Hi, it s been raining a lot lately. My horses are normally turned out the day and kept in AT night. The ground is muddy but the Land is flat. I am a bit worried because i m allways thinking that they could injure themselves in the slippery ground. But i also think that if i keep them in, the day that they will go out again they will run like crazy and get Hurt. Which IS the best option? Leave them in or out as much as possible knowing that thé ground conditions are not thé best. Thanks
They are horses so that automatically means they are trying to kill themselves 24 hours a day.
I leave mine out as much as possible even in the slippery wet mud. If someone is cutting up, I usually spend 15-20 minutes on ground work getting their brain settles and back to earth. So far so good here.
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In my opinion, the less turnout they get, the more likely that they will go nuts when you do turn them out. So I would put them out, so long as you don’t mind that the field is going to get wrecked.
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I have multiple paddocks of various sizes that are used to transition the horses from lockup to being thrown out into the pastures… but of late there has been no need as we have not had much if any rain for nearly nine months
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Move to a drier climate. You may think I am being not helpful- but in truth- that’s what we did. Because mud and wet conditions and horses don’t mix well. Horses did not evolve in a swamp. Horses are not healthy in constant wet and high humidity environment, you are fighting the elements ALL the time, and your horses pay the price. Hooves are soft and highly susceptible to thrush. Rain rot, mud fever. Land is destroyed for the year if horses are out on it when it is wet. The option of keeping horses in a stall to avoid the mud and wet environment will lead to hoof issues (contraction and “navicular” issues) and impaction colic, issues rampant in keeping horses in stalls- plus the humidity in the air still makes feet soft and mushy. True “horse country” is semi-arid. Horses are much healthier in this climate, easier (and cheaper) to look after. And happier. You too! Semi arid, low humidity, no (or very little short term) muddy conditions…
Sorry if this is not what you want to hear, or if it is impossible for you to consider. But there it is.
This. Is this your property? If so, you may want to consider putting in a dry lot so you don’t have this issue in the future. I keep my horses out 22 hours a day, and they are very aware of the footing and know when they need to be careful versus when they can run and buck. If they were cooped up in a stall, I doubt they would be capable of making the same “good decisions” 
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The only thing that fixes mud is the application of vast quantities of money.
What do you mean by mud? An area near the gate that gets nasty in wet weather? or the whole field churned up ankle deep?
If you’ve got the latter it’s not really safe or healthy for them. You need a dry lot of appropriate size.
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You can’t stop horses from running, but sticking to normal turnout tends to mitigate stupid stuff. Unless you can keep them in until the ground is dry enough (which can take DAYS this time of year, assuming zero precipitation in the meantime) then unless you have a dry lot to put them in while the pasture dries out, keeping them in for a day or 2 is almost guaranteed to result in a lot of running when they do get turned out
If you have a swamp, which means it’s going to be days and days if not weeks to dry out, horses out there will damage a large portion of the grass to the point of no return
I don’t know what “raining a lot” means. We’ve gotten 5" rain this month (3" in the last 6 days), 4.5 in Feb, and 5" in Jan. My horses have remained on full turnout the whole time. Yes, sometimes they run. No, they aren’t hurting themselves because they know what mud means, and they temper things accordingly
The worst injuries are usually from cooped up horses suddenly in freedom and not thinking about what they’re doing.
That said, on the few occasions I’ve had to keep them up, and then to avoid the worst of the freedom antics, I have hand walked them to the top of the hill, so the temptation to bolt out and away and up the hill is gone
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So we’ve had new boarders worry about this at the barn that I am at, and about the grass being destroyed by horses turned out on frost or in mud. However, because our pastures are large enough and have the right number of horses, they recover just fine and have great grass all summer. The areas by the gate, water, and their favorite rolling spot will get muddy on and off throughout the year, but the rest of the pastures dry out quickly.
The barn owner is an old dairy farmer and he says cows are much harder on pastures and can really destroy the grass because of their narrower, pointy feet. Horses with broader, flat feet don’t do nearly as much damage.
