Horses living out 24/7 through winter

[Ort2020]

My horses is currently out 24/7 for around 7 months during spring/summer and is the in at night for 5 months of Winter.

Horse is getting older and in less work (& I’m getting a little older too 😉), so I’m thinking if potentially moving him to 24/7 grass livery. This Winter has been awful though and most fields are very wet, so I just wondered how those with horses out all of the time are coping

Ours are happy but muddy! They have ad lib hay and a shelter but they don’t go in the shelter as much as you would expect. I think they use it more in the summer!

Thank you for your reply... the place I’m looking at, will allow me to move my field shelter there and place it in line with theirs. However, I noticed that the inside of their shelter is quite muddy/wet and that concerns me if they don’t have anywhere dry to stand. I could probably invest in something like mud control mats to help. But, as you’ve said, maybe he wouldn’t actually use it that much.

He’s getting older - I wouldn’t be moving him from indoor to outdoor over winter, no

Mine cope very well, even my old duffers. They don't go inside, generally, if ever. There's plenty of natural shelter which they prefer to use.
My 'old ladies retirement group' are accustomed to living out though, I don't know if I would throw them into the deep end at this time of the year, I'd wait till next year and not bring yours in, iykwim?

I have an arthritic retiree. She needs out as much as possible but really struggles if she’s out 24/7

In the summer we tend to go out 24/5 and bring her in for a couple of nights (or days depending on weather/flies/etc) - she crashes out flat out in her and snores her head off.

Winter she’s in at night and out as much as we can manage during the day - we’re on clay and the fields aren’t great at the moment plus we have a dose of mud fever so we’re having fun and games trying to manage her

If I could find her a nice field with a proper field shelter I’d go for it like a shot - they’re rarer than hens teeth round here so we’re on livery which isn’t ideal for her really.

We’ve tried her living out 24/7 and she hated it - lost huge amounts of weight and was thoroughly miserable. She likes her stable comforts

Unless he’s very stiff I’d wait until next year so that he can acclimatise... especially if you currently rug him at night in the stable. Is he very hairy?!

Mine have always been out as much as possible. In retirement I bought a redmire hunter shelter with two sides and two gates.

In the summer I put down rubber stable mats that covered every inch of ground and extended under the side walls. I put road shavings and those holey mud mats outside to about four feet away from the door and compacted it.

I was able to put a huge shavings bed in there (about ten inches high) and just removed the poo and left the wee all winter, adding plenty of shavings weekly.

It worked really well for years, meant that they could stand on something dry and/or I could close the gates and keep them in when I wanted to.

Mine have only just come in, the big warmblood with the fancy breeding is actually hardier than the little bog pony and would live out all year, but pony is in his early twenties and had just started to drop weight. He'd happily live in 24/7 and never go out and she screams if she's left on her own so I've given up and they're both in 🙄

I wouldn't just chuck him out now but I'd acclimatise him to it next year, February and March tend to be the worst months for being miserable, our fields are very muddy too.

Hi all, thank you .. I’m reviewing the replies. But, just to clarify, this is a potential Spring move (may time) in anticipation of next winter. He’s a HW cob of 18 years old (so not ancient 😜)

Thank you for sharing your experiences. For those that are out 24/7 in this weather - a silly question, but do they lay down much when the fields are so wet?

Thanks for the field shelter flooring advice .. It sounds like you’ve got yours very sorted 👍🏻. I’m also possibly looking at Mudcontrol slabs for the field shelter ... I can’t ever imagine it being dry enough for a shavings bed, but you never know

I have 2 out in rented fields 24/7 and my old TBX went out last October from livery - and he was 24 at the time!

However, i have a relatively large area just to myself and the fields are extremely well drained. The only bits that are getting trashed are just outside the shelter and in the gateway where the farmer comes in with his tractor to bring hay and water.
The field shelter is excellent though - wind and waterproof and I tie up nets in there overnight so they have to come in out of the weather otherwise I think they'd just stand outside and get piss soaking wet!
There is excellent natural shelter and plenty of grass.

My old TB lost a lot of weight last winter - I think I actually over-rugged him, feeling sorry for him, and I don't think it did him any favours. This winter he gets a mid-weight no-neck rug on if it's raining non-stop, otherwise he just gets on with it. And he's on haylage this winter. He looks bloody amazing! The other one was out with no rug from day one and is fat as a pig.

I honestly think they are both far happier mooching around the 2 fields with complete freedom. They do both lay down even when it's wet or frosty. I think the key is having decent shelter, either natural or man-made, and plenty of forage for the winter months, Even when it's poured down for 24 hours straight, I can tell the rain doesn't penetrate to the skin (but they rarely get more than the mud knocked off so I can ride so have a generous layer of grease, thick coat and mud to keep the rain out!)

I was worried how my old TB would manage - but this winter he is thriving. He gets a mix of hay and haylage and both get nothing more than a handful of chaff so I can feed the old lad his supplements.

Mine is out 24/7 all year round and has been his whole life (7). He’s only ever stayed in for 6 nights in his whole life when he had to have a weeks box rest... he hated it

He still lies down to sleep, he’s like a hippo.

They’re all different though, if they’re not used to it they’ll need acclimatising, but sounds like you have the right idea by starting it next winter rather than putting him out now. He’ll soon adapt

Oh and mine has loads of natural shelter, but he still prefers to stand in the middle of the field during a storm . He hates any field shelter type thing (he’s claustrophobic) but if I had one who’d use it I’d get a massive one with gates, cover it with tonnes of straw and deep litter it. Then close them in if I ever needed to.

All of mine go from daily turnout to 24/7 outside when they retire and they all love it. I remember chasing one retiree around a field trying to put a rug on him when it was snowing and he wasn't having it! First and only time in 18 years I was not able to catch him, so he certainly knew his mind.

A bit of hardcore sorts out the flooring of the field shelters. Put a blinding layer on top so that it lasts longer.

Our 6 live out permanently on a Paddock Paradise track system. They've had rugs on once this year when we had torrential rain for a week but otherwise fat, hairy, muddy and very happy

Thanks all for your replies. He always lives out 24/7 for 7/8 months, then in at night for 4/5 months of winter. So out 24/7 will be a first for him next year. But, I think I’m going to go for it ... it’ll make my life much easier and hopefully he will adapt to it well enough 😁