Night turnout

[To My Surprize]

Hey there,

Just wondering how many people use night turnout with their horses ? I was considering doing that for Jul/Aug this summer. Just looking for advice, adv/disav?

Thanks
Gen

[PonyGrams]

Both the barn I am at now and the old one would change over to night turn out around the same time as daylight savings. This year they were changed just today since we were still having some frost.

[mjrtango93]

We do night turn out year round. With 40 horses on the property and only 5 pastures (and we like long turn outs and small groups) we have to do overnight just to get them done. Right now we have 14 that go out overnight in their various groups. Never have any problems (well besides the odd kick or bite here or there), and they are all at the gate by morning waiting for breakfast. We feed pellets 3 times a day though and did have to stop feeding them dinner as they got FAT!

[CraziiPonii]

My barn does night turnout in the really hot and humid summer months. The horses seem to like being turned out in the cooler weather and coming in at the heat of the day.

[OkLurchers]

I do night turnout as soon as the nighttime low temp is 62 or above. I turn out in fly sheets unless it's really hot /muggy & I think it would be counter-productive. I live onsite which helps me to moniter the horses (3). If I hear thunder they come in. I continue to turn out in daytime as well to a high temp of 90 (or if horses are at gate wanting to come in).
I LOVE bringing my horses in for breakfast to clean stalls & being able to ride before doing the barn work, as my anal tendencies force me to clean stalls before riding LOL.

[Dirty Little Secret]

I do night turnout. I worry but has always been a better option for me than lost shoes due to stomping flies all day and sweating.

[Seven-up]

Me.

My girls are now on night turnout and will be until about October. Then they go to 24 hr. turnout, except for really cold (40 or below) and/or rainy nights, which amounts to about 3 weeks worth of nights here in Louisiana. :D

They will stay out during the day on really exceptionally pretty, cool days, but those are pretty much over by April. The B-52 bombers are now out in force, so the horses are in with fans on.

[desert_rat]

the last two barns I boarded at both did night turnout during the summer - usually April or May through October or so. We have hot humid summers and no shade in the fields except run ins...so the horses were more comfortable in the barn where each stall has a fan and there is protection from the sun and bugs. Bonus was less bleaching w/o the use of sheets

[superpony123]

we recently started turning my pony out @ night (which we've always done for the spring/summer) but the grass is so lush and nice this year (in comparison to past years) that he's actually gained the equivalent to 10 or so human lbs. which is not okay for him. so he has to go back to day turnout for now, unfortunately. a pro is that your horse will not sunbleach or sunburn at night, less flies, and its generally cool at night where it's hot in the daytime. however, if the grass in your fields is particularly sprawling and green right now, hold off until summer to turnout at night because by then, the grass will slow down and be just kind of average-so-so, and you wont have to worry about weight gain.

[cloudyandcallie]

My grey and white pinto has to have night turnout from sometime this month to sometime in September, depends on the weather, since he is 1/2 white haired/pink skinned and sunburns. All the sunscreens don't last more than a day, and collect sand and dirt. Best I ever tried was the zinc oxide and it took lots of tubes of that daily, since he is portly.
So night turnout is best, he's in from 11am to 5pm daily. I also did the same for my old ottb mare who was bay, because the heat and humidity were bad for her.
With the non-tropical storm that we are having right now, night turnout is delayed. Last year he was in by this time of the month.

[horsestablereview]

I wish we could do night turn outs. It really helps horses mentally. I had a hot mare and had the opportunity to do night turn outs for a month. Made a huge difference in her brain. Being in a big city is such a bummer when it comes to land. =(

[SarahandSam]

My barn does it as soon as it gets hot during the day regularly... they'll bring them in for the hot parts of the day because the aisle is very breezy, and then back out later when it cools off and there are less bugs. (:

[MoonWitch]

I'll make the switch here in another few weeks when the temps reach 85 duing the day & stay there or the humidity gets bad. They come in around 9 or 10 depending on the heat and go back out about 4 or so. Fans on and sleepy horses in during the day!

