Winter turn out

Mine are out 18-20 hours a day.
I am lucky/ poor because I bought loads of Jelka mats so they always have somewhere dry to stand and eat hay.
And they're at home so trashing the winter field is my decision!

If your horse is in proper work (hunting or high level competition work etc.) I think you can do much shorter turn out time.
It's not the way I like to keep mine, as I'm lazy, but a lot of horses can be content with this.
 
mine are out 7-7.5 hours ATM on all weather pens and a hard track.

my fields are bottomless clay-real danger of injuries from being out in it and they don't actually want to walk on it so i wont be forcing that issue just to meet the expectations of people on better/drier land.............

they are both in work and get hand grazed round the edge of my lawn also.

this is the best for my horses in my situation.
 
I think that if people are able to give horses 6-8 hours turn out daily in the depths of winter, and don’t own/rent land, they are doing pretty well. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to find livery yards that have much, if any, winter turnout.

Of course we all want as much turnout as possible for our horses, and I’d never advocate horses standing in all winter with no turnout at all (and I wouldn’t own horses if that was my only option) but unless you are in the privileged position to have your own land, you’re at the mercy of yard rules.
 
In the winter in the week he usually goes out about 8am after riding and cones in about from 5-15/6pm depending upon work.

At the weekend, it might well be less as we often go for 3-4 hours + hacking.

IrishMilo said:
I just can not fathom how boring and lonely it must be.
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I think it depends a bit on your set up. With our stable's they can interact with each other through and over the walls, so he has plenty of opportunity to socialise with the horse's next to him even when in.

Mine hates being out 24/7 over Autumn/Winter - appreciate some people won't accept that but he does. He was born and lived semi feral for years so is perfectly capable of it and I've tried numerous times on numerous yards to have him out 24/7 and it's a 'No' from him. I'd love it if he could live out 🤣

It's interesting that some people consider hard standing without enough room to run as 24/7 turn out.
Or those that might live out 24/7 but are on individual turn out. I'm not judging anyone who does that but I'm not convinced any of those are necessarily better than being partially stabled.

I'd personally much rather mine went out in a group each day in a large field to have a buck/fart/roll/eat trees or hedgerows and interact and but came in at night over smaller space or individual turn out. Appreciate other's might have different opinions or set ups and again, I'm absolutely not judging anyone that does it differently.

nikkimariet said:
It is all very well making noise about 24/7 turnout, but it’s simply unavailable to many and/or doesn’t work with peoples lifestyles. We are all trying our best.
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🙏👏🙏
Absolutely this.
 
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MuddyMonster said:
In the winter in the week he usually goes out about 8am after riding and cones in about from 5-15/6pm depending upon work.

At the weekend, it might well be less as we often go for 3-4 hours + hacking.



I think it depends a bit on your set up. With our stable's they can interact with each other through and over the walls, so he has plenty of opportunity to socialise with the horse's next to him even when in.

Mine hates being out 24/7 over Autumn/Winter - appreciate some people won't accept that but he does. He was born and bred out on the forest and was semi feral for years so is perfe trying capable of it and I've tried nu.erous times on numerous yards and it's a 'No' from him. I'd love it if he could live out 🤣

It's interesting that some people consider hard standing without enough room to run as 24/7 turn out.
Or those that might live out 24/7 but are on individual turn out.

I'm not judging anyone who does that but I'm not convinced any of those are necessarily better than being partially stabled.

I'd personally much rather mine went out in a group each day in a large field to have a buck/fart/roll/eat trees or hedgerows and interact and but came in at night. Appreciate other's might have different opinions and again- I'm absolutely not judging anyone that does it differently.



🙏👏🙏
Absolutely this.
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MuddyMonster said:
In the winter in the week he usually goes out about 8am after riding and cones in about from 5-15/6pm depending upon work.

At the weekend, it might well be less as we often go for 3-4 hours + hacking.



I think it depends a bit on your set up. With our stable's they can interact with each other through and over the walls, so he has plenty of opportunity to socialise with the horse's next to him even when in.

Mine hates being out 24/7 over Autumn/Winter - appreciate some people won't accept that but he does. He was born and bred out on the forest and was semi feral for years so is perfe trying capable of it and I've tried nu.erous times on numerous yards and it's a 'No' from him. I'd love it if he could live out 🤣

It's interesting that some people consider hard standing without enough room to run as 24/7 turn out.
Or those that might live out 24/7 but are on individual turn out.

