How do you combat the clocks change & cope in the dark????

[catembi]

I've got a Screwfix tripod floodlight & a 50m extension lead, so I can 'floodlight' my school. Luckily Adrian doesn't mind shadows. I tie the light to the fence with baler twine if it's windy.

Mine are kept hooded, rugged & out with a field shelter 24/7 unless the weather's truly awful, so no mucking out.

I'm getting a plumbed in trough within the next 2 weeks so no more messing about with a 50 metre hose in the dark & sleet! Yay!

 

[Starman]

Starman's tip for the winter - ride in padded ski trousers. Keep your thighs warm and have zips down the sides so you can get them over your boots. Usually get them cheap enough down Tescos or similar

 

[measles]

Our routine in summer and winter is the same so it makes no difference!

 

[Ranyhyn]

Currently I have been trying my level best to get everything in line for winter.

This year I plan to get up at 5.30am, down to yard by 6am, tack up ride and horse out by 7.30am, muck out and then off to work by 8.30am

 

[FestiveSpirit]

On Sunday I am moving to my yard

I cannot begin to say how happy I am

I have perfected the 'get up, get dressed, stick contact lenses in, clean teeth' routine to about 5 minutes, then out on the yard, feed/muck out/turn out in the morning. Floodlit outdoor arena so will ride in the evening after work - doesnt seem nearly as bad when you just rug them up and put them into the already-done stable

It may mean that I am not so assiduous about letting the stable floor dry every single day however (which I do at present) - I will take out all the wet, but it may just get to dry at weekends or non riding days

 

[lizzieb]

My horses have midweek in winters off and only get ridden at weekends as I haven't got a school let alone a floodlit one!

 

[now_loves_mares]

Agree with everything posted above, but after the last two winters being such hard work, this year I am going for an alternative strategy. I will be paying someone vast sums of money to put them on full livery for a month, and buggering off to Thailand to lie in the sunshine

Get back at the beginning of December, so only about 2 weeks of shrinking days, then off for a bit over Christmas, and by early Jan we'll notice the daylight coming back.

OK not a strategy that will work for everyone, but I'm pretty excited about it

 

[Fiona]

[ QUOTE ]
I will be paying someone vast sums of money to put them on full livery for a month, and buggering off to Thailand to lie in the sunshine


[/ QUOTE ]

If only (I won the lottery)

We did something similar though last winter as OH had an operation on his hip in mid January and had to travel to London for it. Hence horses booked into friend's livery yard while we were away, and stayed for 5 weeks in total. OK I had 2 horses to ride, but at least didn't have the stable work to do as well.

Cost me a clean fortune though

Fiona

 

[now_loves_mares]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
I will be paying someone vast sums of money to put them on full livery for a month, and buggering off to Thailand to lie in the sunshine


[/ QUOTE ]

If only (I won the lottery)

We did something similar though last winter as OH had an operation on his hip in mid January and had to travel to London for it. Hence horses booked into friend's livery yard while we were away, and stayed for 5 weeks in total. OK I had 2 horses to ride, but at least didn't have the stable work to do as well.

Cost me a clean fortune though

Fiona

[/ QUOTE ]

Well yes, the downside is I won't be able to afford to eat all winter, but it'll be worth it

 

[glamourpuss]

I'm actually not too bothered about this winter. It will be the first year for 3 years when I haven't been in hard training for a spring marathon + trying to do the horses whilst being 'helped' by a small child + working.

Due to expanding bump I know my riding and running days are getting limited so I won't stress myself about riding through the week (although I only work part time so Monday and Tuesdays off is nice)
Also when we move the horses will be going on full livery for a while until the baby is born and we find a new house.

 

[Maizy]

'Winter' is about the start on 31st October for me - horses off to winter grazing/livery yard - but at different places, to suit their needs and my purse!

All going to be on a DIY basis and i'm looking to implement as many time management skills as I can as a typical day in the office for me is 8am - 6pm plus 1/2 hr commute each way, so it's going to be a bit of a slog. Some how I have to fit in making my own supper! Preparation from previous years should help:

Head torch - my favourite handbag accessory, but not my most popular that's dedicated to a combo of straw/shavings/hay.
Salopettes - warm, dry and can go over PJ's.
£1 fluffy fleecy gloves/hats from cheap shops even if just for the drive to the yard.
Nail brush at work - for emergency feed removal from nails, before the boss/clients see them!
A piece of foam/ insulation stuff on my windscreen to save de-icing the car each morning.
Bravery - it all goes to pot if I get a panicy or spooked, I'm worse than the horses, I'm just getting used to the deer. Not blinding your eyes with bright lights helps with the night vision.

My saving grace is I've saved 2 weeks annual leave to have before Christmas so actually get 3 weeks off!!! Count down begins!

 

[KateCampbell1]

I like the buggering off to Thailand option!
Oh well, back to reality and so looking forward to my alarm going going off at 5am tomorrow! Its now still fairly dark when i chuck him in the field at 7am after exercise.....

 

[Mistyrocks]

Luckily I have moved my horse to the livery yard i work on so shes stabled in a amercian barn system, with lots of rugs on and there is a indoor school 60 by 30 and two outdoor flood lit arenas. I also will try and compete as much as pos as there is BSJA, PUK/BSPS show where I work

can't wait for the winter apart from washing down very , muddy horses!

