Whose horses live out all year round

Prjsmk

Prjsmk

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Dec 1, 2017
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Whose horses live out all year round? And do you rug them? And do you have a shelter?

My cob lives out all year, hes not one for being shut in a stable after about 5 mins he kicks the door, paws the floor and paces... Yet hes fine to travel! So he lives out all year round, in a light weight rug mainly to keep him clean for riding and so he doesnt get soaked to the skin, the rain and wet blows off the hills and hes at the bottom of the hill so its ergh there, his field doesnt have a shelter, trees all around the field, which worries me in the winds! But provides it with some form of wind break and shelter for him
 
My horse lives out overnight all year round. He does come in for a few hours each daytime. In the summer this can be up to 10 hours per day in the spring/autumn to get him off the grass (he is a good doer and likes to eat!!), and in the winter he comes in for about 3 hours per day for some hay. He thrives on living out and I wouldn't have it any other way.
 
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Ours are all out 24/7 now (unless in overnight if we have a show on), Tess is 28 and Nuts is 24, Tess has a medium rug on as she has COPD and difficulty retaining weight, Nuts is unrugged, big Shetland coat and absolutely fine, Gem is in the same field as them shes rising 6 and has a lightweight rug on, its a hill field so they have a hedge along the top they can get under but tend to go over the top and down the bottom end of the field so take it they know best where to get shelter when bad, all hardy natives - they are all carrying good weight They only get haylage if bad frost or laying snow, even then only once a day.

The boys are both lammi survivors and have a smaller field with hedge on 2 sides and get Hay once a day, 10 and 12 respectively, Charlie has a lightweight rug on and is fine, Acorn like nuts has the big Shetland coat and hasn't had a rug this year, they used to be in over winter but for the last 2 years have found them better out, particularly Acorn who has mobility issues if kept in for long periods.

Charlies Summer paddock has a field shelter which he uses hes a bit of a wuss for a Welsh and does not cope with extreme heat very well.

All 5 have full wardrobes of rugs available , nothing above 200g and no combos, mainly rainsheets, usually find the Shetlands need them when they start shedding and we have particularly bad wind and rain - if they need them they get them, so far this winter they haven't.
 
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Yep both out 24/7. So much easier. Mine have no shelter just a hedge up one part of the field, depending on the field there in. At this time of year not a problem as they get most of the field. So they can shelter where ever. They have either heavy or light rugs on according to temperatures so they are protected.
It's difficult in summer as I strip graze and due to where the hedge is they can end up stood out in the sun completely. I do put fly sheets and masks on so it does help protect them. If it gets silly hot though usually june, July, august I end up moving the fencing so they get taped up under the trees for shade. I then work the strip grazing down the field so that the have constant access to the shade. The only real issue is the water, as its the other end of the field I end up carrying buckets to them which obviously in summer is loads as they drunk more.
 
mine have previously lived out with no problems at all, both a shelter and sometimes only access to natural shelter eg a hedge.

I bring Brook in at night now really as I like to keep up a level of consistency with her and she is much less jumpy with this routine - if she is out 24/7 and not handled for a day or 2 she reverts to being silly about rugs going on etc.
 
My old boy is living out 24/7 now he's fully retired. He's in a big herd in 3 huge fields, often hard to find him! There is a lot of natural shelter under trees and haylage is provided, he seems happy and only wanted to come it when it snowed.
 
All our herd are out 24/7 365 days of the year with about 15 acres for 5. In fact the yard doesnt have stables, but the other one 2 mins up the road does for emergencies...which I had to use last winter for 4 months!

They dont have a field shelter, but plenty of natural shelter in the form of old hedgerow and some very mature dense trees and a barn on one side of it. They also get adlib hay all winter. Its very wet in a lot of bits this year, but they come off it to hard standing every day to be sorted out.

They are rugged according to each horse, we have 2 good doers, an older boy a huge tb and my wb x. And they are clipped according to workload, so my lad normally is full clipped all year around, as is one of the cobs (the other will be next year but is only 5 atm so not in such hard work). The tb gets a non traditional clip that works for him and the older boy tends to get a bib these days.

Works well for us and the horses. I just hate dealing with them being so dirty!! :)
 
Does anyones horses spend much time eating at the hedge/tree areas. Mine loves the hawthorn berries and leaves and he also dhews the bark off certain trees, think they are ash trees.
 
