry so he is not standing in mud,and when hedoes not need a lot of hay ie there is some grass.
 
In winter we have very restricted turnout - just a couple of days a week which went down to one afternoon at one point as YO likes to just trash a small area of the fields but then it starts getting too trashed. In summer we are allowed 24/7 on fields that have been rested all winter so it is extremely lush. She tries to keep the summer grazing open as long as possible - last year winter grazing started late October/early November (not sure exactly as mine was on box rest) and we switched to summer grazing three weeks ago.
Lots of people just put their horses straight out which surprises me - going from 24 hours in (some of them) to 24 hours out on rich grazing. However we haven't had any laminitis or colic yet this year so maybe I am just too paranoid (although mine is prone to laminitis so has her own private scrub patch).
 
Generally my horses go out 24/7 in the summer and in at night during the winter. This year my horses went on their summer routine excetionally early ( mid march) due to the dry and warm weather. Hopefully I wont have to bring them back in at night untill the end of october.

However during the summer there will be times when I will stand them in during the day due to flies, heat or exceptional wet etc and I do bring them into a stable most days to be brushed, fed and or tacked up so they don't go completely ferrel!!

I am at a very nice DIY private yard and the YO leaves us alone and never interferes in our routine. He regularly levels the arena and keeps the paddocks in good order for us. His horses live out 24/7 365. After soooooo many years of battling with awfull yard owners and equally as awfull other liveries, I have finally found a place that me and my horses are very happy and long may it continue.
 
At my current yard we have been gradually increasing the ammount of time the horses stay out. They come in in winter at around 5 for the night but now with the light evenings they are often out until 10pm (fortunately the yard owner lives on site as is happy to bring them in at this time!) They go out at 6 in the morning so not stood in stables for too long. Hopefully they can soon live out full time. I am very lucky in that the yard has loads of land for only a few horses so no worries about the grazing getting ruined etc.
 
Winter turnout - i.e. in at night, out during the day is September to May - ish.

Summer is May through to September when they are out at night and in during the day.

Winter is longer than summer, mainly because I clip them fairly early, and like to make sure their summer coats are progressing well before turning out at night.
 
My boy went out in the mornings during the worst of the winter, gradually building it up to all day. Turned out 24/7 now as the weather has been dry. Would usually have waited til May to turn out but turned out mid March this year. He will stay out now depending on the weather. If its hot he will come in but hopefly out till October time!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top