Keeping a horse fit in winter with limited facilities

[Horsekaren]

As my yard saga continues im wondering if i do end up staying put for winter how can i keep a my horse fit (fit enough, he is developing muscle nicely and i dont want to lose it all)


No usable menage for about 4 months, not aloud to ride in fields at yard.

There is ok road hacking near by with a green of about 200m by 60m which i can ride on. I'd like to possibly try and school on it for a short while but i don't want to suck all the fun out of hacking and bring the jogging issues out of the school (where they currently done exist)
I am really nervous hacking as i really dont do it often, he has never put a hoof wrong and use to drive but for some reason i really struggle.

I may be able to lunge once a week on grass if it doesn't destroy the ground.

I do have transport and am hoping to take him out but realistically it wouldn't be more than once a week.

What do you do to keep them in work in winter? would 25 mins road work and hacking over small fields twice a week be much good, hopefully working on yielding around cars, halt and walk transitions and building up to trotting and possibly cantering across the green once confidence has built up outside the school.

i'm wanting an idea of what the minimum amount of work required to keep him ticking over would be. At present he is ridden 4 times a week for 30 -40 mins and lunged 1 or 2 times for 20 mins. So not in hard work by any means.
Are there any ground work type things i can do in or outside his stable on concrete or boggy ground to help engage his brain at the very least besides carrot stretches.

Thank you as always.

 

[Annagain]

With your facilities I think hacking is your only option in winter. Although I have facilities, mine are older and struggle with doing too much in the school - twice a week tops is all they can manage (and one hates it anyway) so over the winter I tend to just ride at weekends, with maybe one night a week in the school. They never seem to lose too much fitness and tick over nicely doing this. It doesn't take much even at their age to up it again come the Spring. They hack for about an hour and a half both weekend days or one will do one hack and one riding club session with some longer hacks, like trips to the beach thrown in now and again. Can you find a sensible friend to hack out with? Company always makes it easier if you're a bit nervous.

 

[flying_high]

Once your school is too flooded to use, I can almost guarantee that any local grass patch would be unusable for schooling in the same wet time period. Unless the grass patch is sandy and at the top of a hill.

 

[ester]

you could do straightness training type stuff with him.

I've spent most winters without a school and wet low lying ground that we used to try and keep good grass cover on from summer to protect it. Keeping mine fit involved hacking in the dark 2 mornings a week, mostly using off road access we had. Light by the time I was going home.
For some of the winter it was possible to lunge in the dark in the field of an evening.
When too wet for that it would be about ok to go round the edge of our 3 acre field for a while (this is particularly boring).
We'd try and have a lesson once a week or fortnight at the weekend
and often go indoor showjumping every fortnight on a wednesday evening to access a dry, lit school.

I found life with a floodlit arena quite transformative!

 

[SEL]

How bad does your arena get? I lunged in a flooded arena last year - horse seemed to find it quite fun, but then she is odd in that she likes playing in water.

I've also done (badly) some of the straightness training exercises in a flooded arena. Good wellies are essential.

In fact I had more problems with that particular arena when it dried out in summer and turned into sand dunes. I'm convinced that is what stuffed her suspensory up.

If you've got a box then can you get out one night a week to hire an indoor somewhere / have a lesson? Then perhaps box out to a longer hacking route at the weekend (maybe with a confidence giving friend). I was lucky in that we had a decent school at a competition yard within hacking distance, but it did start to get expensive hiring it.

I'm looking forward to having a better arena this winter!!!

If you can't ride as much as you want then try not to stress. Sometimes the UK weather just means you have to do what you can and look forward to Spring!

 

[Beth206]

I am in exactly the same position as you. I just hack at the weekends when i can. Last year I bought a book called 'Cobs Can, handbook' and it gives you lots of inhand exercises to do which you can then implement in your riding. I just do it in the yard and it keeps us both ticking over.

Ester I like your idea of riding around the edge of the fields. I could possibly do that in one of ours.

Hopefully with it still being relatively dry we will have a short winter and only be out of action a few months.. or is that wishful thinking!!

 

[SEL]

Hopefully with it still being relatively dry we will have a short winter and only be out of action a few months.. or is that wishful thinking!!

I hope not! Last year I think we'd already had torrential rain by now, the start of the snow in early December and then it just seemed to rain non stop until the Beast from the East rocked up (twice!). I said then I wouldn't moan if we had a heatwave in the summer - I wasn't expecting the weather gods to actually deliver one though!!

 

[Horsekaren]

I hope not! Last year I think we'd already had torrential rain by now, the start of the snow in early December and then it just seemed to rain non stop until the Beast from the East rocked up (twice!). I said then I wouldn't moan if we had a heatwave in the summer - I wasn't expecting the weather gods to actually deliver one though!!

Was last winter exceptionally bad or did i just notice it more having a horse?

 

[Beth206]

I hope not! Last year I think we'd already had torrential rain by now, the start of the snow in early December and then it just seemed to rain non stop until the Beast from the East rocked up (twice!). I said then I wouldn't moan if we had a heatwave in the summer - I wasn't expecting the weather gods to actually deliver one though!!

