# Even more livery yards moving towards banning winter turnout?



## lewis2015 (26 October 2016)

Hi all 

Just posting as I'm feeling increasingly fed up and frustrated over the winter turnout options available in the area that I live. Two years ago I moved my horse to a rather 'rough round the edges' yard for the sole reason that they had 24/7 summer turnout and all day winter turnout. He's getting old now and I don't want him stood around in a stable getting stiff and swollen. He also goes stir crazy when in all the time, as I experienced when he was on box rest one time. In the 4 years I've owned him I've moved him 3 times for various reasons, but mainly due to the yards I was on putting heavy restrictions on winter turnout. 

On my current yard, last year we started on every day winter turnout but after xmas some of the horses started wrecking the fences (due to field being overstocked and owners not really feeding them hay before they went out), so the owner limited it to every other day which was fine and worked ok for me and my horse. 

I've since bought another horse (16 yr old ex racer who is fine when stabled at night, but gets stressy when in for too long). 

Yesterday I just happened to be told in passing by another livery that this year the YO is limiting TO to an hour a day over winter!? I emailed the yard owner to confirm and she said that it will be half day turnout to start with, but going to an hour if weather gets bad and any horses that wreck fences will be limited to an hour when their owners are there. Mine have never wrecked fencing so I'm not worried about that, but the prospect of an hour a day if it rains heavily like last winter is awful  

I'm a bit annoyed that they are making this change without properly informing people, and I've now got the stress of finding somewhere else. The problem is there is no where else! In the four years I've had my gelding I've been on 4 livery yards and been to look at 10+ other local yards. All either had very limited/ no winter turnout, had no DIY livery option and extortionate prices for part livery, or silly rules like 'can't be on yard before 8am' (I work full time and sort my horses at 6am before work). I've also tried desperately to find a field to rent but no joy there either. 

Sorry for the long post, I'm just infuriated at what seems to be becoming more acceptable as a culture shift towards no winter turnout. 25/30 years ago when I was riding as a youngster the horses lived out 24/7 all year with no problems. Fields were not overstocked and people weren't scared of a bit of mud. 

Is this particular to the north west or have others experienced this? Would your horses cope on an hour a day turnout? (NB - my horses are both older, semi-retired and are only used for light hacking a couple of times a week). 

(X-posted in tack room).


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## paddi22 (26 October 2016)

it's awful when that happens. Playing devils advocate though, the winter was SOO wet and long last year, and the grass came through so late, that i can understand why yards want to do it. I built a small all weather turnout last year and without it i know my land would have been destroyed. As it was i had two extra rescues in and they went on grass and the field was destroyed completely. 

It's not fair on horses to get so little turnout though, and mine would go loopy. I think the new long wet winters though will mean yards will have to adapt and keep horse welfare in mind, not just close fields


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## Dry Rot (26 October 2016)

With the number of complaints on this theme on the forum, soil type and drainage need to be top concerns when looking to relocate. I am on sand and never have a problem with poaching so long as the ditches are maintained.


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## Micky (26 October 2016)

I constantly see the same when looking at adverts for diy/assisted livery yards....limited turnout during winter! At the end of the day, yes the fields get trashed but they do recover if you put the effort into them in spring/Autumn and have enough land to actually rotate your turnout fields plus correct or some form of drainage! Sadly most places don't manage fields and more often than not, the problem is too many horses on too little land....


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## lannerch (16 November 2016)

The other problem with muddy poached fields is mud fever and tendon and ligament problems, 
Paticularly sensory ligament issues.

My horse has had the latter, I would now not risk him turned out in a deep field. He is happy and kept sound by an hours turnout in a sand school 40 minutes in the horse walker and a cozy stable with ad lib hayledge 

I think people over fret about winter turnout, horses are very adaptive creatures and love routine so as long as it's the same every day are generally happy.

I also find in winter when the horses go out before they get too deep most in the yard want to come in after an hour , and all want to come in after a couple of hours.


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## TuscanBunnyGirl (16 November 2016)

My yard is currently out 8-4 and they stay in if its very wet. But...I do understand why YO/YMs are fed up . I started with the idea that everyone would turn out when they wanted to and brought in when they wanted to and did not trash the fields...my fields were sooo trashed. I've lost total faith in liveries to be honest and now keep my yard very small and i decide when horses go out or stay in no ifs or buts. I don't think people realise how hard it is to maintain great grazing and how much re-seeding/fertilising/weed killing costs when done properly. I feel really sorry for those who do respect the land but I understand why they just stop letting people turn out from that point of view. Would I go/run somewhere where my horses couldn't go out at all? No. Its cruel.


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