I'm not judging anyone who does that but I'm not convinced any of those are necessarily better than being partially stabled.

I'd personally much rather mine went out in a group each day in a large field to have a buck/fart/roll/eat trees or hedgerows and interact and but came in at night. Appreciate other's might have different opinions and again- I'm absolutely not judging anyone that does it differently.



🙏👏🙏
Absolutely this.
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There are plenty of horses like yours! Stallion here who lived out feral for some years, but boy, does he like his stable at night, these days! Furious screaming if you go indoors and it looks like he might be left behind.
He will roll in deep straw in preference to mud ( which does keep the rugs clean), and when there’s horizontal icy rain, he’s lurking at the back and has to be kicked outside.... and he actively likes his rugs, too - will ‘burrow’ into one that’s folded up, pull it out, shake it etc, until you’ve put it on.
Obviously, he loves being out 24/7 in pleasant weather, but he’s definitely appreciative of creature comforts. And yes, he does go in a proper field every day, also ridden most days.
If horses are rigorously exercised, free turnout time is much less essential to their health, but the miserable sight of horses standing up to their axles in tiny areas of mud on some yards - difficult to convince anyone that’s ‘healthy’.
 
There is a 6-8-hour turnout at the moment, but that will increase with daylight hours. From March, they'll be back out 24x7 until the end of October. We wouldn't manage the summer turnout if the yard weren't restricted in winter. It's one of the best yards locally for turnout. It's an American barn with bars so they can see each other when in. They are on the same routine and seem happy to come in each afternoon for their hay.
 
My two are out from 7.30am in the morning till 5.15pm in the evening, unless it is torrential rain/dangerous levels of wind/flying debris in which case they'll have a duvet day. I've done maybe 6 or 7 duvet days for my two since September so I like to think it's pretty good in terms of balancing the turnout situation. Our front gateways are absolutely trashed and a total mud pit - but once you get past that the ground isn't that bad to be fair :)
 
MuddyMonster said:
Mine hates being out 24/7 over Autumn/Winter - appreciate some people won't accept that but he does. He was born and lived semi feral for years so is perfectly capable of it and I've tried numerous times on numerous yards to have him out 24/7 and it's a 'No' from him. I'd love it if he could live out 🤣
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The big one pulled her rope and walked back into her stable yesterday morning 🫣 thankfully the weather improved and she’d forgiven me for putting her out by evening. She also gave a very angry face at the wind when I opened the door this morning.

She definitely enjoys her stable time in the winter. And it’s no wonder some days. My friends horse is much happier out 24/7 in winter but it is definitely not the case for mine.
 
nikkimariet said:
It is all very well making noise about 24/7 turnout, but it’s simply unavailable to many and/or doesn’t work with peoples lifestyles. We are all trying our best.
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Precisely this- and I'm a big proponent of 24:7 turnout but it has to be safe for the horses and torrential rain turning fields to mud isn't helpful. Plus livery yard grazing is limited and if you only have 1 field for winter and summer then you need to manage it accordingly.

I also own a small native who should be roaming the Dales living on rocks and moss who has decided that she likes her stable! Utterly miserable when the grass has gone if she has to stay out, but thinks 14 hours of snoozing and eating without being disturbed by the others is ideal.
 
Mine are out 24/7. But then we have no mud in their current field. It's incredibly well drained.

They'll move onto a less well drained field in a few weeks, but they shouldn't be on it long enough for it to get too bad.
 
My horse decides how long he wants to be out and 6 hours is currently his maximum. For those that say it's not enough I would like to see you deal with a horse that runs flat out galloping around screaming, even in company, churning up the field and potentially damaging himself. I would love him to be out longer buts it's not possible.
 
Barklands said:
Mine are out for 7 hours and they are very content with that.

In response to a poster above saying about justifying being in, my horses are happy because they have plenty of grazing left during the day and aren't stood in a quagmire. One is a laminitis risk so out for longer during frosty spells is a no go. Let's not judge everyone who isn't on the 24/7 brigade when you haven't considered the circumstances of others.
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exactly this - they wouldn’t be out on ungrazed land if they were out 24/7. They spend the day properly grazing not standing in mud and then come in and sleep because they aren’t even hungry for a couple of hours!
 
