Caring for horses in Florida Cont.

[RCMUM21]

Hi, some of you might remember me positing about moving from the UK to Florida. We are here now, for 3 months and have 3 horses of our own =) We are getting the barn back up to shape and opening up soon to boarders. I have a few questions for those that have boarded horses in Florida.

• most people that have come to view our property have asked about night turnout or even all day turnout. In my opinion the pop up storms and bugs really don’t lend themselves to night turnout, but everyone seems to want it. How have you accommodated night turnout?? I have noticed my 3 are happiest out around 7am and in by 11am…
• Fencing, the property is fenced but with 4 foot post and rail fencing. I thought about using horse guard tape on the fence, but 1/2 of those that have viewed have not wanted their horses out with electric fencing. What do you do for fencing? Should I re fence with 5 foot no climb? Electric? Wanting safe but also aware of costs as we are off a fairly busy road!!
  Thanks so much for any help =)

[mmeqcenter]

I’m in Ocala, but moved here less than a year ago from Ohio so I’m not super experienced in the Floridian ways.

Mine are out 24/7 and I have a pasture boarder right now. Pones are very happy. Only issue is my Ohio guys’ feet with all the wet, but that’s a separate issue.
Our stall board includes AM and PM turnout already, or if the boarder wants less they can.

Our fence is a mixture of no-climb with top board, 3 board, and 3-string electric. All four feet tall. I’ve never heard of someone being so against a single electric strand on top of 4-board, that’s strange. All-electric some people are uneasy about if their horse has not been in electric before, ours like that are only internal paddocks, the farm perimeter is no-climb. But, we are at the dead-end of a private road, not busy at all and no pastures border a road.
Your fencing is perfectly safe and adding one strand of tape on the top is perfectly safe. You can’t please everyone 100%, the expense of completely re-fencing is unnecessary IMO. Sure, I’d love 5’ no-climb and top board fences but, that’s nowhere near in the budget any time soon.

[NoSuchPerson]

Night turnout in the summer is pretty standard around here, although it isn’t unusual to adjust turnout time somewhat depending on what the weather satellite images look like.

Personally, I would not be interested in boarding at a place that only offered turnout from 7 am to 11 am. I keep mine at home right now and they stay out 24/7, with access to shelter in the form of turn out sheds and shady spots under trees. I consider all day (winter) or all night (summer) turnout to be the minimum acceptable. However, mine aren’t expensive show horses and I don’t ride every day - in summer I ride pretty much NEVER.

RE: the bugs, in summer, I apply fly spray twice/day at feeding time. Yes, my summer fly spray costs are high, but it’s worth it. I was warned when I bought my horse several years ago that he absolutely had to have a fly mask whenever he was outside during fly season because his eyes were really sensitive to flies/gnats. This summer, it’s been so hot that I started feeling bad for him and tried going without the fly mask. I put fly repellent on his face morning and evening and and he’s been doing fine without the mask.

Putting one strand of electric tape along the top of your board fence seems perfectly reasonable to me. I’m familiar with 3 boarding facilities near me and all three use electric in one form or another. There’s another place that I drive by regularly and as far as I can tell, they have board only, no electric.

[Sancudo]

I have one strand of electric on top of board fencing, that’s pretty standard.

I have two that go out 7-until there’s no more shade or breeze and my two easy guys go out all night, but I have lighting alerts and have done a few midnight wrangling in back to the barn.

Not a lot of people here (Wellington) do night turn out, but the usual farm in my neighborhood is only 3 acres, so it gets eaten down quick if there’s a lot of horses on it.

[StormyDay]

We did only day turnout. Like you I was not comfortable having the horses out at night with the thunderstorms and that there was a known cougar behind our property. The horses had a large run in they could stand under during the day if it got too hot and on the really hot days I would bathe them and have the fans going.

Our fencing was 5 foot tall board fencing with small mesh wire around the whole property. We were also by a busy road but my horses never test fencing so I felt comfortable with that setup.

Good luck with the heat! You certainly came during the worst part

[Marla_100]

I’ve boarded at farms who had night turnout and one that had day turnout and like you mentioned, they were out from 8-11 or 12. I left that one due to limited hours of turnout. The summer storms do cause havoc with turnout. Many places have shelters in the paddocks for small pop up storms. Or if you have big trees, they can serve as shelter also.
My horse are now out 24/7 but have free access to large covered stalls so it’s the best of all worlds. They don’t melt in the summer rains and sometimes they will stay out when it’s pouring.

I have all my fences at 54", no climb with top board. In addition to this I have 2 strands electric across back pastures
because neighbors had horses back there for a short time. I would be worried about just board fence along a busy road. I’ve seen horses run through and break board fencing and get out. So maybe you need no climb on your perimeter to strengthen the board fence. You may also want to consider some electric if your pastures abut each other, as that’s a recipe for fighting horses and broken down fences.

[happilyretired]

I board in Central Florida, previously was in Western NY. My horses have morning turnout …they go out early ~ 7:00 and in by 11:00. Most of the horses in the barn are ridden regularly 5-6 days a week. They all seem to do well … barn is very open with fans in all stalls, and grills between stalls so horses can see each other and “socialize” somewhat. Turnout pastures do not have run ins and there is only one barn staff member on property at night so the owner is not comfortable with night turnout with all the storms and I agree. And after about 10:30 in the morning its so hot that the horses seem ready and happy to come in. So while it would be nice to have more turnout, this regime seems to work.