# How do you handle turn-out at self-care stable?



## PaintHorseMares (Apr 19, 2008)

snoggle said:


> Do most stables provide one field for mares and one for geldings? Do you just cross your fingers that they'll all get along??? Any other suggestions for how to do this?


The self care stables that I know of around here provide only one pasture for the boarders' horses, i.e. the mares and geldings are together, and I have not seen it to be a problem after the usual kicking and screaming when you put a new bunch of horses together.


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## AllegroAdante (Sep 28, 2008)

I've boarded at a facility that had full and self-care. There was only one pasture, but the facility also had paddocks where people could turn their horses out individually or with other horses of their choosing (providing they owned the other horses or had permission from their owners). 

The pasture was mixed gender - geldings and mares all together. I've heard of people separating geldings/mares, but in my area it isn't all that common. 

I think that if I had my own boarding facility and had the space to do so, I would separate mares and geldings. Just my preference as I have a gelding that can get pretty territorial over mares and I know what a hassle it could be at times.

An option you may consider is charging to turn people's horses out for them. I did self-care at my stable, but for a small monthly fee I could pay to have my horses turned out for the day and then brought back in at night. If this is an option for you, I bet people would take it. Since I myself worked it wasn't feasible for me to get out to the barn twice a day.


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## Idlepastures (Sep 5, 2011)

I board at a self care barn. (Love it, by the way ). We all turn out together. During the warm months, some turned out during the day, and the row I'm on turned out at night. Now that its getting cold, everyone goes out during the day, and they are in their own stalls at night. Works well. We have one big pasture, that is basically a dry lot. (No fault of anyones but the Texas weather.) And we don't feed any hay while they are out, so no fighting. But we may invest in round bales, but since hay is hard to come by, we're not sure yet. There is one smaller side pasture, that is grassed, and we hand graze in there for an hour or two when we can. Hay is fed in the stalls at night.


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## Clementine (Sep 24, 2009)

Honestly, if I were you, I would consider hiring a manager and/or a few employees so that you could provide full care. Self care isn't a good option for most people, since, unless they're very close by, it's extremely difficult to be there long enough or come out twice to turn out and bring in horses, feed 2x a day, blanket, etc.


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## Saskia (Aug 26, 2009)

I stabled at two self care places. The slightly bigger one had four paddocks - two for mares and two for geldings that it would rotate between when one was eaten down. You could only put your horse out during the day. The mares paddock was about 4 acres maybe, there were more geldings so they were each about 6 or 7 acres each I think. Additionally, if the owner didn't want to keep the horse with others they could pay extra and get a private half acre or acre paddock for turnout. 

The other place I stabled was smaller and separated into two stable blocks. There were a few paddocks that they rotated between, generally there were two herds, one for each block, but if your horse had trouble in one of them you could put them with the other. You could put your horse out either in the day or at night, so in the summer we put them out at night instead of the day. There were also private paddocks with shelters you could rent out just for your horses if you really wanted to. 

I think that whenever you introduce a horse to a herd there will be trouble for a few days but they're horses, its natural. I have nothing against keeping them in mixed herds, but in my experience horses get less herd bound when kept in single sex herds.


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## snoggle (Jun 13, 2009)

Thanks for the info. Since we've never kept horses in a boarding facility, we're learning these things as we go along. I think we'll probably keep a very small paddock behind the old barn. Right now it has the largest turn-out area, even though it only has 3 stalls. The main barn has 15 stalls, but a smaller turn-out area. (Yeah, it makes no sense at all.) As per your suggestions, we'll probably have two larger turn-out areas for the main barn - one for geldings, one for mares. 

Thanks for the suggestions of hiring employees, Clementine. Right now we have plenty of clients who want self-care. All of our clients live within 2 miles of our place, so it isn't a big deal for them to stop by twice a day. Plus, they help each other out when needed. Our thought is that if we offered full-care boarding, and hired someone to do the work and they weren't reliable, it would fall back on us. We just don't have the time to do that. But it is something we might consider in the future, especially if we ever have kids.


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## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

snoggle said:


> Thanks for the info. Since we've never kept horses in a boarding facility, we're learning these things as we go along. I think we'll probably keep a very small paddock behind the old barn. Right now it has the largest turn-out area, even though it only has 3 stalls. The main barn has 15 stalls, but a smaller turn-out area. (Yeah, it makes no sense at all.) As per your suggestions, we'll probably have two larger turn-out areas for the main barn - one for geldings, one for mares.
> 
> Thanks for the suggestions of hiring employees, Clementine. Right now we have plenty of clients who want self-care. All of our clients live within 2 miles of our place, so it isn't a big deal for them to stop by twice a day. Plus, they help each other out when needed. Our thought is that if we offered full-care boarding, and hired someone to do the work and they weren't reliable, it would fall back on us. We just don't have the time to do that. But it is something we might consider in the future, especially if we ever have kids.


Sounds like self care is working for you and you are 100% right, it is hard to find good relaible help and your costs go up to much making it hard to make it cost effective.


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## Joe4d (Sep 1, 2011)

"We cannot provide separate areas for each horse or even client."


I dont buy that, no reason at all you cant divide up separate areas. Saying that 14 horses is alot for 8 acres. Especially if part of those are being used for personal use.
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## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

Joe4d said:


> "We cannot provide separate areas for each horse or even client."
> 
> 
> I dont buy that, no reason at all you cant divide up separate areas. Saying that 14 horses is alot for 8 acres. Especially if part of those are being used for personal use.
> ​


 It shouldn't be necessary. It would be expensive and hard to maintain fencing and mowing also. Maybe they should build a separate arena and barn for each client also if that is your thinking.


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## Joe4d (Sep 1, 2011)

with 14 horses on 8 acres there wont be any mowing, and dividing a field up with some electrical ribbon and a couple handful of T posts isnt that complicated, expensive, or hard to maintain. I see to many places, including where I board my horse half the month do it. I wouldnt board anywhere that throws horses from multi owners together.


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## churumbeque (Dec 20, 2009)

Joe4d said:


> with 14 horses on 8 acres there wont be any mowing, and dividing a field up with some electrical ribbon and a couple handful of T posts isnt that complicated, expensive, or hard to maintain. I see to many places, including where I board my horse half the month do it. I wouldnt board anywhere that throws horses from multi owners together.


 In the midwest we have to mow regularly. I have 3 horses on 2 acres and weeds still grow and they do not eat tall grass. It is common for any boarding facility to put multiple horses together. I would not board any where that didn't have good fencing and used electrical ribbon as permanent fencing.


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## snoggle (Jun 13, 2009)

I'll talk to my boarders about what they want. They know we're new at this and that it is a work in progress. They've been happy with the changes we've made so far and we've responded to a lot of their requests. I just wanted some ideas about how turn-out is handled at other facilities. Thanks!
_Posted via Mobile Device_


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