Tell me your winter routine

[Indoorvoicesbluey]

first winter as horse owners

The yard I’m in doesn’t allow horses out all winter/over night. Or you can but I think you’d be judged.

last night was the first night in, so I spent hours making her stable with straw , her hay net, feed and water bucket all sorted.

she came in at 4.30 because there was a firework display nearby at 5.

she was let out at 5.30 this morning by a friend who said she was well behaved.

went this evening to bring her in and her stable was disgusting lol by the time I picked her poo out I had to fill it again and it took ages. Obviously did her food/water which was all gone. She was the last to come in so was abit fresh coming up lol

I poo picked the field as much as I could with the light on my car lol.

il go over tomorrow about 6 and let her out, I’m guessing then poo pick her stable, refill buckets etc and take her rug off her?

is that kinda how it goes? Back over at 5 and if I’m running out of time she can just go straight in her stable as it’s ready?

also, how many hay nets do you recommend me getting and do you think I should just fill loads and so it’s easier? Ahh stress lol

it depends on what kind of livery you’re on, any particular yard rules, how much storage you have, if you or dc need to ride etc

When dd’s horse was on assisted DIY I usually paid for him to be turned out in the mornings. The yard rules were that no horse was allowed to be on its own in the fields so that made it easier as occasionally I’d be hanging around waiting for another livery to turn up before I could let him out.

So going up in the evenings, either dd or I would bring him in while the other one mucked out, quick groom, rug check/change and feed. We had our own tack room so usually made up several feeds and hay nets in advance at the weekend

We have quite abit of storage for Haynets and feed, other people seem to make the nets up in advance.

I can’t believe how much she poos in her stable though :(

Ours are still out. It's warm and dry so we have delayed bringing them in. I catch them all at lunchtime. Rugs off feet picked and in with haynet and hard feed. Then we ride in the afternoon before putting them out. We feed hay in hayboxes in the field. We are going to see how long we can hang on before getting them in. If we do I feed and turn out about 8am then muck out. They come in after lunch. We give a haynet, they get worked then fed, skipped out and night time nets 6-7pm. It's a long winter.

breakfast and then turf out at 6/7ish
Muck out before she comes in
bring in about 3/4/5 depending on if I’m going to ride.
she’s a super clean mare and essentially toilets in one corner of her stable.
Ad Lib hayledge
I have lots of enrichment things for her too as I hate the idea of them being in that long but she’s often stood at the gate from noon so…

When we were on DIY we had 4 to do , we started mucking out as they were having breakfast and then one of us did the rugs and turnout whilst the other carried on with the mucking out . Once they were out the haynets and waters were put in ready for the evening . Ours were in at night all year so the only thing that changed in the routine was the times and how dark it was . You can get pretty quick at mucking out , we had 2 on straw and 2 on shavings . We generally rode in the evenings .

Why are you not mucking out?

huh? I am mucking out

You said you were poo picking. That’s not mucking out

We are on a livery yard, which has the option of DIY/assisted/part/full livery
DPony is on assisted DIY. Usual daily routine during the week is for me to go to the yard at 7am, turn out, muck out, do waters and hay and leave everything ready for her to be brought in at 5ish. There is always someone around on the yard until 8pm and beyond, to keep a general eye on them
Weekends, I try and keep her in a similar routine (no lie in for me!)
If it’s frosty, I don’t turn her out early (laminitis and colic risk), so I juggle things around
I fill haynets ahead, so my weekdays have minimum work for me, as I only have about 30 min in the morning
She’s on wood pellets, as she’s a wet and messy mare and pellets are quicker for me to muck out than shavings, etc

You'll get faster the more you do it. If you have room for haynets make a week's worth up at once on a day off. If you have time to I find it's easier to muck out in the morning because then nighttime is a breeze which helps when it's dark at 3.30pm.

Yard turns my boy out in the AM, in the week they also muck out for me, at the weekends I do that myself. In the evenings I bring him in (longest and most annoying part as the field is 10 mins walk there and back plus it's a big field so can easily turn into a 30 min job, more if the little sod won't be caught!). Luckily we have a system on the yard where each person going to the field will bring in 2 or 3 at a time so as often as not someone will have caught him for me already if I get to the yard late which is a godsend. I change his rug first then usually do a few jobs e.g. haynets, make up his feed (he doesn't get much so that's a 2 min job, small amount of chaff and some supplements) before quick groom then ride, stuff haynet and make up his feed, then he eats his dinner after I ride while I turn his bed down and fill his water, if I don't have to muck out all jobs (not including bringing in) take maybe 30 mins max.

