In or Out

[Stupidbonfire]

Hello, please be gentle with me…. I’m the first person to admit I am ridiculously precious about DD’s pony.

For the first time ever I have a lovely little sole use yard to keep DP (dear pony) at. We have lovely fields with lots of nice grass and some stables and a little yard. The field does not adjoin the stables and is just across the lane.

i have since being a small child been on a livery yard where all horses come in at night from 1st SeptEmber until mid may. So we’ve enjoyed being able to leave them out so far apart from the odd very wet and windy night.

what I’m dithering about is the forecast the next few nights. Down to -4 here. DP is Section B and very fine. She’s also getting on (nearly 18). She looks very well atm but struggles to keep weight on in winter. She has a bib clip and wears a medium weight turnout with a neck and with a fleece underneath when it’s colder (like tonight). She’s mostly better out because she has a hay cough. But won’t eat haylage or wet hay. And also gets a bit stiff or stood in for too long.

but it’s going to be so, so cold and I just can’t get the idea that she’s be better snuggled up in a massive heavyweight stable rug, with a haynet and deep bed. or am I being a massive softee and she’ll be fine outside all rugged up warm. I do have a heavy weight turnout but it’s a bit shirt at the sides and neck and so her tummy and top of neck aren’t covered.

she has hay in the field and a feed of vetran vitality mash, made with warm water.

thank you!

Out. Mine has EMS and has to be in, but she lived out in all weathers before.
I have a photo of her out with a frozen solid tail in -12 some years back and she was happy as larry. She was late teens then (almost 25 now).
Mine would be out now if allowed.

I didn't say it was a crime against nature. Why shouldn't they live out - as horses are designed to, keeping their joints mobilised and exhibiting natural behaviours with the rest of their herds - unless they have to be brought into a confined space?

Unless she is in hard work over winter I wouldn't clip, and would almost certainly leave out at -4.

If you have good grazing I would leave them out well rugged with lots of hay. Digesting hay keeps them warm. I have just had to bring mine in at night as our fields are getting trashed. I just wish I had better grazing.

She does pony club all winter. So she has just a little bib clip and half face. Her tummy stays on and half her neck. Otherwise she’s just so sweaty when we try and rush a ride after school or go jumping…

If the natural shelter is good - windproof and there are good overhanging trees to provide a nice sheltered corner - i would leave out. I have a 28 year old 3/4 TB very fine pony who has lived out in a little herd for the last 3 winters. He's unclipped and has 24/7 access to field shelters. He's absolutely fine! I do not rug any of them - ever. They get soaking wet, they get frost on their backs, they are all as happy as pigs in muck. In fact I have to entice them into the shelters with haynets when the weather is bad or they would just hang around outside.

I also had one that live outside during that horrendous winter several years ago. Admittedly she was rugged as she was clipped. I used to bring her inside for a few hours during the day for a haynet, which is just nibbled out before hanging over the stable door demanding to go back out again!

Some want to be inside, others prefer to be out. Unless yours has a strong preference for not being out, or has medical conditions that merit being stabled, i would always leave them out.

If it’s not wet and windy then out every time - my vet always says to me they can warm themselves up but find it hard to cool down when over-rugged. It sounds like you have enough shelter so give her plenty of hay/forage to eat and she’ll be much better off moving around to ward off stiffness. My 19yo fully clipped warm blood/tb is out 24/7, well rugged and with access to a stable which she barely uses and is much better for it. I do bring her in though if it’s wet and windy as she finds that miserable.

I've not read all the replies but in general:

-4 and dry is fine, wet and windy is less fine.

I don't like fleeces under t/o rugs, they pull tight and don't keep the horse warm, better with 2 t/o rugs.

16 isn't old!!!

If your field isn't too muddy, has shelter and you can feed hay, leave them out.

Not only that, but bringing them in can help to rest the fields, especially if they pace at the gate, which helps things not to turn into a sea of mud!

