Your routine for your grass kept horses?

MrA

MrA

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Feb 8, 2012
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Sorry me again! I'm really interested in hearing all about your routine for your grass kept horses and ponies. What you feed, when and how (nets or ground) and just any info you wish to share. Like if you pig oil. If you rug, how often you check on them. The more the better and thanks I really appreciate anything you can add!
 
Don;t have a routine as such.. Where they are I can see them from the house with the binoculars , but as long as I see little dots moving about he face of the hill I am happy. I go and actually put a hand on them once a day, just tomake sure nobody has anything wrong with them. Don;t feed them in summer at all, and in winter I chuck hay on the floor, or they come in at night.

I don;t do anything with them at a set time,
 
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Like wally I don't do anything with a set routine. I'd hate for mine to be stood waiting at a particular time and me not be able to get there for him!
Broadly I visit twice a day in the morning and evening but those times can vary by upto about four or five hours. I've come home from nights out straight after work and checked him at one am before.
I feed at the moment for his hoof health, just a dirty bucket, done at night as I've got more time then.
I pig oil after the farrier every eight weeks or so. I only tend to groom or pick feet out when I'm going to ride. This is my guilt, but unless I notice him uncomfortable on his feet, I tend to leave well alone.
I don't feed hay, and based on set up now, I may only have to use one bale of hay in winter to supplement in the really bad weather.
I poo pick every couple of days, and at most if I'm run off my feet at work, I will have to blast it on a Sunday. I'd never let it go more than a week. I had extensive conversations with my vet about this and she was supportive.
I worm count and worm accordingly. The only one working event I stick to rigidly otherwise, is tapeworm and encysted after the first frost.
I have a four acre field and have currently got it sectioned into about a 1.5acre patch, with a tiny pen for the Shetland. As the grass slows growth, I'll start extending out to the rest of the field - probably one to two fence posts every couple of days, but that won't be until mid September - basically when I start to notice hunger pangs. The fence is up between March and when it eventually comes down in late October. During the winter I don't have enough time to poo pick in the dark so I have to let it go. It bugs me, but it's a big field and they have always coped very well in this set up.
Think I've covered it all!!?!
 
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I love the fact @Wally and @flipo that you don't have a set routine. Mine have always had one despite me keeping them at home! I don't know why but I always seem to fall into a routine trap!lol I am determined to break the chain this time, as in a few weeks we'll be visitng family back south, so my lovely neighbours will be on horse watch and I don't expect them to stick to a schedule.
@Ale for me, when ours are coming and going as they please I tend to have a feed routine but mainly due to meds, - Chloe's prascend and Storm's danilon. Not sure if Ale has anything long term?
 
Thank-you all of you, I am hoping to become more relaxed with my routine once he is out. I still want to make sure I see him twice a day but it would be nice if this could be when I choose to a certain extent.

I will need to hay on the land I am on but this is fine and I think I will offer hay year round to supplement the grass. I want him to stay slim and healthy that is the main aim.

I will be taking him barefoot at some point. So I will probably do the pig oil after the trimmer has been same as flipo.

I haven't decided yet whether I will attempt to soak all my hay or just feed it dry. He will continue having a token feed once a day with his hoof supplement in
 
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To be honest my variation in checking on my horse only goes so far as I have this elastic band that stretches until I get to a time where I can't concentrate or settle as i just need to go and see he's ok.
I think it's easier to have a relaxed routine when they are out all the time. They're not so dependent on you, but meds do mean you need some regularity I guess trewsers. The good thing about horses is that they are super quick to adapt to a new routine. The very next day after I start to extend out the field, my horse is right there expectantly! When I used to pen him in the summer, two days of penning and the third he's almost just walk in himself.
 
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My routine is very similar to Wally's - but I do go round them twice a day checking for injuries. Actually that is a bit of a fib, my OH does the morning check and I either do afternoon if I am riding or early evening if not riding!

I have been known to traipse the fields looking for the Dublin mafia though even if they have been checked twice - they are young and silly and more prone to accidents through over enthusiastic play, and as they are all victims of huge neglect. starvation etc - I am like a hawk looking for any sign of illness too.
 
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Thanks everyone for the replies. The yard do a morning and evening check so perhaps once a week I will only come down once and ask if they can give him hay if need be.

