Turning out on very rutted frozen ground

[jennyg]

Please can people let me know whether I'm being a bit of a fuss pot?! At the yard where I keep my horse, one of the fields has become incredibly churned up (when the ground's not frozen it's the sort of mud you'd almost lose your wellies in!). Now that it's frozen solid (it's been minus 3/4 degrees here the past couple of days) there are certain patches in the field where the ruts are so bad I really worry about my horse twisting her legs whilst walking over it and hurting herself.

There's one gate entrance way which leads the horses into another field which has become particularly bad, and I asked the YO whether it would be possible to close this gate so that the horses can't walk over the huge holes and boulders of frozen solid mud - but she said there was nothing to worry about and that the horses would be fine.

I just worry that they might start charging about and do themselves an injury. It's not so bad if they walk sedately round the field I don't suppose and pick their way carefully through the pot holes, but one horse in the field chases and bites my horse and I worry that she'll get chased through the gate and be forced to trot or canter over the very bad ground.

Am I being a bit silly?!! I don't mind if people tell me I am. I was watching Stella today getting bitten on the bottom and chased by this other horse and as she stumbled her way across the hard, bumpy field it just made me cringe.

[morwenstowstud]

I have a mare on box rest after damaging her front leg. She either fell in a rabbit hole, or did it on a rut. Most likely a hole, but no I don't think you're being fussy. If the ruts are that bad and that frozen then it's a risk.

[curly]

I keep mine in at the moment because our fields have been trashed through a wet summer and have never recovered. I worry too about them harming themselves as tractors and quads have been through the fields and churned them up more creating really massive ruts. Others on the yard put them out on frozen ground with a lot of frost. I also worry about the frozen grass too! Recently I know of a 16 hand heavy cob that went down with laminitis so badly it had to be pts.

Mine will be staying in until it thaws. They get turned out in the school for an hour and ridden everyday and really don't seem to mind. No mud rash, weight good, behaviour great. The horses that are out stand at the gate looking really miserable because there's no grass anyway. One horse that's put out has lost a lot of weight because he just stands all day.

At the end of the day, you need to do what feels right for you.

[jennyb]

My horse goes out after breakfast, and with hay if it's frosty grass. However, he does not have huge ruts in his field, I make sure to tread the divots back in when the ground is soft enough. He also munches quite contentedly all day and does not mind being last in. If the ground in his field was as bad as you describe, I would not turn out whilst it was frozen hard. Horses have ginglymus joints in their lower legs and can therefore quite easily sustain chip fractures if they were to prat about on ground like that.

[Lisa in Plymouth]

I think you have every right to be concerned, frozen ruts are as hard as concrete. I am lucky and have well draining fields but the odd areas of heavy traffic can get quite churned up. Is there anyway you could electric fence the churned up bits off in frozen weather?

[jennyg]

Lisa the very bad ruts are across the gateways and so can't be electric fenced off. Personally I don't think the horses should be turned out in those fields as one in particular has got in quite a bad state. The YO is a nice woman but I'm sure she thinks I'm worrying about nothing as she's very laid back about these things (& her horses are expensive show jumpers costing between £10,000 - £30,000!), not that price is the issue when it comes to the health of your horse.

Thank you for making me feel like I'm not a fuss pot! I think I am quite particular in comparison to the other owners at the yard so start to think that I'm worrying about nothing and that maybe they're the ones in the right! I've been toying with the idea of moving her to some land I can rent privately and be my own boss as I just find some things at my current yard a bit dodgy sometimes and not my way of doing things! As an example, one of their horses had ran out of hay at 6.30pm last night and the YO's gone away for a couple of days so if I hadn't been there to give her more she'd have gone all night with nothing to eat. I shudder at the thought of them caring for my horse whilst away - even though they're kind enough people.

[steve]

I've left my two in today, the ground in our fields is treacharous! They are so rutted Max was having real trouble walking in it yesterday and he is very foot sore from it. So although I cant lunge or ride him I will take him for a little walk about later to stretch his legs.

I think you have to go with your gut feeling if you feel it isn't safe then you have to do what's best for the horse - despite all the extra work involved!

[mags]

Talking of rutted frozen ground Jack having come from a very up/down rutted and all sorts field has managed to give him sself a poorly leg pratting around on it why it was rock hard. *sigh* he could have lasted one more day till he came off it. Finger's crossed its ok in next few days or it will be the third vets bill and iv only had him 3 weeks lmao. Good job he is so cute

[Trouble]

I'm pondering this problem too! Snip needs the turnout if he has got ulcers, but the ground is very rutted and rock hard - he doesn't want to be out there, he's begging to come in again after 20 mins of 'face fighting' with his friends...so not sure what to do with him really!

[laura]

I dont think you are being too fussy if its that bad ...... ours is rutty from hoof prints where they have gone through mud when its soft then its frozen overnight ........... not happened near the gateways though because we do leccy fence that off all the time anyway and we dont have that much coming and going throught it... and the other one is hard standing at the actual gate so the muddy bit is spread around a wider are ...... if you get my drift.


There is a grey area between the "wrap em in cotton wool keeping them in at the least sign wet / frost" and the "leave everthing out naked no matter the weather / state of the ground" ............ most people are somewhere in the grey are and must risk assess own horse /situation.

I must admit if a horse is stables with no access to grass I too would not like to see hay finished at 6.30 in the evening and nowt till next morning

[steve]

I had a quiet word with my YO that seemed to fall on deaf ears earlier - I said "in my opinion" the field was too dangerous to turn out in which is why I made the decicision to leave them in and she did say she wished more owners would do that!! Then just now the YO rang me to say the horses can move fields on a temporary basis until the weather thaws!! Hooray!!! Success!!

I took Max for a iccle walk round the school for 20mins and although very much on his toes he didn't try to rear up like he normally does when he has been box rested! Being 17.1 or more now he is too big to be messing about like that! I was in a rush so didnt put his dually on or a hat on - so was a bit vulnerable walking round but bless him even with all the monsters round the school and all the comings and goings he didn't try and pee off!!
x

[Azrael]

The rutted ground wouldn't worry me too much since all of mine have enough sense about how to go over that kind of stuff. But being chased and forced to go faster than sensible over that kind of thing would worry me a bit.

(modified because i can't type properly!!)