Night turnout.

[merrygoround]

[QUOTE=Ambitious Kate;8138315]
So what about their sleep cycles? I know for me I can’t be awake all night. So that’s me, a human, not a horse, but I know horses need their full sleep, too. I personally would want my horse in at night, sleeping, where he feels safe, so his sleep is good, and out during the day. I personally feel a horse out at night is wary and watchful and not sleeping fully. Its just my personall feeling. Dunno what other’s think.[/QUOTE]

Frequently you will observe even during the day that while some horses are sleeping the others are and about and alert. They do seem to rotate. They also as before mentioned need far less REM than we do.

[LauraKY]

[QUOTE=merrygoround;8142276]
Frequently you will observe even during the day that while some horses are sleeping the others are and about and alert. They do seem to rotate. They also as before mentioned need far less REM than we do.[/QUOTE]

One usually stands guard while the others sleep. Mine have always been on night turnout from late April until November or so. 5 pm. to 9 am. I turn out a bit later if it’s blazing hot outside.

[Jaegermonster]

[QUOTE=Ambitious Kate;8138315]
So what about their sleep cycles? I know for me I can’t be awake all night. So that’s me, a human, not a horse, but I know horses need their full sleep, too. I personally would want my horse in at night, sleeping, where he feels safe, so his sleep is good, and out during the day. I personally feel a horse out at night is wary and watchful and not sleeping fully. Its just my personall feeling. Dunno what other’s think.[/QUOTE]

I have 6 on 5 acres. They live out 24/7. I also have a roll for them at all times so i have been able to keep nice grass. That and dragging and mowing, mowing and dragging.

As far as sleeping, I am in the middle of the woods near a Natl forest so there is lots of wildlife. I come in from work around midnight and as I come down the drive any assorted number of the 6 will be laid flat out in the sand sound asleep with the others watching, as horses do. so they have no problem getting their beauty sleep.

[evilc123]

Resurrecting this because I haven’t been able to find a thread that answers my question, which is as follows:

Are horses any more or less active when turned out at night vs during the day?

It seems intuitive (to me as a human, at least) that they would be more subdued during the dark hours (rather than periodic spurts of riling each other up that happens during the day) but this could be totally wrong. If they are quieter, it seems like a good way to avoid turnout injuries while still giving them their turnout time. At my barn the night turnout paddocks are ample single-horse dirt paddocks lined up in a row, each with three panels of wood fencing and hot wire on all three panels. They are only used when the evening weather forecast calls for a maximum of light rain and temperate temperatures.

[beowulf]

@evilc123

Resurrecting this because I haven’t been able to find a thread that answers my question, which is as follows:

Are horses any more or less active when turned out at night vs during the day?

It seems intuitive (to me as a human, at least) that they would be more subdued during the dark hours (rather than periodic spurts of riling each other up that happens during the day) but this could be totally wrong. If they are quieter, it seems like a good way to avoid turnout injuries while still giving them their turnout time. At my barn the night turnout paddocks are ample single-horse dirt paddocks lined up in a row, each with three panels of wood fencing and hot wire on all three panels. They are only used when the evening weather forecast calls for a maximum of light rain and temperate temperatures.

Not that I have seen. Horses only sleep one to three hours a day, and in my experience, it seems to be in little snatches mostly during the day. Our herd gets their REM late morning (9-11 AM). They take turns, with one watching while the other sleeps. We do have a filly that will sleep around 5 PM. I do not see them sleeping at night. They are most active (as in playing, running around) around dawn, and around sunset. They play very rough in the (early) morning, with lots of galloping and cavorting.

A horse is more quiet in turnout, the more turnout he gets. It’s better to have him out more often vs trying to turn out in “shifts” to prevent paddock injuries. In my experience you are way more likely to get paddock injuries the less time the horse has out; that is because they have more energy to burn off from being stalled all the time, are less conditioned because of being in a stall 2/3rds of their days, and are more “explosive” in their play. They act stupid, excitable, kick up their heels, and get hurt – whereas if they were used to being out, they likely would not be so excitable and/or frisky about just being let out. The scenario you’ve described for turnout (only turned out when weather is perfect) sounds miserable to me. YMMV.

[evilc123]

@beowulf thanks for the thoughts. I meant that NIGHT turnout would only occur when the weather is temperate (which would be the majority of the time for late spring through early fall). They would be turned out during the day if the nighttime weather were to pose a threat. My options are: 1. 8am-4pm turnout during the day, or 5pm-7am for night turnout. If night turnout weren’t possible on a given evening, they would still get turned out during the normal day turnout hours. The night turnout isn’t because we don’t have space for everyone, it is just a preference for some owners, and I’m trying to decide whether it should be my preference as well.

[BruBoy]

We have a 1 acre dry lot with two 12x16 shelters and a water post, and put in two grass paddocks that are 1.5 acres each. Horses are out 24/7 in the dry lot, and once the grass paddocks are ready, will be allowed to graze a couple of hours a day rotated between the 2 grass paddocks. They do have netted hay 24/7 in the dry paddock.

They are all easy keepers and shouldn’t have a ton of grass so this works well for us. I’d rather harrow and pick the dry lot than muck stalls.

Horses appear very happy and chill with the arrangement. When I do my middle-age 4 a.m. bathroom break, I can see them through the window and they are typically flat out sleeping. They like to laze and sleep during the day too, so I’m assuming that if they had a restless night, they are making up for it during the day. They’re a herd of 4 and are a pretty tight herd that have been together in the same paddock for years though, so this may make a difference in their comfort level.

We also have no mud and sandy soil so this helps tremendously having them out 24/7 too.