Exercising at night

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GeorgiaR95

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With the dark nights fast approaching i dont have time to hack out or school after work so the girls will only be rode on a weekend now..
Does anyone have any tips how i could possibly exercise them after work to keep them going? We have very little lighting at the farm im at so difficult to school them in the dark but want to keep their fitness up best i can if possible..
 
At the moment - I start off schooling in slight light and finish in the dark. We have flood lights going up to help when the clocks change but my 4 year old seems to cope in the dark - schooling and hacking (was caught out how quickly it became dark).
 
What facilities do you have? Is it an arena or a field? I have a friend who used to use car lights to school on a 20m circle - enough to get you lunging or doing in hand work?

Failing that carrot stretches are great to keep them limber as well as basic in hand work.
 
nato said:
What facilities do you have? Is it an arena or a field? I have a friend who used to use car lights to school on a 20m circle - enough to get you lunging or doing in hand work?

Failing that carrot stretches are great to keep them limber as well as basic in hand work.
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The farm i'm at has a small school that my girls are able to walk trot and canter in but there is only one little light and YO refuses to put flood lights up, I will be able to get half an hours schooling in after work at a push but when the clocks change it will be very difficult. I just hate going from riding 5 days a week straight down to 2, they have so much energy and no way to burn it off other than in the field.
 
Jenna1406 said:
At the moment - I start off schooling in slight light and finish in the dark. We have flood lights going up to help when the clocks change but my 4 year old seems to cope in the dark - schooling and hacking (was caught out how quickly it became dark).
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I would manage schooling in the dark but hacking is a problem, i am surrounded by bridle paths luckily but still have to do road work to get to them which i dont think the girls would appreciate.
 
Yeah - I wouldnt go hacking in the dark, myself and sister in law to be have been caught out a couple of times but she has lights that she puts on her stirrups white facing forward and red to the back. The help lead the way in situations.
 
Not tried this for schooling but you can get some good rechargeable 'floodlights' for just under £15 at screwfix which would probably give you enough light assuming your YO doesn't mind you using them. I use them for evening checks now it is dark. Lucky enough to now have a job where I start work late enough to be able to ride in the mornings.
 
I've have always hacked in the dark but we are very lucky that we have a 40 min route that we can ride that only involves crossing the same bit of road there and back and it's a very quiet lane too.
The horses are spooky the first couple of times but then they become no different to hacking in daylight
 
Horses see better in the dark than we do. You should be able to lunge in the dark as long as the surface is even and clear. Portable lights might actually make it more difficult as you create patches of shadow to spook at.
 
You could put some battery-powered fairy lights on the fence around the school, perhaps just where the markers would be or just in the corners. That should be enough to give you an idea of where you are for flat schooling.
 
I've used a head torch to ride in the dark, however once eyesight adjusted sometimes was easier to see in the dark without the headlight, lol. Hacking is saved for the weekends and a couple of short schooling/lunge/"pretend hacks" in the school during the week.
 
I know someone who exercises every evening wearing a headtorch, off road hacking, galloping her pointer , one of my liveries did the same a few times last winter as I don't have floodlights in the arena, as long as the horse is sensible it seems to work, we did try to set up some basic floodlights but needed to redo the electrics and for 1 livery it was not viable.
The horses are fine without lights it is us that have so little night vision we are pretty much useless and need some light to be able to steer a safe route.
 
I lunge at night once it gets dark early by putting hi viz leg wraps on horse and noseband, these catch the little light coming off the yard and help me see what his legs and head are doing.
 
I learnt to ride on a Friday night in a floodlit arena for years at my instructors, but then it got moved to Saturday morning - it felt odd!!

Tonight I was late and rode at dusk to dark. Fortunately my TB is uber trusting, and despite there being all kinds of things that are reasonably upsetting for him in the field, he didn't spook once.

If you don't ride in an arena, and have to ride in a field, make sure you know the place like the back of your hand. I know where every little ant hill bump is in my field and that way I'm confident to have a canter in certain stretches. I know the areas that the rabbits enjoy a dig in so I always quickly check it out first.

Hacking out though, something I'd love to do, but cannot justify. I'd love to go night hacking with a larger group though, I'm sure strength in numbers would make it safer. If you do hack out, make sure your in hi-vis to your eyeballs and wear lights.

:-) those of you suggesting lights, that's interesting. I dismissed the idea as I didn't think I'd find any powerful enough and cheap at the same time, might give it some more thought now... :rolleyes:
 
I you can get straight onto safe offroad routes and there's a group of you then night hacking may be an option (one of the funniest hacks I've been on was in some woods in pitch blackness with about 5 of us when we met some cyclists who were a bit better prepared than us and had some lights on... all the horses were actually very good as obv they were used to being turned out in the dark!)
 
Great post, I always thinking hacking the the dark sounds so adventurous! Haha

But also love reading how you cope with no arena lights too. Keep sharing :)
 
Just a note of caution re. schooling via car headlights. I very quickly discovered this led to a flat battery necessitating a rescue in the field from a long suffering friend. Not to be recommended. We find a head torch does the job admirably.
 
I school mine in an outdoor arena in the complete dark, I find it's easier than if there is a light somewhere as your eyes adjust and stay adjusted. Both the horse and I are completely fine with it, no issues at all. I don't use poles and I walk the surface first to make sure the foxes haven't dug any new holes, but other than that it's just like riding in the daylight! I figure if horse can navigate round his field in the dark the arena is no different. The worst part is having to dress him and me up head to toe in reflective and lights so we can cross the road In the dark to get to the arena.
 
If you can find no suitable solution, there's no need to go from riding 5days/wk to 2 and having fit horses bursting out of their skin. You can let them down gradually, decreasing their workload over a few weeks and letting some of the fitness drop off.
 
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