All horses poo a lot lol, did they not tell you this? Mucking out only takes me 15ish mins though and I wouldn't say I'm the fastest on the yard either, it does take longer when you're out of practice but you'll get there, it shouldn't be taking you hours long term. I can turn around a mucky stable to ready for the night with bed down, a prefilled net hung up, water refilled and feed in in about 20 mins if I push myself. I would say I could be accused of being a little prolifgate with the straw as I'm not really fussy about a little clean going out with the dirty if I'm in a rush- are you being super careful about picking the poo out first then going for the wet for it to take you hours? I'd be a bit more gung ho with the shovel if so Or is it that you are fluffing up her bed and making it all beautiful and even, I don't do that either (sorry horse!), he's only going to poo and wee in it after all so I don't get the point of making it look perfect, so long as there's enough in there and he's comfy. One other helpful habit I do have on winters evenings is laser focus, I'm polite to all on the yard and of course would stop to help someone in need but have 0 time for idle chit chat or hanging around just enjoying being around the horses like I would in summer, I just want get my jobs done in the minimal time possible, I never walk from one end of the yard to another without something in my hand etc. I also stick to total focus when riding so that even if I only have time to ride for 30 mins he's had a good work out which is important if he's going to stand still for the next 12 hours. I try and get ahead at weekends too so if you can make up a weeks worth of nets that's ideal, do that. Our yard system is also we do a big poo-pick of the field each at the weekend (well, you can do it whenever but most of us work in the week so it does get a little messy by Friday but all cleared by Monday). If she can stay out overnight sometimes also do that, ours are still out overnight at the moment, it's been very wet here so it likely won't last as the grass is getting churned up but I would never bring them in overnight before I absolutely had to - put hay down in the field if need be, that's still a lot easier than mucking out 7 days a week IMO!

First person to the yard gives breakfasts
Turn out when I get there, between 7 and 8
I do as much as I can in the morning, so muck out, refill water, put in nets
Around 5pm do feeds and bring in, don't always change rugs since outdoor ones are breathable these days but do remove and groom at least every other day.
Poo pick at weekends but our fields are big.

If you're on straw you'd really benefit from doing a full muck out in the morning and leaving the bed up so the floor can dry out.
Fill all your nets at the weekend, it really is the worst job!
Get a good head torch if poo picking in the dark

So, you are not there in the mornings? Which means you have everything to do at night, if I understand correctly. Therefore her stable when you get there, is how it was left after she had had a night in.....(I don't quite follow how you are explaining it) So are you first mucking out and then fetching her in?
She will poo about 4-6 times overnight and mares wee mostly into the egde/bankings, due to their anatomy of course. It needn't be too messy, unless her stable is too small, or she is pacing or upset for some reason.
Certainly when you get time, you should do a good muck out and let the floor dry, at weekends or on your day/s off, if you can make two visits and let the floor dry through the day.
Our routine for two, who were out all day but always in at night;
Fed, rugs on if necessary, out to field, sugar beet soaked for later. Stables mucked out with floor left clear and banked straw up round the sides.
Later on - beds down, waters filled - brought in earlier if riding - hay nets filled and rinsed off (not soaked) usually in from field, feet, grooming etc etc. hard feeds (checked field. water, poo picking while they were eating). Stayed there for while and did other jobs, rugs on in winter, had a cup of tea, prepped breakfasts and a late small hard feed for my old guy for his mediaction. Polos, a kiss and a scratch and lights out.
We could easily manage this with one person if required - and have scaled up to as many as 20 plus. But that took a lot longer!

Have to add though. that we were on a small pvate yard with just our two.

Prior to that, my friend's (family) farm, which is where there so many (his parents accumulated them and then buggered off to do a ride from John O'Groats to Lands End!); I also used a massive fork lift for mucking out, didn't ride any execept my own, the horses were generally good so could be led four at a time and had a wee helper in my 10 year old daughter!

Mine now live out 24/7 on my own privately rented grazing, but when I was on livery I used to get everything ready in the morning so could just bring in at tea-time and nothing to do. If someone is turning out for you in the morning then you will have to do a full muck-out and depending on how dirty your horse is, this might mean take ALL the middle out and re-fill the middle with fresh bedding. During the week when I was short of time that's all I did, and lifted all the banking and cleaned under it at the weekend when I had more time and let the floors dry out. The stables were usually pretty filthy by then.

