pressure to ride in winter

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Carolina24

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OK this topic may have been covered previous years but I only bought my horse this summer and this will be my first winter owning a horse ( yes I hear you all playing your violins thinking of the first time early mornings! )

I'm a very organised person and already put myself under pressure to ride at least 4 times a week, My horse is an Arab x welsh and he's 8 years old with a fab tempremant I have recently started hacking him out on my own, not far just half an hour at a time but every little helps I suppose.

Only thing is now the nights are drawing in and I work weekdays I'm struggling to ride after work, by the time I get to the yard at the moment I get about half an hour I can use so I lunge one day then try to get in half an hour hack another and then ride both days on the weekend.
I will struggle though when the clocks change as it will be dark by 4pm and won't get to ride at all during the week. Is this a problem? Should I be putting myself under all this pressure to ride 4 times a week ?

I feel really guilty when I'm sat at work and it's nice weather but I can't ride and when I can ride it's dark Grrrr .... any advice would be greatly appreciated!
 
Im assuming you have no lights? Half our yard are turning away this winter so I wouldnt put yourself under pressure! You can always pick it up when the clocks change back and just have some light hacking at the weekend over winter - you cant do much when its frozen/snowy/like a bog anyway :)
 
I work mainly nightshifts so don't have this problem, when i was a school tho i just rode at weekends after the clocks had changed unless you can box to an indoor arena? Mine always enjoyed the break but he was a bit older, current one has had a couple of months off the last 2 winters anyway as once the snow and ice came it was far too dangerous to do anything. They don't mind the break and i've kind of resigned myself to the fact it's gonna happen again this year, judging by the winter forecasts!!
 
we have a floodlit sand arena nearby but it means going on the road in the dark to get there so not ideal really. I've only been riding since earlier this year so slightly scared to not do any over winter.
 
A few things for you think about -
Will your horse be OK to ride after 5 days off i.e. will he get very excitable and be not a nice ride or will he be a little on his toes but behave OK?

Is he getting turnout during the week?

Have you any chance to ride even once during the week?

Can you set up some kind of schooling area with temporary lights?
 
Don't put yourself under pressure!
Everyone at our yard rides on Saturdays & Sundays only over winter as well all have full time jobs!
Realistically its too dark at 3:30pm to be out on the road in winter, much safer to just wait till weekends.
See how your horse goes with less work, some you hardly notice a difference, others get hyped up.
If you can find somewhere to lunge with some light, then you could lunge twice a week then ride at weekends.
Hope this helps :)
 
Wheels said:
A few things for you think about -
Will your horse be OK to ride after 5 days off i.e. will he get very excitable and be not a nice ride or will he be a little on his toes but behave OK?

Is he getting turnout during the week?

Have you any chance to ride even once during the week?

Can you set up some kind of schooling area with temporary lights?
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as I've only had him for just over 6 weeks I don't know how he would be after 5 days without been ridden. where he was before they went on holiday and turned him out for a week and said he was fine but I haven't tried it myself.

He gets turn out during the day and is only in the stable at night.

I could lunge or maybe do half an hour ride on night during the week.

At a livery yard so not able to set up temporary lights or anything
 
forestfantasy said:
Don't put yourself under pressure!
Everyone at our yard rides on Saturdays & Sundays only over winter as well all have full time jobs!
Realistically its too dark at 3:30pm to be out on the road in winter, much safer to just wait till weekends.
See how your horse goes with less work, some you hardly notice a difference, others get hyped up.
If you can find somewhere to lunge with some light, then you could lunge twice a week then ride at weekends.
Hope this helps :)
Click to expand...

thanks - in that case then if he is having daily turn out do you think he will be less hyper when i ride at the weekend? feeding him on hay and allen and page fast fibre which are both low energy anyway?
 
