Just curious. Does anyone not do a night check of their beasties. I'm talking bringing them in at around 6pm give them enough hay and water to keep them happy through most of the night and not check them again until early morning?
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Just curious. Does anyone not do a night check of their beasties. I'm talking bringing them in at around 6pm give them enough hay and water to keep them happy through most of the night and not check them again until early morning?
no we have an agreement, they don't come to my room to wake me and I don't go wake them
Wait, are you saying your "night" check is at 6 pm? We have a "night check" at horse shows and they get checked every couple hours throughout the night until 6 am.
Our trainer (and me on the weekends) checks everyone in their stalls around 6ish before she leaves. She always checks water, but doesn't usually hay unless they don't have any. Fortunately, my guy has a small hole hay net, so I never have to worry about him running out overnight. :)
Usually I put mine up around 6pm
And night check is 9-10
So yeah, that leaves a lot of hours before 5 AM feed.
But, my barn is 50 feet from my bedroom window, and I am a light sleeper.
My horses live out 24/7 for the most part, so the only real night check I do is with my night vision if I hear something suspicious outside.
Mine live out pretty much too. I usually feed between 8 am and 10 am depending on if i worked the night before or not,(earlier if I'm hunting) then if I'm off I feed dinner around 6 or so, and that's it. If it's a night when i work , i feed dinner around 1130 pm. But unless something is going on or a hurricane is coming or something I dont go back out once night chores are done.
We do night check between 10pm and 1am everynight. The morning barn help is in at 7 in fall winter...then changes to 5:30am in the hot months. So yes night check is done.
I have personally caught 2 colics-that were surgical and both horses had good outcomes...and uncast one old pony that is still with us... Not sure that the outcome would have been positive if they had waited until morning
These days horses are fed between 6-7 and night check is between 10-12. Breakfast around 7. If it is summer and I am out there super late, and know I am going to be out there to ride super early or go to a show or something, I do not go back up.
That sounds like here.Quote:
Originally Posted by Sobriska
Breakfast is 7am. Lunch is 11am. Dinner is at 4pm. Night check/night feeding is between 9 and 10pm.
When they're at home dinner is at dark and that's the last time we check unless there is some sort of ruckus. I leave for work at 0330 and cast an eye in their direction but don't do a full on check because we don't have lights for them, and they get fed at dawn plus two hours in the winter (so we can get out there with it being a tiny bit warmer). They have made a ruckus on a couple of occasions, water trough kicked over, neighbor's loose horse etc.
We don't do any night checks, unless someone was acting funny or whatever. During winter they get dinner around 5-7pm and then we leave them alone until breakfast. During summer dinner is usually anywhere from 6-8pm. I love my horses dearly, but I need my sleep, just like I think they need theirs.
I feed right at dark (so that shifts throughout the year) and then AM feeding is around 8 or 9, although I am in the barn around 7:30 during the week to grab a horse to ride.
I don't check them overnight and don't check on them during the day, either. Unless I have a pregnant mare, horse acting off, or an emaciated rescue horse. The barn is very close to our bedroom - I can hear them banging their feedbuckets around in the barn when I'm in the bedroom, and if I hear anything unusual I do go check on them.
No night check here. We feed and then turn out the four main horses for the night (the rest live out) and once it is dark, we don't see anything until the sun comes up and we feed in the morning. At shows, I usually go to dinner and then stop in late to check on things one last time.
I don't do night check unless I hear something unusual. Honestly they spend more time unchecked during the day- on days DH and I both have to work, the farm is empty for at least 10-12 hours.
Last week they were all banging and carrying on around midnight and the dog was having a fit. It was the neighbor's loose horse who happened to run through a couple of strands of my electric tape and also let 2 of my old girls out. My girls went back behind permanent fence for the night and the intruder was put in the round pen for owners to retrieve in the AM.
The night before last, again the dog was having a fit...and we heard the geese honk, not something we normally hear after dark. The pond was frozen so they didn't have much defense (not tame enough to herd into the barn at night), so I jump out of bed, throw on the coveralls and grab a flashlight to find....nothing. But, this morning a goose is missing so I assume something was out there- I just hope it was a fox or coyote and not the neighbor's dog.
I'm yet another one with exactly this setup. And all 5 critters including the pony know exactly how to call for room service!Quote:
Originally Posted by Sobriska
I always thought if I built my own barn, I would put in webcams. :) So you could check on your horses at any time from anywhere.
They put them in all sorts of odd places, like owl's nests....can it really be that difficult or expensive?
I feed dinner about 8-9pm and usually don't check again until breakfast at about 8-9am unless I have a new boarder that I want to make sure is settling in, or if I have a horse that wasn't quite right earlier on.
I am only about 50 feet from the barn too but what I did is I put a baby monitor in the barn hallway and if anyone gets cast or colicy I can hear it. Cheaper than webcams but I would like to install those at some point also.
8 AM feedings? gee ours at fed at 4:30 AM ... they are always up ready to start another day.... evening "bedtime" is 5PM
I'm sorry, but I'd never feed at 4:30am unless I really had to for whatever reason. Just personal preference though I guess.