 

[Wilbur_Force]

I have to say that I feel very spoilt now. We have an indoor school that is light and airy, even though 20x40. Its not a posh yard (currently having a major overhaul) but it suits me really well. Try and get all hay, feed etc whatever you can on the previous day, weekends or on ponies days off - if they get any!

 

[Rana]

Well mine is retired, but I do ride a friends horse during the week as she works longer hours than me (she gets everything ready in the morning though).

So, get up at 5.20, on the yard for 5.45 (20 min drive). Feed all 6. Rinse hay tubtrugs and feed buckets, make up hay for evening, collect mucking out tools. Tie mine up outside to eat hay while I muck out (sweep floor but put bed straight down). Get horse ready to go out, sweep and tidy yard, put everything away. Turnout just before 7am as it's starting to get light, and hay all 3 in field. Fight my way back across the motorway before 7.30 (traffic is horrendous), shower, change, breakfast and into work for 8.30.

Work 8.30-4.30 (changed from 9-5) but work through lunch to finish at 3.30. At yard for 4, put hay on to soak, collect my horse, pick feet, rug change, brush if she's dry, and into bed. Drain hay, make up her feeds. Put feeds and hay in at approx 4.30 (bit early but saves disturbing her later and she has plenty to eat!). Collect other horse from field, pick feet, brush off, tack up, on by 5. No chance to hack, but into the floodlit outdoor school, ride for as long as I want to (ie, stop when I can't feel my feet cos they're so cold). Untack, flick off, put to bed, feed. Finished before 6.30 (depends how long I ride for) and home before 7pm. Dinner, tv and bed, ready to get up at silly o' clock the next morning.

On non-riding days, I get home at about 5pm, so make the most of my quiet days and fit in household chores on these evenings, and yard chores (scrubbing buckets, collecting feed/shavings etc, cleaning tack) are done at the weekends in the daylight. Don't often ride at weekends, but if I do, I make the most of the light and hack out for up to 2 hours.

So, my tip - get up early, get everything done, ride in the evening and then just chuck them into nicely made stables that you did while still half asleep in the morning

No chance for a social life, but hey, that's horses for you

 

[MagicMelon]

[ QUOTE ]
I am lucky to have a floodlit menage and fairly good lighting on the yard, but nothing seems to make it much more fun so....do you have coping mechanisms to get stuff done in the dark?

[/ QUOTE ]

You're extremely lucky to have a menage, let alone a flood lit one I say! That alone would improve my winters massively! I have paddocks to ride in all year round and thats it so during the winter its impossible to ride due to the ground (and during the week I get back in the pitch black so a no go).

Basically I did my last BSJA with my horse last night and he now will be off until mid-January on his break. I couldnt possibly keep him fit enough to BSJA all winter only being able to ride at weekends! So every morning and night, my 3 simply get fed, hay'd and rugs checked. They all live out 24/7 which is perfect IMO. They have access to 2 stables/shelters which I muck out daily but one I keep deep littered, the other is matted so it takes me literally 5 mins to muck out. I couldnt imagine keeping a horse stabled! I dont understand people who choose to. My horses love being out.

 

[SpottedCat]

I am taking a new approach to winters this year. Formerly I was always on Part Livery in the winter, but a 50odd mile round trip there to ride - but I had facilities to die for - two floodlit outdoors and an indoor, horse walker, solarium with hot water horse shower and indoor lunge pen.

This year I am on a DIY yard with one non-floodlit arena and that's it! Shock to the system, but only 6 miles from home. Add to that I have gone self-employed, and the yard rather than making me bring him in will let him live out in the winter unless it gets mega-wet, and I have a new plan! He is still out now and will stay as long as possible (fully clipped), I am riding when it is not raining in the light, because, well, I'm the boss so I can, and then around that I go and chuck him some feed twice a day.

Working well so far, and though I occasionally miss the facilities, it is usually momentary and doesn't last long as not sitting in traffic on the M32 for hours in the rain after work is worth every second of wishing I could bath my horse now!

 

[Chloe_GHE]

yeah I would keep Soap out all year if we had field shelters but we only have paddocks in the village for 24 hr turn out or paddocks next to the stables for stabled horses, plus he is such a flithy beast even with a neck rug and clipped it takes me 30mins to get all the caked on mud off, not to mention the numerous shoes he likes to pull off in the winter! high maintenance horse? soap? never!

the school is mega and I would be the same as you just be able to ride at wkend without it, but the one downside is the yards location it is high on a hill and bitterly cold, one year we even had to shut all the top stable doors the wind and weather was so bad.....it's that bit of winter I don't like

 

[harrihjc]

Usually I'd go to the yard and ride in the floodlit school straight after work, but since Flash can only walk out because of his injury I have no idea how I'm going to cope this winter. Work, yard and home are all 30 mins apart, and I work typically 8.00 -5.30, and can't leave during lunch time to ride either. Luckily I can finish at 3 on a Friday providing no evil person schedules meetings at that time, so at least I can do Friday and weekends