I’ve always heard that the more horses are out, the less likely they are to be stupid when you let them out in poor conditions. The only time horses are kept in completely at my barn is for extreme ice. Even then, the barn will put out poop/used bedding paths and the horses will go out to the hay piles for a few hours and then come back in off the ice. Even the poop paths and dirty bedding disappear into the pasture as the grass comes in.
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that really depends on the type of grass, the type of soil, and the stocking rate.
We have 6-7 acres of fescue on red clay, and 3 horses out there. Last Winter was insane, the entire pasture was a mud pit almost 100% of the time. But the 2 easy keepers were still muzzled most of the Spring through early Fall
Not everyone can pick up and move. But also, just because things might be raining a lot lately, doesn’t mean the entire year is like that
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In terms of “slippery”, I have an anecdote, which I hope will help.
A couple of decades ago, we had a storm/weather conditions which resulted in a thick layer of really slippery ice for several weeks. I heard of several horses with broken legs due to running around on the ice. Under further investigation it turned out there were three management approaches.
Some people continued with their normal turnout routine, some putting down bedding or manure on the slipperiest paths. I did not hear of any serious injuries in this group.
Some people kept their horses in until the ice melted (several weeks). I did not hear of any serious injuries in this group.
Some people kept their horses in for about a week, with the horses getting more and more upset about being shut in. They “gave in” and let the horses out while there was still some serious ice. THIS is the group that had broken legs and other serious injuries.
The lesson is either to keep to your current routine, or keep them in until it is no longer slippery at all. But don’t do “something in between”.
Damage to pasture is a separate issue.
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YES. Those “in between” horses had zero idea there were issues when they went racing out on the ice.
The ones who lived in/on it while it was building, figured it out along the way, they aren’t stupid (well, ok, a few are, but…)
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During ice or deep snow events I confine my equines to stalls with 30’ runs. They get fresh air & to be outside and create a safe path in the run. Once the worst has passed I open the run the larger turnout area.
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My horses are out 24/7 and they adapt to the footing - even the crazy TB goes carefully on ice and mud. I have 6 acres divided into two paddocks (no dry lot). They stay in one paddock until everything is dry in about June. Then they go out into the other paddock and the one that was torn up gets harrowed and manure spread on it. In 10 years I’ve never seeded it and it comes back well. Horses are back on it by about August. I agree that horses that are out more often will be more cautious.
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If horses were kept in when conditions are muddy then a lot of horses would be in for months at a time.
I find my guys do just fine when their schedules are consistent. They are out 24/7 in the Winter and out everyday Spring-late Fall and dry lotted overnight.
My pasture never suffered for long even when we have deluges of rain and the horses are happier for it.
Unfortunately that is the case in some areas, otherwise there’d never be any grass to graze during the summer. Places with high rock tables and mere inches of soil, can’t sustain horses on it (much) during wet seasons.
With soil like that I can’t imagine they have much grass during a growing season?
No matter what I would rather have turn out year round than grass for my horses, since I have 1 that needs a muzzle . It would make my life a whole lot easier and her’s too.
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I think it’s super interesting to watch them navigate different conditions! Again, my horses live out so they are aware of the changes to the footing but where they would normally gallop up the hill to the barn for meals, if it’s muddy or icy they will always choose to walk carefully instead. They also typically prefer the big hay feeder in the back of the winter field, but will stay on the stone-dust dry lot attached to the barn and eat from their other hay feeder if the field is muddy or slick.
They’re smarter than we give them credit for, but only if their brains remain in their heads…which doesn’t seem to happen after being cooped up for days in a stall 
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Smh. My horse lost his mind and tried to dig to China to find it bc I had him in for gasp 4 hours the other morning 
He even shook his mane at me as he “charged” out of his stall.
His idea of charging was a fast walk but he totally shook his mane. Clearly galloping and bucking would have taken far too much effort.
OP - I’d stick to your regular turnout routine unless 1. It’s gonna permanently destroy your summer grazing or 2. You’re dealing with some sort of generational rain event causing epic muddiness the likes of which you’ve never seen before.
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