Winter Turn Out

[dancingbay]

Hi All,

Just wondered how many people have access to winter turn out? I don’t unfortunately have access to winter grazing but have other facilities where I can turn my horse out for a blast (not the same I know). I am now working full time and feel that if I could have a small amount of winter grazing each day it would be so much easier for me and better for my horse. I am looking to move my horse so this will be one of the things I look out for whilst looking around new yards.

Thanks

xx

 

[webble]

It seems to be sadly lacking around here. We have a field we turn out into which is pretty muddy. It is attached to the concrete yard so they have thee choice to be muddy or not

 

[dancingbay]

Yes it really is! At the minute we have the facilities to accommodate no turn out i.e. a walker, sand pit etc. so he is still getting plenty of stimulation/ exercise. I am worried that if I move yards onto a yard where there is still no turn out and limited facilities he will be stuck in even more than he is now.

 

[Sealine]

The DIY yard I'm at has winter grazing although limited to daylight hours. It's a big yard with 40 horses in 6 herds but in the 10+ years I've been there winter grazing has only been limited a couple of times. If I remember correctly we could only turn out every other day and that lasted for a maximum of two weeks. We will move to the fields close to the yard just before Christmas for the worst of the winter and then move again once the ground starts to dry up, usually March.

The yard isn't perfect but the only complaint I hear from liveries about grazing is that there is too much grass and we move fields too often. The yard isn't really suitable for those prone to laminitis. You can't please everyone all the time!

Edited to add - sorry I didn't realise I was replying to a regional post! I'm in Hertfordshire.

 

[ChestnutHunter]

My yard has fab winter turnout, my boy is usually out until about 7pm from 6.30am, and in the snow there is a smaller turnout paddock next to the stables so they can have a few hours, spoilt horses.

 

[PorkChop]

I have my own land, so I do have winter turn out, but I work bloomin hard to maintain my fields so I do understand why some livery yards restrict it.

 

[Micky]

If you run a livery yard, i think you should put the effort into maintaining it, so should be able to offer winter turn out, sadly most yards have too little land and too many horses, they dont always check the drainage of the fields either...I used to have 3 horses on 5 acres, rotated ( 2 fatties) and still managed all year turn out...

 

[dancingbay]

GreyHunter where abouts do you stable?

 

[dollymix]

Ye yard I'm on has winter turnout. Mine goes out from 7.15am - 6pm each day. There's not tonnes of grass it plenty of room for wandering and foraging!

I'm in cheshire, near Macclesfield. Depends where you are I suppose and what sort of soil you have and the amount of grazing.

 

[Janovich]

I'm on a yard that has all year turnout. I would not choose to be on a yard that didn't and I've travelled a fair fews miles in the past to make sure my boy's had it.

That said, it's only these past 3 weeks or so that we've actually had some days in as in my area of Lancashire, the weather has been absolutely atrocious to the point that the fields just could not cope with the amount of rainfall. The horses have all coped well considering, and the big plus is we were/are all aware that at some point the horses would be going out a again on a daily basis.

Compromise is needed in certain situations and this weather that we've had the past month has been one of them.

 

[Damnation]

I'm in north Cumbria, there is usually restricted/no winter turnout here. The land is all Clay and it just doesn't drain, my horse did live out one year in a 15 acre field with 4 other horses. The mud was hock deep.. I lost a boot and got stuck in the mud up to my knee!

She is on another yard now, last year she was in for 6 months but after a discussion that it wasn't really feesable as there was no arena and she didn't cope very well, she is out on the concrete track to the fields during the day with the grass verges/hedges to chomp on (Pleanty of them!) and in at night. Probably a good 8/9 hours turnout per day.

I would never have her in like that ever again.

 

[Bojingles]

When I lived down south we were on chalk and we had full day turnout all year. I didn't realise how great that was until I moved up north and the whole area is clay. We're now on very limited turnout. It's a pain but I totally understand why - even large fields with few horses get totally trashed if you're not careful. It's the only downside to a really lovely yard so I'm managing it by ensuring my girl has her 2 hours a day out with her pal and also try to ride most days. I think it would be pretty much the same on any yard around here.

 

[HashRouge]

Parts of Cheshire are horrendous for winter turnout as there is a lot of land that has heavy clay just below the surface. Once my sister and I could drive, we were able to move our horses from an area with very little winter turnout 15 mins away to a yard where they can be out 24/7 all year round if we want. We are very lucky though, as it is a private yard and for years we were her only liveries (there is one other person now) and she has loads of land, which drains much better than lower in the valley where my parents live. It is bizarre to me that a 10-15 min drive can make such a difference in the amount of turnout that we have, but there you go!!

 

[dibbin]

We have daily turnout, paddock is basically a grassless mud bath but it gets them out of their stables, I put hay/haylage out for them when they go out in the morning.

We do keep them in if the weather's really bad though, because they just stand at the gate looking tragic.