Poo picking the fields was a weekend job too as impossible to see properly to do during the week.

If someone was bringing in/turning out for me I always left a feed and haynet. If someone turned out for me in the morning and I had to muck out in the evening, I would bring them in first so they weren't stressing in the fields and tie them up with a haynet.

I'm at a small yard and I'm the only 1 on DIY. We have one winter field and they go it in a morning or afternoon. I get there just after 6 and turn out the morning crew. Muck out and leave his stable ready for when he comes in. None of the horses have breakfast so I prep my evening feed. YO swaps them over lunchtime. I go up in the evening, skip out, top up hay(I feed on the ground) and water. If YO hasn't already given the feeds I'll help put all the feeds in.
Weekends I even get time to ride!

I have 3 horses so routine at the moment is:

6am - feed (feedalready made up the night before) and start to muck out around them. As soon as they have eaten up I turn them out - lead all 3 together as they are good to lead together.
Then back to finish mucking all stables out, top waters up and hang a net each.

Takes me about 45 minutes.

Then at around 2pm I take a late lunch from work and go bring them in.

5pm finish work and back to yard where I ride mine in the school, daughter rides hers and one of us will free school/gently lunge my old mare.

Then skip out, refill waters, fill hay nets (they get 3 each over night) and hang them for the night and get everything ready again for the morning.

I have about 12 hay nets in total and these are all filled on an evening when we have more time.
All feeds are made up on an evening as well.
My horses get 3 haynets a night each, and then the 1 that I hang up in the morning for when I bring in at around 2ish.
I have all mine on shavings and rubber matting as they are all quite mucky and it's easier to manage. I hate straw as my horses are very wet and it is not as absorbent as shavings.

I've got 3/4 to do, at home.

8 am turn all out, muck out. This takes about 40 mins total. All mucked out fully every day, on straw plus wood pellets underneath. Beds left up.
Make up feeds.

4.30 pm beds down, fill haylage nets, x2 for each horse. Feeds into stables. Drinkers are automatic.
Bring all in. Ride etc.
Skip out any droppings after that.

10 pm second haylage net in.

So today I have spent 3 hours clearing her stable from the straw and swapping to shavings. I filled 5 Haynets and bought a new bucket for feed so there’s always one spare.

when my husband went over at 5pm everything was ready in her stable and it took literally 10 mins to put her in and poo pick the field.

so hopefully when I go over in the morning (8.45 ish as I go after school) I just put her in the field with her breakfast and poo pick the stable, put a Haynet up and her food ready for the evening. Then when my daughter rides everything is ready and she gets more time to ride.

OP you are still referring to just poo picking. Are you not fully mucking out? You need to fully muck out each day unless you are deep littering.

Why do you need to? You can do whatever suits. Mine are on shavings, and I usually skip out during the week and then muck out fully including the wet at the weekend, disinfecting the floor and leaving it up to dry the floor through the day. Works well for us. One bag of shavings per horse per week. Less hassle on work days.

Sorry wee as well obviously. I just call it poo picking lol.

im obviously not taking alll of the shavings out every day, just the wet and poo then moving the clean from the banks into the middle.

Ah fair enough, most people call what you are doing mucking out. There's also skipping out where you just remove poo (and perhaps any large wet patches) without banking up the dry on the sides to let the floor dry, typically done in the evenings if the horse has been stood in a little while. Bedding down is where you take the dry bedding from the sides and put it down to cover the floor, sometimes adding new at the same time.

Poo picking usually only refers to clearing a field, because obviously in a field you aren't bothered about wet patches, only the poo! Obviously you can call your chores whatever you like, it's up to you, but you might find you get some head-tilty confused responses if you say you are poo picking your stable, horsey people do tend to be attached to their 'correct' vocabulary (I know as my DH insists on calling rugs 'blankets' and grey horses 'white' and so on just to annoy!)

@maxelly but perhaps your husband goes back as far as I do when you did use actual blankets under jute rugs with rollers at night !

Haha yes that's a childhood flashback alright, the smell of a heavy woollen blanket in the morning after a damp night! I also wasn't that young when we were still calling turnouts 'New Zealands' and they were viewed as a mildly suspicious innovation by the older/more traditional brigade! I also still have my old manual of horsemanship that tells you how to make a traditional bran mash, plait a straw wisp and other such useful delights... things do change in the horsey world albeit slowly!