Flowerofthefen said:
My horse decides how long he wants to be out and 6 hours is currently his maximum. For those that say it's not enough I would like to see you deal with a horse that runs flat out galloping around screaming, even in company, churning up the field and potentially damaging himself. I would love him to be out longer buts it's not possible.
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agree! my aim is to get them in BEFORE the one of mine gets stressed because once stressed you have a right handful on your hands to bring him in!
 
9 hours, 8am - 5pm but they'd happily come in about 3pm and some of the older ones do. It's a huge pasture with enough grass and plenty for them to do but they're keen to come in.

I think ideally mine would like a few hours out then in for lunch and snooze then out for another few hours before bed. I am not at that level of slavery yet!
 
MuddyMonster said:
Mine hates being out 24/7 over Autumn/Winter - appreciate some people won't accept that but he does. He was born and lived semi feral for years so is perfectly capable of it and I've tried numerous times on numerous yards to have him out 24/7 and it's a 'No' from him. I'd love it if he could live out 🤣
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I certainly accept it. Makes me laugh :D:D
13 years ago I took in a feral mare who had lived on the common.


She was in very poor condition when I took her in, I had little choice she would have had a long lingering winter starvation after being totally drained by a massive foal in the Nov.

Every night summer and winter she is standing at the gate at 3.30 each day ready to come in :D. No way would she stay out. All she wants is her stable.. She demands her stable. Doesn't care about leaving her little herd. She has rights and those rights include her stable. She is very keen to get out in the mornings but no way overnight.

She is around 40 now.
 
Mine is out from 7am to 5-5.30pm so at least 10 hours.
Fortunately there are no time restrictions on turnout but, if your field gets trashed, it's on you.
It helps that we have sandy soil so not too much mud.

I was on full livery at my previous yard and at this time of year, we got around 5 hours unless it was raining/wet, snowing, icy, windy or frosty then they stayed in. I understand the owners wanting to preserve their fields but, not at the horses expense. There were no turnout pens. They wouldn't even let them go into the arena for a leg stretch because it may ruin the surface which I do understand but after two winters there, I'd had enough and moved back to DIY.
 
Ours are about 4 hours maybe 5 hours max :(. We even have a curfew at the weekend to get them in by but they can jog on, I'm too busy for that. At the weekend they probably get 7/8 hours. Stables are amazingly different to muck out and horses much happier and relaxed!
 
Ours are out 8 am until mid afternoon. Our grazing is frankly rubbish and we aren't allowed hay in fields so I don't mind them coming is as at least they then have access to forage.

Do I wish I could offer them better/longer grazing, yes, but there are no other options within about 40 mins drive that offers proper full livery where I don't worry about their care but also allows me to ride super early before work.
 
paddy555 said:
I certainly accept it. Makes me laugh :D:D
13 years ago I took in a feral mare who had lived on the common.


She was in very poor condition when I took her in, I had little choice she would have had a long lingering winter starvation after being totally drained by a massive foal in the Nov.

Every night summer and winter she is standing at the gate at 3.30 each day ready to come in :D. No way would she stay out. All she wants is her stable.. She demands her stable. Doesn't care about leaving her little herd. She has rights and those rights include her stable. She is very keen to get out in the mornings but no way overnight.

She is around 40 now.
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I think that’s it, perfectly capable of realising that winter doesn’t HAVE to be that harsh, and full credit for knowing her own mind.
Mine would have company outside (plus field shelter with mats and hay), and he thoroughly enjoys loafing in the field. But - when the weather’s crap, he doesn’t see why he should endure it - and I can’t fault the logic, even tho would be easier for me. Horses😐
 
Mine are normally out 24h a day. Sometimes they have to come in for up to a day at a time and have only had a few hours turn out the last few days due to ground conditions. Luckily the weather is looking dry for the next week or so.
This is my 3rd winter with them home. The first, the horses stayed out fine all winter, a good job really as my stables weren't even built. Then October 2023 came and it feels like it's been raining ever since. I'm on clay and it is waterlogged. The chickens are heavy enough to turn my garden to mud, it squelches when you walk on it, and my fields, despite being on hills, have water resting in every crevice and mud up past the horses pasterns where ever they spend too long. One of the fields has even gained a spring. I don't care about the state of my fields, but I do care about my horses standing in water all the time. And it is literally standing as Little Madam won't lie down in a wet field and gets very grumpy when sleep deprived. I just bought some mud control mats to make them a small mud free area. It will be leg stretch only really for now, but I'm hoping to have it linked up to their stables by next winter to give a bit more ambling room and some choice.
 