The more turnout the better in my opinion, weather permitting.
I'd just play it by ear, your both getting to know each other so you'll just have to wait and see how he copes.
My 6yr old Arab x Warmblood copes fine just being ridden at weekends, she's on her toes on the saturday but not silly, just forward, same with the pony.
I'm at the yard at 6:30am then back at 5:30pm to bring them in so they get plenty of turnout.
I think it's just a case of wait and see then go from there :)
 
forestfantasy said:
The more turnout the better in my opinion, weather permitting.
I'd just play it by ear, your both getting to know each other so you'll just have to wait and see how he copes.
My 6yr old Arab x Warmblood copes fine just being ridden at weekends, she's on her toes on the saturday but not silly, just forward, same with the pony.
I'm at the yard at 6:30am then back at 5:30pm to bring them in so they get plenty of turnout.
I think it's just a case of wait and see then go from there :)
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thanks for that - yes I'm at my yard 6.30 then back at 5.30 so he is getting the same amount of turn out as yours. he's not typically arab like to be honest more welsh and calm really he's very good most of the time, think I just feel the pressure with it been my first winter as I don't want to let him down!
 
Turn your horse out as much as you can and ride at the weekends if you can.

My mare recently had over a year off due to a back issue. I rebacked her in late january of this year and we are back to full strenght again........well we were before winter decides to make it's apprearance. :-(

Unless you are training for anything specific, there is no need to be hard on yourself. Your horse will be fine and in the same situation as most of us who have to work and either have no facilities or lights.
 
TicTac said:
Turn your horse out as much as you can and ride at the weekends if you can.

My mare recently had over a year off due to a back issue. I rebacked her in late january of this year and we are back to full strenght again........well we were before winter decides to make it's apprearance. :-(

Unless you are training for anything specific, there is no need to be hard on yourself. Your horse will be fine and in the same situation as most of us who have to work and either have no facilities or lights.
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I can feel the pressure lifting off my shoulders reading all these replies! yes I don't compete or anything just hack out and do a little schooling once a week , i'm still learning myself really so try and get in practice where I can but like I said it's hard when you need to work full time to cover costs but also need to have sometime to ride.
 
I'm in the same position as you, first winter with my horse. There's not much we can do if weather or light isn't on our side.

Maybe you could lunge for 10 mins before you get on on the Saturday. It'll take the edge off if there is any to take off.
 
Oh dear, this is why I went to a yard that has a school with lights, it was my first criteria, means i can ride whatever the weather. If I had to rely upon daylight I would have had to have given up riding monday-friday weeks ago. As it is by the time I get to the yard I can barely see to catch her (doesn't help that she is bay with no white and wears a navy rug).

You could move yards, to somewhere with better facilities.

Does your yard have a school at all? Or a bit of field where you can school? If so you can ride there when it is too dark to go on the roads, you could even take up some portable lights of your own. A couple of lanterns for camping slung over a fence post would give you enough light to do some light schooling.

Depending upon the roads where you are you could hack out in the dark with appropriate lights, Pedantic has some great photos of him and his pony hacking out in the dark. His pony has a headlamp!
 
i wouldnt worry mine is a anglo arab and he is pretty forward going but fine at the weekends! i dont get to ride through the week either as i work full time mon-fri.
 
I ride every morning, we do have flood lights but I rarely need them in the morning. I also ride 3 evenings a week and lunge the other 2 evenings as I have 2 to keep ticking over, but not just that I enjoy it!.
 
If its really bothering you maybe you should move somewhere with better facilities.

There seems to be loads of people with the same issue though? Think I'm a bit naive and think of a school with lighting as standard facility for a livery yard? am I wrong?
 
i tend to play it by ear. I hack at the weekends and am lucky enough to have a floodlit school at the yard where i keep mine.

Even with the school, we all found it hard in the snow and ice as it can still be dangerous leading to the school, so they all had a bit of time off in the really bad weather.

I work full time too and still manage to lunge or school 3 or 4 times a week but have to be careful as my mare can get stale in the school.

as long as your horse is content, don't worry too much about putting the pressure on yourself....give the horse some time off if time does not permit, or you'll be resenting riding rather than enjoying it!!
 
