Your Current Routine?

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ElliePippa

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Is your horse in/out, how often are you riding atm?
Pippa is in 24/7, the fields are just SO muddy, I really dont want to spend the time messing with yucky rugs and horses when I could be riding etc, however, I am trying to ride each night, and she'll get turnout on frosty days
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Your Turn
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Out between 8am and 5pm usually. In at night.

Havnt ridden since September and to be honest im scared to get back on!
 
Absolute opposite, 24/7 turnout, ridden 2/3 times a week, as weather improves, ad lib hay in field with 30 other mares and geldings, with 50 acres to roam with a small wood for them for natural shelter. I would find it really hard to move her now as they roam almost like a wild herd (without being wild!!)
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I'd rather have a muddy but happy horse so mine always goes out every day, 6am to 6pmish I get the worst of the mud off and ride in the floodlit school after work. if she was in all day, I'd be mucking out twice anyway so I'd much rather have a filthy horse to clean!
Hopefully she will live out full time again from April, weather permitting.....
 
Well, and also the reason our feilds are becoming more and more poached each time she goes out, and if that continues, we wont have any field left come spring
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Shes happy, and like I said, if she was to suddenly become upset, she WOULD go out
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I have always believed (maybe mistakenly) that the more turnout the better so my rountine tends to be dawn to dusk turnout in winter and dusk to dawn (well maybe a bit after when dawn is 4am lol) turnout in Summer. I agree mud is hideous especially as I don't seem to brush it off the horse so much as on to myself
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. Ocassionally when the field has been in danger of turning into a swamp I have kept in 24/7 to give it a rest but mine certainly don't like it and charge around so much when turned out again it rather defeats the object.
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My mare is out 24/7 all year around. She has 4 fields to roam around with high hedges and trees so plenty of natural shelter. I ride her 3/4 times a week including a weekly lesson. Don't get to ride at the weekends at the minute as I've got my children at home then so make the most of the weekdays! She's fed a bucket feed twice a day and has haylage out in the field now.
 
Mine are out every other day for about 5 hours. Basically until they appear at the gate. Once they turn up there they don't wander off again but I try to leave them until about 4pm.

Could you rug your horse with a full neck rug so you can still ride after she comes in?

I don't know how people with horses living out manage as mine come in absolutely dripping wet mud, no way I could ride them like that. They have mud dreadlocks by the morning.
 
I'm sure I had replied but clearly not!

When the fields are very wet we are not allowed to turn the horses out, but they are allowed in the smaller sand paddocks.

My horses are ridden every morning, then they get 3-4 hours turnout in the afternoon; if they have to go in the sand paddocks I make sure that they have plenty of haylage.

On their day off (Sunday) they are normally, but not necessarily, walked in hand before they are turned out.
 
My horse is out 24/7 all year..his paddock is currently a bit of a mess, really poached but I would rather he was out pottering about than in...and so would he! He manages and can go into his field stable to dry off and get out of the muddy bits. I dont mind it being trashed though as once it is harrowed it will soon recover and the longer it takes for the grass to come through the better..given he had laminitis last summer.
 
Mine are in at night, out in the day all year round. They are out from morning til either approx 7pm or when it gets dark, which ever is the sooner. Right now they are coming in about 5pm. I try to work each pony 3 days a week minimum but it's very rare that any of them would work more than 5 days a week.
 
Mine are out for about 6 hours a day but all are different - my mare would rather be in with plenty of haylage, my arab would rather be out until around 3ish then he waits at the gate and my shetland would rather be anywhere there is food but not too much mud! Half of field is boggy but other half has grass and I put hay out every morning so not too bad!
I read an article that horses need to have an hour of exercise a day to keep them happy whether that be turn out, ridden etc. Its a shame we all dont have endless acres of land but sadly some people just dont have that option and do the best they can.
 
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