Wintering out

Achinghips

Achinghips

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My Irish cob half shire is wintering out - shock horror with a 300g max, fully clipped and 450 only if there's snow on the ground.
Having owned a hothouse orchid Tb the past 2 years, this seems so odd to me now!!!
Anyone else wintering out?
 
Yes mine all are. My cob x TB is fully clipped and Ive just put him in a 150gm from a 300gm cos I thought he was too warm. My 22 year old mare has a 150gm on and has 1 feed a day with supps. My two native youngsters have no rugs/feed but will have ad lib hay along side the other two. They will all winter out :)
 
I'm fairly certain my TB will be living out this winter. This will be the first winter I've had him though, so will see. He hates being in, and is always a spaz to turn out after being in over night so I think he'll do ok.
 
When does the grass loose its "goodness"? I have access to loads of good grass but I'm only giving heavy lad handful of chaff with his vits in and a handful of allen and page cool and collected once a day and feel really guilty, after the Tb mindset.
 
We had four winter out last year, and Friend had four out as well - between us we had:

DWB - unclipped, l/w rug when the weather got wet;
IDxTB - clipped (legs left on), so rugged appropriately;
Trad Cob - unclipped, looked like a yak lol, no rugs;
Welsh x - unclipped, but rugged as required during the colder/wetter times;
TB - unclipped, very woolly, rugged when weather was bad;
Trad Cob - clipped, rugged as appropriate;
New Forest - clipped, rugged as appropriate;
New Forset youngster - unclipped, rugged when weather got really bad.

They all came through the winter looking good :D. All had ad lib hay and daily feed. I had to reduce the feed at one point at mine were putting on weight! Two of them needed the Spring grass though once through the winter; we had to move as there wasn't enough where we were.
 
All four in herd out all year.

all natives or native x

all unclipped except occasionaly in spring bib clips for two in work

as a general rule not rugged unless its wet and cold and windy all together ...... snow rarely a problem on its own as they so fluffy they are still warm under it all.
 
My ISH (7/8th TB) lives out - she is in a no fill rain sheet at the moment!! - she does have a field shelter but isnt cold yet so no filling in rugs yet.
 
Our shire x cob is living out all winter (hopefully) he isn't clipped and won't be rugged unless nec. He will have a rug on if very wet or wet/windy but it'll be either a no fill turnout or a 100g turnout when it gets much much colder.

He's currently having two feeds a day of hifi lite and fast fibre plus hay twice daily, will up the hay once it starts to get colder

He is as happy as a pig in....... :-)
 
Re: rugs - someone pointed out to me that a thin/no-fill/rainsheet type of rug can actually make a horse colder, because it flattens the hair which would normally 'fluff up' to insulate the body. The advice was to leave rugs off unclipped horses if possible, unless they need one in v bad weather/because of old age etc, when a medium weight should be used to replace the natural insulation of the coat (and move up to a heavy weight if necessary).
This made sense to me, annoyingly as I had just bought a new no-fill rug for my elderly unclipped (unridden) horse! She is happily living out unrugged (with shelter) atm, will see what suits her best when it gets colder/wetter...
NFx is also out still, unrugged, bib&belly clipped, he'll come in at night as winter approaches, and wear rugs as necessary.
Seems we have just had the warmest October on record, so extra feed/hay has been minimal too. :-)
 
I thought this too about no fill rugs and them making horses colder. We put one on B on weds night as knew it was going to be very wet all day thurs. When I went up thurs am I put my hand under to check he was dry and he was warm, not sweaty but warm + dry xx
 
My TB will be wintering out this year as he did last year. He's still only got a rainsheet on as it's been so mild. I did leave it off the other day when it was forecast not to rain as I'm aware of the 'fluffing up' issue but when I feel under his rug he's always warm anyway. He's unclipped so hasn't been feeling the cold at all. He's on good grazing which according to his poo's is like spring grass! I've never known the grass last so long. I'm probably going to clip a bit off his neck and belly as he's been getting a bit hot when out riding.
Last year even in all the snow his heaviest rug was 350g and he was as warm as toast.
I don't feel guilty at all about him being out as I know he prefers it. In the depths of winter last year I always brought him into the yard to feed and groom him but after 30 minutes he would start weaving frantically to get back in the field with his mates.
 
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