I do. Usually when the sun goes behind the hill (7-9) until 530 am.
Mine are out at night for about 6 months of they year. I have steep hills, rocks, lots of trees, and a wooded area. I donāt think I have ever had an injury or incident that happened at night. My horses are much happier inside during the day in the summer.
Mine are out from 8pm (sometimes earlier) to 6-7am.
Mine are out 24/7 and have become very sensible about natural hazards. Fewer injuries and behavioural problems when they are out. I have fans on timers in the shelter and they spend most of the day there when itās hot but they are happier with the freedom to do what they want. If you get fans, be sure to get ones with enclosed motors or put a filter over the motor to prevent dust from getting in. Dust in fan motors causes fires.
Mine are on night turnout too. The Cushings pony is getting very heat intolerant and needs to be in by nine AM with his fan on him. The bugs are bad after the sun comes up and mine get pretty ancy and want in earlier than nine. I wait until it gets dark to turn them out. Even though it cools off outside the dive bombers are bad in the early evening right before it gets dark. We are having thunderstorms with bad cloud to ground lightening these days and most of these have passed over by dark. So I wait until about eight or nine PM to turn them out. Everybody is happier that way.
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Night turnout here. Horses eat supper between 4:00 and 5:00 pm, are sprayed with fly spray, then turned out over night. There are lots of big shade trees and a shelter in each pasture, but itās still too hot out there during the day for the horses to be comfortable. I bring them in around 7:00 am and they can come and go from their stalls to a dry lot. Stalls have fans and hay, so they spend most of the day inside, but they do come and go at will.
Thanks for the advice all! To clarify, "hazards"wasnāt the best choice of wordsā¦but the wooded areas have fallen limbs and uneven terrain, rocks, etc. My horses have never been turned out in wooded areas before so I am just paranoid about things like that although Iām sure theyāll figure it out quickly! I have a worker here currently who is delimbing all of the trees up to 9ā, so it is āsafeā just not like the perfectly square, flat, grass paddocks where they are currently turned out!
This is awesome to hear! Two of them in particular are SOOOOO much better when they get a ton of turnout, and my current barn is only turning out from 6am-11am right now. Iām excited to see how much happier they are going to be with so much more turn out!
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I do in the summer, 7 -7 usually. In the winter they are up at night. Keeps their haircoat looking better and I have to run them out usually as they really enjoy their fans.
Iām on about year 43 or so of night time turnout in the deep south in a variety of places/conditions. Right now I have a sweet set up, with stalls/fans and a dry lot+hay hut during the day (and they do mostly hang out in front of the fans in the heat of the day). Then I just open up the dry lot to pasture at night (itās extra helpful because I can close off 1 or 2 pastures and still use the same set up).
I used to switch to day time turnout in winter, but ever since I added the hay hut, I notice if I leave them on night time turnout they probably spend about half of the night in the dry lot snacking on hay and my grass is none the worse for wear.
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Over the years whenever I have moved to a new place, I just make sure I turn them out for a day or two during the day so they can get the lay of the land, then on to night turn out.
Mine are out for anywhere between 20 hours (fall through spring) to 15 hours. They are in during daytime hours so that I have easy access to them and so that each can have the grain and hay specific to each horse.
I have been at places that changed from day and night turnout due to the seasons. I try to have mine as close to complete turnout as possible.
Whenever I have brought my horses to a new location, I have always had them on day turnout only for the first day or two to ensure they know the hazards on the new property. Once they have settled in the new place, I donāt worry about it.
*My horses have never been on a farm that had pastures near a roadway. The horse pastures were always interior to the property and no nearby neighbors.
Good idea! Thatāll be my plan then 
They can see totally fine in the dark. Mine are on 24/7 turnout and have plenty of woods and rocks to navigate.
Try a night trail ride if you donāt believe me 
horses are perfectly capable of moving at speed through the woods in the pitch dark- such a cool feeling to have to 100% trust your horse to know where to go, how to balance for the footing etc
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Mine are currently turned out 7p-7a, then confined to a small dirt paddock w/run-in shed & fans during the day.
Itās miserably hot & sunny in Texas and the grass is still too lush for my easy-keeper to self regulate, even with his grazing muzzle. Nov-Feb they are turned out 24/7 because the grass is dormant.
Pasture accidents can happen, day or night! More so if your horses tend to play hard or frighten more easily. Assuming yours are not a really rowdy or nervous bunch, they should be fine with normal precautions.
If I had a really rough portion of the woods I might block off a real ankle-turner area. (In CT we definitely have those!) Some also spray paint some problematic rocks white or bright colors. Limbing up is great - just be sure not to leave stubs which can be more of a hazard than a flexible branch.
My boarding stable does night turnout in the warmer months.
Not really, two lazy warmbloods and a 20 year old QH. I donāt foresee them getting too rowdy out there, and none are really spooky. Without a run in shelter yet, I do worry a bit about summer storms but I suppose Iāll just have to be vigilant about checking the radar before putting them out for the night!
I do night turnout in the summer. They spend the day in a dry lot with a shed and fan then out all night. My ottb will pace the fence looking for his shed and fan during the day otherwise.
If youāre worried, introduce them to the pasture during the day at first.
I usually ride about 6am, so they come into the lot then. I feed dinner around 5 and sometimes will put them out then, but if itās super hot Iāll put them out closer to dusk.
Congrats on moving your horses home!
If they have woods to get into they will have plenty of shelter.
Mine are out 24/7. I donāt have a barn or any shelter yet but they have lots of woods for shade and wind protection. I just make sure to turn them out in the morning so they have the whole day to get used to the pasture before night when I was bringing new ones home this last year. Iām hoping to not have to introduce another horse for a good long while.
Horses can see much better at night than we can