Yes Annie is out 24/7. Always has been, from her early days in the Algarve desert (not literally a desert, but people who have been there will know what I mean!). I always had her out at grass, normally in small herds of between 4 and 6. She is very passive in the field and gets on with everyone so she lived in a number of different herds and fit in well with all of them. At one time she lived with 4 broodmares and 4 foals... she LOVED the foals, and was a fantastic babysitter. I rugged her up once or twice when it was seriously horrible weather but 99.9% of the time she was naked, either fully fluffy or with a neck-and-belly clip. She was never in the field with the field shelter so it was always natural shelter from the trees etc. but I rarely saw her taking shelter apart from hot summer days when she was trying to get away from the flies. Now at her loan home she lives with 3 others and as they don't have natural shelter she has run-in access to a barn direct from the paddock. She is shut in there to eat her hay because otherwise she lets the others steal it all, but apparently she only puts herself in there to sneak off with her elderly boyfriend when the young horses are annoying them!
Mouse was out 24/7 with me as well. Again like Annie he was in small herds and changed every now and again in order to always have him in the field with the least amount of grass! I never rugged him in winter as he's a hardy chap and gets an amazing thick coat of coarse hair, but he does wear a sweet-itch rug from March to October as he rips himself to pieces without one. He took shelter much of the time in summer because of the flies (and I guess to keep himself a bit cooler because of his rug) but in the winter you'd only see him sheltering when there was hay in there, the rest of the time he'd be out in the elements getting filthy and generally having a wonderful hippopig time.
His routine is different now though as he's on loan to a riding school and they keep him in more (a) for convenience on lesson days and (b) because they have him on a super strict diet.

Prjsmk said:
Does anyones horses spend much time eating at the hedge/tree areas. Mine loves the hawthorn berries and leaves and he also dhews the bark off certain trees, think they are ash trees.
Click to expand...

Oh yes! Mouse spent a lot of his time living in a big pasture with all sorts of things to nibble, and I have seen him investigating it all... trees, bushes, bramble patches, nettle patches, even pondweed... he loved it in there, he is very food-oriented and is a natural forager. He particularly likes picking blackberries, and he is really good with his lips!
 
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@joosie i forgot about the blackberries! He loves them too. I feel bad because up untill 2 years ago he never gad trees in reaching distance to nibble. It was just grass, hard feed and hay but seeing how much he loves foraging now makes me feel like i deprived the poor bugger, he has a much more natural life now trees and plants to forage, lots if space and i only put hay down a few times this year, at certain times i dont see him bothering with the grass he always has his head in a tree eating, lovely to see
 
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No mine don't live out, they have me on elastic instead:pin out, in out, in out. All day long 365 days a year:p
In summer before the tendon issue they did come and go at will. But sadly we had to change all that. Things are working well enough now. Girlies free range yard during the day if weather rubbishy. Zi parades between field, hard standing area, garage and just about anywhere he fancies:Dsame at night. Girls are in at night in the big byre. I have no life lol I just sit here during the day watching what they are "asking" for. Sometimes I just feel like a gatekeeper:rolleyes:
Summer is a bit easier!
 
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Both mine live out all year. We only have one fence line with hedges, but they spend a lot of time there all the way from spring through to autumn, eating whatever they can reach. Foraging in trees is natural for horses - Ziggy does a great imitation of a giraffe!
 
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Those of u that have rugged, when do u take them off? I was contemplating it today as the sun was warm but then doubts creeped in! Rain, cold, what if it snows again etc etc... I need to silence my inner self lol
 
Well up until two weeks ago Belle has happily lived out 24/7 unrugged, she does have a field shelter but only ever uses it in summer.
This winter has been so wet I’m bringing her in at night, not because she’s not happy put just because our fields are so waterlogged I don’t want her to completely trash it. I’ve also put a rain sheet on her over the last few weeks because she was coming in feeling a bit colder than I would like, feeling her age a bit I guess.
It’s been wet, windy and cold here, real biting winds, yesterday was mild and dry so rug off.
I don’t have a set time of year to take rugs off, just depends on the weather really. Play it by ear day to day.
 
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Ziggy is wearing a rain sheet this year because he is trace clipped and in work - it's more to keep him clean that to keep him warm! If he had his coat he would be unrugged all year.
 
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