First riding winter - how do you do it?

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Scoti1420

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This is my first winter with horses in a long time (where I'm not being paid or have amazing facilities) and we are haven't even started yet and I'm flagging! Already it is dark when I leave for work and dark when I've left. We have flood lights that light about 25m of our school and obviously it's too dark to hack.

I currently share a horse (2 weekdays, 1 weekend) so this means 2/3 days a week, I have darkness to work with. I don't want to drill him on a 20m circle all the time and I can't ride out! How do you guys motivate yourselves throughout the winter and how do you keep things interesting with limited light and facilities?
 
As above - I stopped beating myself up about riding in winter last year as it was always awful. I'm a teacher so get to work at 7am and leave between 5 and 6 so it was always dark and with no floodlit school it was just a nightmare trying to ride. I do ride at the weekends and he gets plenty of turnout. However, mine is an oldie so two rides a week is fine for him. Not as possible with younger ones I guess.
 
The horse can see perfectly well in the dark so you are not restricted to just the area that has light, use the time to be constructive with schooling, it does not have to be drilling on circles or boring if you use your imagination to vary what you aim for and have a plan in mind of what you want to work on each week and what you hope to achieve, you can put poles out, I would put them in the lit area, use them in many different ways, go over at different distances, work round them to get your circles accurate, do a maze, spirals, work on transitions, do work on your position, no stirrup work in all paces, if you do something different each week the winter will soon pass and you should come out with a better educated horse and yourself being a more educated rider.
Go for a nice long hack at the weekends for some fun.
 
I don't ride in winter either as we have no lights or even a rideable paddock in slippy conditions, I'll be giving my sharers the elbow soon with weather turning (but they are proving a little untrustworthy anyway) too. I like them to have the winter off, they live out unrugged 24/7
 
I am lucky enough to have a floodlit school at the yard so aim to still ride 3 times a week after work weather permitting as well as weekends.

If the school is only partially floodlit and others at the yard are in the same situations as you maybe you could club together and buy some portable temporary flood light which would light up the rest of the school?

http://www.scldirect.co.uk/portable-event-floodlights.html
 
Lol your facilities sound amazing. Crack on as be positive says!

I ride with a head torch and bike lights out hacking because I don't have a school never mind lights.
 
be positive said:
The horse can see perfectly well in the dark so you are not restricted to just the area that has light, use the time to be constructive with schooling, it does not have to be drilling on circles or boring if you use your imagination to vary what you aim for and have a plan in mind of what you want to work on each week and what you hope to achieve, you can put poles out, I would put them in the lit area, use them in many different ways, go over at different distances, work round them to get your circles accurate, do a maze, spirals, work on transitions, do work on your position, no stirrup work in all paces, if you do something different each week the winter will soon pass and you should come out with a better educated horse and yourself being a more educated rider.
Go for a nice long hack at the weekends for some fun.
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^^this :) this this! Lots of good ideas here. I find its mind over matter in the winter. You feel like just crawling back under the duvet to start. But once I'm togged up and in the saddle I find I get carried away just like in the summer.
 
Also I actually like schooling in the dark occasionally. I find I can feel a lot more through the rest of my body when I can't see much more than the edge of the school. Can feel more through my seat, I concentrate on my own balance more,it's quite interesting . Try it and see ;)
 
Think we are a little spoilt with an indoor arena with lights that we don't have to pay for as well as an outdoor arena with lights that we again don't have to pay for. But it's Scotland we have the downside of a lot of snow.
 
if you can see the fence (or edge of the arena if there is no fence) just ride as normal and if you want to do pole work put them in the lit part. once you get used to it it you will find it easy
 
I'm in a similar situation. I share and ride 2 days a week in the evening. So from late September to April I have to school. I try and come up with a goal or plan before I ride. We compete in dressage and trec so sometimes ill work towards something for that.

It is hard to be motivated. I just focus on the fact in April I will be able to hack again and after my winters hard work I can have fun!
 
Horse might cope better if you turn the lights out rather than go constantly from light to dark or spook at shadows. Experiment and see what suits best. Two schooling sessions and one hack per week is quite good for winter I think, when motivation to ride is lower. If you have transport you could do evening competitions if you want to ride in better facilities than you have at your yard.
 
I used to be at a yard with one floodlight at one end of the school. Wasn't a problem, we just schooled as usual going in and out if the light and didn't have any issues. :)
 
Walrus said:
I used to be at a yard with one floodlight at one end of the school. Wasn't a problem, we just schooled as usual going in and out if the light and didn't have any issues. :)
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Agree with this. Our floodlights don't cover the whole school (and last year didn't really work at all), so I just ride and out of the light and he copes fine. I've always worked shifts so I hardly had to ride in the dark as I had time during the week and daytime, and now for the first time in 7 years I am back to Mon - Fri so need to get back used to riding in the dark.

It's perfectly do-able. In fact, I find riding in the cold a lot more bearable than riding in the roasting heat and sweating all the time. My horse tends to be fresher in the cold weather with his clip and less turn out, so I always find he has more energy and goes better. So there are a lot of pros to winter, it's not all bad :)
 
milliepops said:
Also I actually like schooling in the dark occasionally. I find I can feel a lot more through the rest of my body when I can't see much more than the edge of the school. Can feel more through my seat, I concentrate on my own balance more,it's quite interesting . Try it and see ;)
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I remember riding in the dark years ago in the field (not pitch black!) and totally agree with milliepops, there was something extraordinary about it. I just did basic schooling for half an hour in our 'paddock school' at that time (it was good weather and ground was good though!) ...

But I remember clearly how 'at one' I felt, as my vision was lessened, it seemed my feel for the horse was heightened. ...and to my surprise the horse worked away really nicely!

I haven't done it since though!
 
The first thing to remember is not to beat yourself up about riding through the week in the winter. My pony isn't rugged so if she's wet we have a day off or in-hand work and if she's dry we ride. Living in Scotland, I find we usually come out the winter nicely schooled in-hand! Weekends we hack.

Try to focus on a different thing each session to keep things interesting - poles, transitions, impulsion, pace within the gait, bending... sometimes a whole session in walk can be really good. In-hand there are lots of options, exercises over raised poles are a brilliant way to encourage hind leg flexibility and suppleness so don't over look just having a play. If there are a few of you on the yard, how about organising a pony club games evening for a bit of fun?
 
i know a few people that ride by head torch and a few that ride in total darkness-your eyes do adjust so with the lit area at one end theres no reason you cant use the whole sschool.

then you can do lateral work etc and polework (in the lit area).
 
Honestly? find a buddy who has to suffer at the same time as you... we used to bring wine up as a "reward" after riding after work. HUGE motivation. Include lunge work as a session as well.

and thump the next non horsey person who asks how you enjoy riding after work, in the dark, wind etc etc. Trust me, its enormously satisfying!
 
We don't have a school and it is dark by the time the children get home,so we just ride at weekends. I hate the winter but realistically, there are only about 8 weeks of really dark evenings before it starts to get a bit lighter,so I just plod on and wish the days away until the shortest day,then it is getting a few minutes lighter each night and my spirits rise a bit.We have just taken on a new pony,and it isn't ideal,but we'll have to do our best with what we have.
 
Luci07 said:
Honestly? find a buddy who has to suffer at the same time as you... we used to bring wine up as a "reward" after riding after work. HUGE motivation. !
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^^ lol yes good idea if you don't have to drive home, hic! :drunk:
We used to have Baileys hot chocolate in the winter ;)
 
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