Turning horse out alone

JLP

New Member
Aug 19, 2008
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We are moving to a new yard tomorrow (yay!) which seems much better suited to our needs. There is 24/7 turnout and my mare will share a field with two other horses. :D

During winter, both of these other horses are stabled every night, so my mare will have to come in too. The problem is turning out – the others go out between 9 -10am and come back in around 4pm. Because I work in the week, I will have to turn out at 6am and bring her in around 5pm.

This means she’ll be out on her own for a couple of hours in the morning and again in the evening. The field is separate from the geldings so she won’t even be able to see any other horses.

I’ve never had to turn her out alone before – how worried should I be about this? Is anyone else in this position? How do yours cope?

Once I get to know the other liveries I may be able to ask them to turn her out too, if I bring them all in. But I don’t want to start asking favours straight away, don’t think it’d make me too popular! ;)
 
Its a hard call really, as it all depends on your horse.

I would try it on a weekend whilst your there first, maybe put her some hay out in the field to keep her occupied for a while. That will be a good indication to if she will be ok. The night bit is there hardest really as they think they have been forgotten! But again, you could always leave a slice of hay for the others to chuck in once they have their horses out.

I used to turn Minnie out earlier than her field mate, but then she had enough and used to jump out the field and go back to bed for an hour , until her friend went out!

If you can get her used to being out on her own that would be best, otherwise it can make things very difficult in the long run, espeically if you cant work things out with the others to share the duties.

i Hope things go ok:)

Personally I would be worried as a panicing horses can do silly things, but try things at the weekend to see how comfortable you are with her behavoir:)
 
Depends on your horse. Trigger doesn't care if you catch Stan and leave him out but Stan will stand at the gate and shriek if he's left out alone.. Both are fine turned out alone though...

I take it the livery is totally DIY and YO/YM doesn't offer services ?

You won't know until you try but I would be there the first few times she is left out alone in case there is a problem. They often get used to a routine also, when I had TheG at livery he got used to being the first one out and last one in. He learnt that it was only me that got him in and he would just wait for me to turn up..
 
Do you think you will get a chance to speak to the two other owners over the weekend, have you met them yet?maybe mention you havent turned yours out alone yet and are concerned about how she will react. Is there any reason they dont turn out till later? Perhaps you could offer to turn out for them, even just for the first week, they may not take you up on it but at least they would realise your concerns and mabey even make a few suggestions to a solution?

My friend has just moved to a new yard and found out her little mare will not stay out on her own (trashed the fence on the first day)so she is not happy that she has to pay for her to be brought in half an hour before she gets there, becasue the other two come in at the same time. If she had know that she may not have chosen that yard.

Yours may well be fine though some horses arent bothers at all
 
Mine goes out before everyone else and comes in after everyone else. We had a couple of times he went through the electric tape but he is generally happy on his own. In the morning he has his hay to eat and at night he waits by the water trough for me. I got round the electric tape problem by climbing into nthe field rather than coming in via the gate, this means he doesn't try and reach the gate as he knows I come into the field somewhere different. You could always ask someone to put a section of hay in when they leave your horse alone.:)
 
i was in a similar situation with old horse and arranged for the other livery to bring mine in and i did all my mucking out etc in the morning so he could just go straight in no worries i then went up later changed rugs etc. maybe even the yo would for a small charge??
 
Is it possible for the other owners to help out ? Perhaps they might be able to help you in the week and you do something back for them when you have time off, ie muck out for them or do the turnout/feeding so they can have a break.
Your horse may be fine anyway it is really safer to bring them all in together if it can be arranged.
 
You may find that the going out is a lot less troublesome than the end of the day... In general, horses are a lot better at leaving other horses than they are about other horses leaving them... She may be fine with it, though - if she is used to being in the field alone for a bit in the morning, the evenings may not seem so bad to her. Think I might do the distracting pile of hay at night rather than the morning, though ;)
 
Molly is hopeless if no other horse in sight - really panicks! She is fine with something within sight - but can't do being on her own. Fortunately flony_pony will take her out/bring her in with hers. In summer she is on her own in her field for part of the day but has other horses over the electric fence - which is fine for her.

Could you offer to pay other liveries? Might be easier than asking for a favour when you are new ;)
 
Thanks everyone!

It is a very DIY yard, just 5 of us and 7 horses. The YO lives off site so no option of paying for any assistance.

I met one of the other girls but not the others yet. Like I say, in time I hope we will be able to sort something out in time but feel it is a bit much to start asking them to help me out straight away :eek:

She does like her grub so hopefully a big old hay net will be enough of a distraction to stop her worrying too much, I really don’t want her to be a pain for the other owners when they are trying to bring the others in.

Will see how we go over the weekend, fingers crossed. The yard seems and feels very right in all other ways, so I am hoping it will be the right move for us ;)
 
It sounds like you have a good yard and fair swopsies works well on small yards. There are 4 of us and we all help each other as and when. I don't give mine hay when another horse leaves as he ignores it but if your horse is a greedy chops it may work for you. My field is a trek down a lane so I can't ask someone to do that every night and the field companion often get taken in at midday but we cope. Perhaps you could offer to take out another horse and they can bring one in. I do morning and evening feeds so that everyone can turn out as soon as they get there and don't have to come back and feed at night.:)
 
Just see how it goes, she might be so keen to get out she'll not mind being alone! Could you just turn her out at first so she's only alone for a bit less time? Say, half an hour before the others turn up? Just to get her into the swing of things really, and then she knows that she's going to have some company? I know my mare doesn't like being alone, she just will not "do" going out on her own, she runs up and down and would probably jump the fence if left! But its worth trying to see how yours reacts and like you say, when you get to know everybody you'll be able to ask if they can help?
 
Well, our move on Saturday went really well – she loaded first time and settled quickly, happily munching on a hay net within 10 mins of arriving :D

I then spent the weekend with the lovely girls on the new yard and we’ve agreed that I will do the morning shift, turning out my mare with two of the others, and their owner will bring in - problem of turning out alone solved!

Can’t wait to ride now & explore the new countryside!

Thank you all for your helpful replies ;)
 
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