FRESHMAN
Well-Known Member
Thanks Brighthair. & it is nothing to do wih management. I am very close to your neck of the woods & it is damn near impossible to give winter grazing.
To Suzie T & Jingle Jools. You 2 really do not know your arse from your elbow. You actually believe that what you say should be the law. Get a friggin grip. I have more than enough acres to turn my horses out. What is it you do not understand about They Are Not Happy Outside! Like I said many posts ago, it would save me a fortune if the old retired Gade A horses would live in a field but the buggers jump out & come back to the stables. Btw the post & rail is bloody high enough at 5 ft. I am actually peed off with the comment that isn't it convenient that all mine want to be stabled. No it actually is not. Stop trying the approach of you know best cos from where I am standing you know bugger all. Like all walks of life. One size will never fit all. Try live & let live. It works for most of us.
What a wonderful quote. Live & let live as long as no one is hurt. So your problem is what exactly?????
Sorry, but it seems a bit far fetched that someone could have a whole yard of horses who all just happen to actively dislike being given their liberty.
It's nothing to do with working them properly either, up until last year I had a horse competing CCI* who lived out and was still perfectly hard and fit.
I am pleased I have the opportunity to rent my own small yard.
I have one side of the field sectioned off for the winter which they live in full time, the only place that gets churned up is by the gateway and along the fence where they get fed, the rest of the field is fine.
Their hay is spread across the field so they are not in one place for a long time.
And no I have never had a problem with mud fever either.
As long as they are fed, watered and rugged accordingly if they need it then I am yet to find a horse who hasn't adjusted to living out.
In fact the main reason why my lot lvie out now 24/7 is because my big horse hated being in at night and would go booloo to get out in the morning but I couldn't leave him out on his own at night so the others had to be out too.
Sure for the first week or so they stood about but only because they were used to coming in and having their tea etc in the stable, once they figured they got their teas and their hay out in the field they couldn't give 2 hoots about coming in now.
I now have much calmer more relaxed horses as a result as well, so yes they are happier out now!
Horses are conditioned to live in the way we want them to, it doesn't a lot of the time have a great deal to do with what or where they would prefer to be.
Majority of the time as long as they have plenty of food they couldn't care less.
I know it is better for their health to be out and moving about, it isn't natural for them to be cooped up for hours on end, nobody can deny that fact. I have my big horse who has the starting of arthritis in his hocks i believe. I know that since having him out he is a lot more supple than when he arrived and was in at night.
So they have been conditioned by me to live out, but in the long term it is very obvious that for their health and mental states it has been very beneficial.
I couldn't now go onto a yard where there is no winter or little turnout.
I AM judging and I think it's wrong for any animal to be cooped up all day.
Those of you who are dreading the resticted turn out need to have been planning for this in the summer .
I know that at our home exposed to the north sea with clay soil is a not a suitable place for fit slim clipped horses to be outside for many hours a day when the weather is poor or downright terrible.
So I plan for it they come into the stable 365 days a year part of the day in summer (which they love no standing in the flys for my horses they spend the worse part of the day sleeping in deep beds being groomed etc generally being pampered ) the stable is therefore integral to their lives if they have to stay in a lot they don't go mad get stressy behave badly that's a training failure owning a horse like that , they happy calm to handle and know exactly where they stand .
If I say you stay in the stable they stay I can ride out leave one behind they may call as we leave but settle quickly because they are happy and confident in the stable .
This your job as the owner to plan for this .
Winter is not a terrible shock or a freak weather event it happens ever year.
Those of you who are dreading the resticted turn out need to have been planning for this in the summer .
I know that at our home exposed to the north sea with clay soil is a not a suitable place for fit slim clipped horses to be outside for many hours a day when the weather is poor or downright terrible.
So I plan for it they come into the stable 365 days a year part of the day in summer (which they love no standing in the flys for my horses they spend the worse part of the day sleeping in deep beds being groomed etc generally being pampered ) the stable is therefore integral to their lives if they have to stay in a lot they don't go mad get stressy behave badly that's a training failure owning a horse like that , they happy calm to handle and know exactly where they stand .
If I say you stay in the stable they stay I can ride out leave one behind they may call as we leave but settle quickly because they are happy and confident in the stable .
This your job as the owner to plan for this .
Winter is not a terrible shock or a freak weather event it happens ever year.
I planned for the winter by moving to a yard that had full daily winter turnout and was lead to believe that this would always be the case. Unfortunately this year, they have decided to restrict it to alternate days meaning horses will be kept in for 40 hours at a time (i.e alternating daily approx 8 hourly turnout) with no manege or area for loose turnout during that time and nowhere to put them when mucking out unless on of the three tie rings is free - and then they will probably pull the wall down as they have been used to living out 24/7 for most of the time. We are hoping to get this changed as I don't think the YO has thought about the consequences properly as yet. I would love a place of my own but that luxury is hard to come by, but I constantly search.
That's just a bad plan the yard has made ,
You can be expected to go from 24/7 to grazing during the day every other day mid winter with no planning unless you have been caught in the flooding that has been going on .
Why dont they make strawed turn out areas with high electric fences for alternate days.
One of the issues with yards is that they dont charge enough to provide enough management time to manage the place well but in the present climate prices are unlikely to rise to realistic levels.