@Janieread I'm sorry but a I doubt your horses do love being in their stables! Would you enjoy being forced to stand in your bathroom for 12+ hours a day without being able to get out???
Horses wait to come in because that's their routine - not because they enjoy it. And when left out it's rare to find them stood in mud. They only stand in muddy gateways because they have been conditioned too.
It's cruel to keep them stabled. They are a herd animal and you are removing that from them. They are almost always colder in a stable because they can't move to keep warm. Blood circulation is also reduced due to being stationary for long periods. Horses are not designed to live in boxes!
There is no enrichment from grazing and foraging for their food or from the natural environment. One day stabling will be be seen to be as cruel as battery caging hens. Because a stable is roughly the equivalent amount of space as caged hens had.

@LeakyTapTap you don't get gates badly churned up if your not bringing in all the time. Funnily enough the horses that live out full time don't stand at the gate all a day!

At the stables I used to ride at the horses and ponies all lived out in big herds and they stood at the gate regularly and the gateways were like a mud pit . Maybe horses that live out and rarely get bought in don’t stand at gates but horses that are used to one or two meals a day definitely do .

That's not true in my experience. But my area is horrible heavy clay that gets boggy if it even looks like rain.

@LeakyTapTap if your keeping horses on clay your going to get mud I'm afraid it's vile stuff. But the less traffic on it the better.

@Floralnomad you have just proved my point! They are standing at the gate because they are expecting to be brought in. Even if they are coming in to be fed or ridden it results in the same thing.

I have kept horses for more than a decade. I have never had my horses pacing or waiting at the gate.

@justgettingthroughtheday so do yours never come out of the field then .

Of course they do. But they don't stand waiting at the gate for me. They come when I call or they hear the car but they don't stand around the gates.

Mine are bright enough to realise that if they see me they are probably going to be ridden or fed, so kindly come to the gate and wait.

All of ours are out 24/7, unless it is really vile out there, we have 2 ex-racehorses, a 2yo TB x, a sports pony and a native. They have great shelters, and the hay is fed in the shelters. They really are happier out, so I keep them out - rugged when necessary - as much as possible. Even older ones tend to benefit from being able to move about a bit overnight.
Sec B's are far hardier than they liek to make out, and as said before, cold and dry is fine, it's when it gets very wet it's harder on them x

Thank you everyone for your input. I put my brave pants on, and she’s currently outside in a 100g turnout with a 250g on top. Lots of hay and had a warm vetran mash for supper.

She has stopped waiting at the gate, so assuming that was more routine. But I still get a friendly wicker when she she’s me and they come galloping down ❤️

Pleased she is ok op, though that is a lot of rugs for a pony, my veteran TB is about to turned back out for the night ( just in to eat his tea really) and has a 200g on with a 50 g on top. It will be -5 here tonight and i can categorically say he will be warm enough ( dry and not windy).

Just make sure she doesn’t get too hot in all of that 🙈. Honestly, she will be fine.

Healthiest horses I’ve ever known in my decades long career in this game lived out year round in big fields, hay, only a few got hard feed, no rugs unless needed to be kept clean for next day. Summer temps in 30s, winter temps down to -12 and below, TBs, WBs, ponies, oldies, youngsters, you name it, healthy hairy bears the lot. They came from all sorts of backgrounds and yards, often billed as ‘difficult’ and often on their last chance. They came off the winter looking a bit thinner, swept the board showing in summer and hunted or rested all winter. One colic and never heard the word laminitis in the whole two years I was there, initially slightly 😳 I’m completely converted and only bought another horse when I was sure I could have it live out! I do understand that sometimes form a space perspective it’s not possible but you have the option so feel no guilt, pony will be happier and healthier for it!

As an aside, I have a TB mare in foal, who will only wear rugs when it's really awful, as she won't be able to be rugged when the foal is due (end of March, so realistically anything from beginning of March to end of May) as foals and mares with rugs are not an option (they tend to get themselves tangled in the belly straps when trying to feed and hang themselves).
Bearing in mind most TB's are born very early in the year, the majority of TB broodmares winter out with no rugs - some studs bring in at night, others only do in the last month or so before foaling - and look amazing on it. Decent shelter and adequate forage and most are good to go x

My ISH only has a 50g rug on. I feel a bit mean but his armpits feel cosy and warm in the morning and he's got tons of hay. I'm clipping him next week and then he'll have a liner on (i have a 300g and a 100g).

Checked my Irish clipped Welsh x tb, warmblood yearling and elderly Welsh pony (bib clip) this evening at 0 degrees with middleweights on and their ears and shoulders all warm.