[3DogNight]

My barn manager/owner starts nightly turnout as soon as it is consistently in the 50's overnight. It's up to each individual boarder if they want to take advantage of it or not. There is no extra fee either way. If it looks like rain at some point during the night, she will bring them all in (only one pasture has a run-in shed). She lives on the property and can see each pasture (avg. 2-3 acres each with 2-3 horses per pasture) from the house. This is the first barn I've been at that has offered overnight turnout, and my mare is so much happier (even though I was a little nervous about it at first). I highly recommend it if it is available.

[DancingQueen]

We do over night turn out sometimes before shows, seems like a much better way to handle freshness then 1hr on the lungeline!
We also let our schoolhorses go out povernight during the summer. They are busy with camp all day but they still need their turnout and I believe they enjoy it better at night during the hot months anyways.

Some horses are a little prissy and doesn't like it all that much but they will let you know themselves that they prefer to be inside when it's dark out! *laughing*

Was curious on the bug situation up north.

I heard about cows in Scandinavia dying from bugs (guessing by extortion from trying to get away from them) when the European Union all of a sudden made some rule up that cows had to be outside more during the summer. Farmers were apparently trying to explain that they had to keep their cows in during the summer months to keep them safe from the bugs but lawmakers 1000 miles away wouldn't listen.

I guess flysheets for a huge heard of cows were not really a possibility...

[Petstorejunkie]

my horse is now in my backyard 24/7 with access to the stalls, fans, and a covered roungbale. What I have found is that while we are now getting into the hotter months he's spending from about noon til 5 in the barn under the fans munching on hay. Anytime we come home late from whatever and it's dark, the horses are all out in the field munching.
My horse is blind in one eye and does just fine. i am pro night turnout because my horse has expressed that is what he prefers.

[Wizard of Oz's]

My barn does night turnout all year round because it's never that cold here. I've never seen any problems with it really, and it's nice when it's so hot out because they can be out without getting sunburned or sunbleached. My only concern would be that they aren't being monitored as much overnight, and can get into more trouble, but I'm just a worrywart when it comes to my horse:winkgrin:

[SidesaddleRider]

Our horses switch to night turnout at the beginning of May (or when the days start getting really hot) until about mid-to-late September. They MUCH prefer going out at night and being inside in front of their fans during the day. I also usually never have loose shoes because they are not stomping at the flies, they are happier because they aren't being bothered by the heat/bugs, and they also are kinder to each other b/c they aren't in a bad mood, so they mark each other up less.

[WorthTheWait95]

Our guys swapped over last night. The only adverse effect is that they slept flat out for most of the day today in their fanned stalls. :lol: They love going out at night and I feel a lot better not having them out in the blistering heat/sun during the summer.

[Fairview Horse Center]

Our horses much prefer night turnout. People too! We switch mid to late April, and back sometime mid to late October, the first night that it is 40s and rain.

I switch "away from daytime heat", rather than away from nightime cold, as long as not a cold, long, moderate to heavy rain. Horses handle cold much better than heat and bugs. We switched the night of April 24th, just before we hit some crazy 95 degree temps. The horses had a lot of their winter coats, and that is just WAY too hot for comfort or safety.

Generally, I don't worry if 40s at night, as long as not rain too. Even mid 30s at this time of year, is really only minutes at that temp, not like a "low" in January. A few nights ago, we dropped to mid-30s, but at midnight, and by 6 AM, I was comfortable outside in a t-shirt.

I LOVE the horses in all day so I can play with them, groom, etc.

[lovemyrobin]

My two horse went on night turn out about a month ago. They love it, and they get to be out from about 5pm to 8am. They come in, eat their grain, nibble at their hay, then lay flat out and snooze for a couple hours. They get back up about noon and finish off their morning hay. Both are very relaxed and laid back from all the turnout.

[Aliascml]

Many of the boarders at our barn have their horse out at night or 24/7. The horses seem to be very happy and relaxed. Most seem to like and have better attitudes with this type of turnout then being in their stall most of the time or just outside when it is usually quite warm.