My general plan is to do a quick visit before work so between about half 6 and half 7 depending on time on year (light levels!) And then spend some time down there after work so between 3-5 ish but later if need be and it will be nice to have some flexibility on days off so I don't have to get up at half 4 or feel quilty as he will be out eating grass and moving around no matter what time I get there
 
This was a great thread
I will have to figure out some bit of routine as I will have grass at the new place.;)
They asked me at the home inspection if I want them to stop cutting it to grow longer for the animals.
I asked them to totally keep cutting it please- since I really don't have grass here and will have to
acclimate them slowly.

It will be nice to be able to set up grassy paddocks to manage and not totally use hay 365
days a year:D.
 
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Mine are out but also get hay unless they are eating down a new patch of grass. I check them twice a day, I get twitchy if I don't :p my neighbours also glance over when they are there and let me know if anything is a miss, as I do for them, we also have a secret Facebook group for all the horsey folk on the lane so we can arrange to ride or let people know if anything is up.

In winter or when there isnt any grass to pick at I try to ensure I space my visits at 12 hourly. In summer if I'm not at work I may go twice 6 hours apart as even if they don't have hay left they can pick on grass.

I feed at the evening visit and try to make sure Jess gets her meds at around 6pm daily, if I'm riding later she gets it with a few pony nuts by hand then the rest of her feed/sups after I've ridden.

Theres no routine to my riding, anything from 5am to 9pm. I tend to groom/pick feet when I ride unless there is a reason to do it more, eg a touch of thrush in which case I'll do it twice daily.

I poo pick daily, unless they are shut in a smaller space, then I'll do it twice daily as I don't like them standing in muck.

I worm count a couple of times a year and worm autumn and spring for tape and encysited redworm as after 4 years I know my pasture doesn't have a high burden.

ETA, other than fly spray, I don't routinely apply any topicals, no foot dressings, no sun cream, no pig oils or anything like that.
 
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Bit late on this as I have been away. I go over to the boys generally as soon as I get up or it gets light, whichever is earlier. They get fed then and their hay if they are getting any, a quick look over while they are eating and feet picked out etc. if I have time.

Sometimes they wait longer if I need to walk the dogs first for some reason, or if Suzi is doing mornings she gets there usually between 9 and 10.

Because I share chores with Suzi they also get visited in the afternoon, and then I pop over to put Bella the field matriarch in the stable for the evening. But that's a quick visit, no more than 5 minutes - I just run over the road, cluck to her, she follows me to the stable and there we are done.

I can see my field from the house. When Ziggy had colic I saw him rolling in the field from the front garden and sprinted there faster than I have ever run in my life!
 
Speaking to a vet friend of mine and she says a feeding routine causes more colic than not, IN practice they see more cases of colic on a Sunady morning when folk have a lie in and the horse does not get his expected feed on time. A mix of anticipation, fretting and the food not arriving when expected causes more bother than when a horse is not expecting anything.
 
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My horses are out 24/7 all year round, are on 1.75 acres split in two paddocks, but are good doers and can live off fresh air.

Summer:
One check a day, no hay, 1 bucket feed of chaff and nuts. All 3 are in one half in the summer and I change them to rested paddock every 2 weeks.

Winter:
One check a day if normal winter weather (twice if snowy or frosty or heavy rain). They get the equivalent of prob 2 haynets each a day (in one go into loose hay box), I bucket feed of chaff and nuts. They get clipped (trace) and get rugged, rain sheets in early winter, then most of winter in 100g, changed to 200g in depth of winter if weather bad. I bring 2 in when riding, and often leave them in for a good few hours if convenient. I get the sharer to leave Major in for a few hours after riding some days and I turn out in the afternoon when feeding.

On the whole I find the horses aren't bothered by being out in the weather as long as they have hay to nibble.
 
I forgot to say about rugging, jess gets a no fill generally as she will not get herself out of the weather, if its dry she'll be naked until its about 2 degrees, if its wet I put it on when the day time temps are in single figures consistently, if she's clipped/working and its below freezing at night and not getting above 2/3 in the day or very wet she gets a medium (200g). The only time I put another rug under her medium was when we had freaky weather and it dropped to -17 and didn't get above -10 in the day for weeks on end.
Hank doesn't really get rugged, even with his neck and shoulders clipped unless it goes suddenly cold he just doesn't need it, I do have a no fill and med for him, which if he's fully clipped to drive through this winter he might use :p
I will change rugs twice a day if need be, I would rather the horses on the chilly side than hot in their rugs, they can run round to warm up if they are cold but if they are too hot they are screwed.
 
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