I hope not too, i keep looking back at photos and from October last year our field was waterlogged and just got progressively worse until about April/May when it literally dried up over night and has been in such a sorry state all this year. The heatwave was lovely wasn't it, I kept making a subconscious effort not to complain about the heat!

Was last winter exceptionally bad or did i just notice it more having a horse?

I think it was exceptionally bad, I have only owned a horse for 3 years but the person who I share my yard with has been on it for 30 years and she said last year was definitely one of the worst.

 

[Corbie]

If you think of mental fitness as well as physical fitness down time over the winter could do him some good! Two to three times a week 30 mins should be sufficient to maintain a very basic fitness.

 

[Red-1]

If I am doing tickover then 4 X a week is fine. I would do the one time a week arena hire, twice or three times a week hacking and if I could box up on a second occasion it would be fab.

What happens to the school in winter? I have used waterlogged schools before, as long as the footings don't get deep I expect the horse to keep working with a splashy tummy. If it is because it is dark, then I am also happy to work in a dark arena - as long as you can make out where the fences are!

 

[chaps89]

If the school gets wet it doesn't need to be out of bounds unless the surface becomes uneven underneath?
And headtorches (with sensible introduction) are the way forwards if there aren't any proper lights.

You have 3 choices
Down tools and just give him winter off, no pressure on either of you to do anything and pick him up comes spring.
Move yards to somewhere else with facilities/better hacking. Potentially at a compromise to something else (budget or location etc).
Or suck it up and muddle through and do some early mornings, nights with headtorches, use your transport as much as possible and find a hacking buddy and make it your winter goal to crack the hacking.
None of them are bad options, or wrong, but there will be one that suits you better or is more practical/realistic than the others for your situation.

 

[Orangehorse]

Is there a local riding club that does schooling sessions in an indoor arena locally that you could go to. Think about a long hack at the weekend. Is there a Bridleway group that does rides or someone you could go with to show you the routes and have company. I know it is tricky in the winter as bridlepaths can become impossible, but there are areas where it is OK to keep on riding like Forestry Commission places and if there is really sandy soil. If you have a trailer you can get out to quieter areas too even if not off road.

 

[Cortez]

You'd be surprised how little it takes to just keep horses ticking over. I am lucky in that I do have an arena that is usable in all conditions except for heavy snow, but it is time and darkness (not to mention miserable, morale-sapping wet and dank) that bites into my horse time. If I get in board 4 times a week, even just for 20 mins of suppling and transitions, I find it keeps the horses going until we have the time and motivation to do a bit more.

 

[DabDab]

I would prioritise getting you both out hacking at the weekend and treat that as your main maintenance work. Aside from that you can do walk work pretty much anywhere - most yards have enough concrete for you to do straightness training type stuff, flexing, lateral work, collect up a touch then open out....that sort of thing. It all transfers to faster paces anyway and you can get them using their core and working over the back and through, so it stops the top line muscle dropping off.

 

[JFTDWS]

you could do straightness training type stuff with him.

I've spent most winters without a school and wet low lying ground that we used to try and keep good grass cover on from summer to protect it. Keeping mine fit involved hacking in the dark 2 mornings a week, mostly using off road access we had. Light by the time I was going home.
For some of the winter it was possible to lunge in the dark in the field of an evening.
When too wet for that it would be about ok to go round the edge of our 3 acre field for a while (this is particularly boring).
We'd try and have a lesson once a week or fortnight at the weekend
and often go indoor showjumping every fortnight on a wednesday evening to access a dry, lit school.

I found life with a floodlit arena quite transformative!

This - I spent a number of years without an arena, and it was always quite workable. I hacked late at night (off road, with lights), or during the day if I wasn't working then. I couldn't lunge or ride on the field for most of winter -clay, but I could usually manage a bit of in hand work, and if I couldn't I would do in hand work on the byway instead. One horse wasn't great to hack alone, but we generally managed to keep him fit enough for decent work, and picking up in spring.

The last year - last winter, then the summer we had, are among the worst I remember in 2 decades of horse ownership.

 

[AdorableAlice]

The last 12 months have by far, been the worst horse keeping conditions I have ever experienced, and I have been at it for over 40 years. There was one winter 1982 ish I think that was hard.

We came out of winter 17/18 very late and endured the 'beast from the east'. Spring didn't really happen and by early May it was boiling hot and it stayed hot from there on in. Little to no rain and grass scorched off quickly. Keeping horses going even with the school was difficult in the heat and what was the point in reality as the ground was far too hard to compete unless on a surface.

Most horses will tick over through winter with a bit of hacking, plenty of turn out and a high fibre diet. Trying to work in an arena with a false surface is more likely to injure it than enhance its education or well being. I have long decided that unless you hunt or have an important competitive target in winter, it is far easier to just keep them as happy and relaxed as possible whilst giving yourself the least stress and workload possible.