[shawneeAcres]

AS do many otehr people, especially down here in hot humid eastern NC, we switch to nighttime turnout about the first of May and back to daytime, sometime in mid-October to November depending on the temps. It keeps the horses coats from getting dull and dry from the sun, keeps them out of the worst of the heat and they spend less time stomping at flies and tearing up feet and losing shoes. Also much easier for stall cleaning since I can pick once or twice daily and don't have such a big mess to clean up at end of the day. Also easier when riding several as I don't have to go out and catch them up!!

[bascher]

Our barn switches to night turnout when it starts to get really hot out. We know it's time because if the horses go out in the morning, they get attacked by bugs and start running like crazy. So rather than having them all get hurt, they get turned out at night to avoid the bugs and the heat.

[equito]

I personally swear by 24/7 turnout for my guy, although this isn't an option or isn't desirable for everyone. Night turnout is a really great idea, especially when the bugs are bad. The horses I've known who get night turnout don't seem to mind staying in during the day (after all, they're out of the heat and have fans to keep the bugs away) and enjoy being out when it's cool and less buggy.

[florida foxhunter]

In Florida we have to do night turnout from April until October!~!! We're constantly dodging horseflies, rain showers...........but it's a toss up ........we either have problems with their feet from the dew overnight (or rain)........or problems with their coats from being sunbleached and tormented by the flies during the day.............

Mine are out happily earting their grass tonight<smile>

[Simbalism]

The farm where my horse lives has switched over to night turnout for the full care horses. They come in between 8 and 9am and out around 4:30pm. They'll switch back in the fall. My mare is on pasture board and lives out with two other horses 24/7. They have a good size run in shed and I do have a fly sheet and mask for her. She is most happy with this life style.

[starkissed]

mine go out at night pretty much year round. And they come in for 1/2 of the day (about 1pm to 5pm)

[IsolaBella09]

I've been at numerous barns where night turnout was done. I like night turnout, as it's cooler for the horses on hot days, there are a lot less bugs out, and their coat will not bleach out. I've been at barns where horses were out 24/7 and came in when they were going to get worked.

[pasodqueen]

Do you find that with night turnout you have more foot related problems like weak walls and lost shoes?

[LSM1212]

At my previous barn, you had to pick which "time slot" you wanted. As the pastures did "double time" as there were only 2 decent sized fields but BM didn't want them over populated at one time. Geldings in one, Mares in the other. And they were each split into 2 groups.

So you either picked: 1) Day turnout year round 2) Night turnout year round. Well, my guy doesn't do as well in the cold. So I didn't want him out at night in the cold so I chose day turnout. Now, here in KY, the summers are hot and humid. And my guy suffered a bit from the flies and was a little sunbleached last summer.

I moved barns about 3 weeks ago (and just as a side note, this wasn't the main reason why) but the new place doesn't have the "double up" problem. So the weekend of May 16th they switched over. I was out of town when it happened and hubby was checking on my horse for me. I was told it would be soon but no specific date. So hubby called in a panic saying that Stitch was gone. He wasn't in his stall (he stopped by in the evening when he would have been in the stall had it been day turnout). So I said, are there any other horses in their stalls. His answer, Ummm... no. :) My response, Honey... go check the field. He's probably out there... they must have switched turnout. *hubby does the hand to head smack thing* LOL And sure enough, there he was. :winkgrin:

I am thrilled with the swap. I do prefer that they are out at night during the hot/humid months. And then out during the day in the colder months.

ETA: My guy will hurt himself no matter what time of day it is... so I worry just as much either way!

[War Admiral]

Yes, I live in the hot, humid South, so I also do night turnout. However, I am late switching over this year b/c of the nonstop thunderstorms and rain. Not a lot of shelter in Quattro's paddock and I just feel better knowing if there's a t-storm close to the ground that he is inside and safe in a nice dry howse. ;)

I'm toying w/ switching over this coming weekend when it looks like we will have a run of rain-free 85+ degree weather. This is the latest in the year I've ever switched!

I've not noticed an increase in weak walls/lost shoes, even with my late, weak-walled TB.

[Eyemadonkee]

Worlds best way to get a quiet, relaxed, rideable horse without the lunge line :)