Out 24/7 but I don’t think they’d mind being stabled overnight in winter. They have a big area of hard standing/ mud control mats and 3 large bedded shelters with a round hay bale and make full use of it when the weathers wet! I took 6 barrows out after a very wet night last week so that’s pretty much them having stayed there for 15ish hours 🤣There’s quite a bit of mud round that area but 90% of the field is dry and grassy so I don’t feel bad about them having to walk through the muddy bit like I would if they had no choice but to stand in it.
 
Ours stay out 24/7. However if ground becomes saturated they will come in for respite. We have seven acres of really good draining soil. Looks green all year apart from gate ways. What I hate is horses kept out 24/7 in knee deep mud because "it's good for them to be out". This is not better than being stabled for a few hours. Just my opinion.
 
Exasperated said:
I think that’s it, perfectly capable of realising that winter doesn’t HAVE to be that harsh, and full credit for knowing her own mind.
Mine would have company outside (plus field shelter with mats and hay), and he thoroughly enjoys loafing in the field. But - when the weather’s crap, he doesn’t see why he should endure it - and I can’t fault the logic, even tho would be easier for me. Horses😐
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I find it amusing that there are (even on this small thread) 3 or 4 ex ferals/natives who have no wish whatsoever for 24/7 out (having tried it) and on the other side posters advocating horses should be out 24/7.
 
Mine are out in their main field for around 9 to 11 hours depending on my work pattern. At night they come into their stables that each have a small paddock attached so they can choose to be in or out. Judging by their poo distribution and the shavings in their tails they both spend some time in the stables eating hay and having a lie down but also about half the night outside nibbling on the bit of grass that is left. They tend to stay in more when it's windy and rainy- a bit of rain doesn't bother then. My older girl is definitely liking the option of coming in more now.
Just to add we are lucky to have well draining land so don't have the mud that many nearby yards suffer from
 
Exasperated said:
I think that’s it, perfectly capable of realising that winter doesn’t HAVE to be that harsh, and full credit for knowing her own mind.
Mine would have company outside (plus field shelter with mats and hay), and he thoroughly enjoys loafing in the field. But - when the weather’s crap, he doesn’t see why he should endure it - and I can’t fault the logic, even tho would be easier for me. Horses😐
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paddy555 said:
I find it amusing that there are (even on this small thread) 3 or 4 ex ferals/natives who have no wish whatsoever for 24/7 out (having tried it) and on the other side posters advocating horses should be out 24/7.
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I’ve got a 17hh bred in the pink German warmblood, who is adamant he wants out 24-7 in any weather. It’s not msssively convenient but he’s very clear about his opinion.
 
Mine's out 10 hours/day in the week, then out overnight on the weekend. While 24/7 is appealing in theory, we're on clay and with all the rain the first 15-20m of the field is slippy, ankle-deep mud and the rest doesn't have much grass.

I can leave out a little later when work dictates. I am very grateful for the flexibility I've been granted - I'd have to move yards without it.
 
paddy555 said:
I find it amusing that there are (even on this small thread) 3 or 4 ex ferals/natives who have no wish whatsoever for 24/7 out (having tried it) and on the other side posters advocating horses should be out 24/7.
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Exactly!

I think its easily forgotten that yes, horses in the wild are of course out 24/7 and are very happy since they will have the freedom to roam on a variety of grasses/trees for example and differing terrains. The same IMO cannot be said for keeping out 24/7 on only a few acres where they will not get the same diverse nutrition and often pick up mud fever from the state of being kept in comparatively small areas - it's just not comparable! To be honest that sounds like a miserable life to me rather than coming in to a space overnight where they can see their friends but dry off and have ad lib hay and a good snooze!
 
MuddyMonster said:
I think it depends a bit on your set up. With our stable's they can interact with each other through and over the walls, so he has plenty of opportunity to socialise with the horse's next to him even when in.
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this. We are the same. Having sat up with ours one night this week due to the adverse weather it was interesting to watch. One horse put his head over the adjoining door into the next stable. He and his friend then went to sleep with their heads almost touching. They stayed together for hours.
I put 2 horses in like that when we come back from riding and give them half an hour to groom over the door. There is so much that could be improved with stable design and careful matching of friends.
There must be terrible isolation in the traditional row of standard out door stables and equal isolation and frustration from the American barn set up with their endless bars., So much is possible.

it's not a case of how many hours is the horse out but of the quality and enrichment whether it is in a stable, a pen, a track or anywhere else.,

 
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