I wouldn't worry too much, I only managed to ride weekends all through last winter and mine had full-day turnout every day, and he was fine. A bit excited on a saturday when he knew we were going for a ride but nothing dangerous!
For what it's worth, I have friends at a livery yard with a floodlight school which they couldn't use for most of the past 2 winters. Firstly due to snow and then it froze up as soon as the sun went down and didn't thaw til mid-morning, so having floodlights was pointless as they couldn't ride anyway!
I think as long as they get a good amount of turnout most should be ok. You could try and find a sharer to exercise horsey during the day on weekdays if you really are struggling. Or lunge in the dark?
 
If he is turned out during the day he will be fine with weekend only riding, or you could try and squeeze a quick lunge or bit of in hand work in in the mornings or evenings. My daughter regularly lunges in the dark (ooh err, that sounds a bit rude!). If you have a work break over christmas you can get some lovely day time rides in, and I like to take the odd day or half day of annual leave here and there when the forcast is good to get winter rides in. Good luck with your first horsie winter
 
I don't ride in winter, horse has had shoes off now till march/april. I don't have time with everything else and I really don't think he looses any sleep over not being ridden. As long as he's fed he's happy :-)
 
what do you do work wise? would it be possible to alter your hours slightly to fit everything in? I work in a hospital so my hours are different every single week but quite often I will get x3 8-6 and two 8-1 which adds up to full times hours and gives you two free afternoons a week on top of the weekend?

or the other route is to just forget about it! after a busy year competing mine are having shoes off at end of october and will be having a holiday until the new year - i think it will do them and me the world of good on top of being miles easier! Im sometimes very 'focussed' when it comes to horses and let it rule my life a bit so im very much looking forward to catching up with non horsey things and friends over the next couple of months and no doubt it will whet my appetite and drive for next season! :)
 
I think you need to take the pressure off yourself and not worry about it so much. I think plenty horsey owners ease off over winter, the years do fly by and spring will soon come round and you can ride more again then
 
Don't feel guilty - not as though you have chosen the vile British winter after all! Lots of peeps are in the same boat and it doesn't make them negligent. Could you pay another livery/YO a few quid to lunge a couple of times a week? Is there anywhere you could walk him in hanf for twenty minutes, anywhere with decent lighting and obviously you and him in your high viz?

Just to help your relationship and your horse's general agility, you could do some passive physio in the dark evenings. I know it's a bit pricey, but I also bought an Equilibrium massage pad which is a bit of a treat for the ned and keeps his back in half decent nick when we're snowed in, helps with his condition for the really tough weather days.

But hey - don't beat up on yourself - and think of spring!
 
I agree with the others, don't worry, you won't be letting him down! A lot of people take it easier (or even stop riding completely) in the darker/colder winter months. If you feel you'd have enough time, perhaps do a short schooling session or lunge a morning before work? But if you get up really early or don't have time for that i wouldn't worry - most horses cope fine with just weekend work, as long as they have plenty of turnout during the day which it sounds like yours has. I'd just slowly wind down the amount of ridden work you do so that its not a sudden decrease, and then just see how it goes. As someone else said, if you're worried about him being very on his toes at the weekend, lunge for 10 minutes beforehand to get the edge off :)
 
I save 13 days of my annual leave so that I can take a 1/2 day every week from now until the clocks change again in the spring. I did it last year too. It's great 'cos I have an afternoon hack once a week in the middle of the week when it's lovely and quiet :)

I am also lucky that we have a floodlit school, so do have a potter round the school 2-3 evenings in the week too - but I am a happy hacker and don't really enjoy time in the school.
 
thanks everyone for all the comments on this topic, I must admit I feel guilty that I don't get chance to ride much during the week. I'm in sales so have to work set hours, I start at 8.30 and finish at 5pm, at the moment I have maybe half an hour where I can get down straight after work and either lunge or do a quick half an hour ride twice a week, when the clocks change and the mornings get lighter may try and fit in some lungeing in the morning where I can. My livery yard are fab and really supportive though we don't have many people who would be available to ride him during the week but it's close to home and very nice for a beginner to have other horsey owners around to answer questions. Plan is to ride tonight for half an hour then may have someone to ride him on Thursday and I have Friday morning off this week but won't have that every week so think I just need to relax like a lot of you have pointed out
 
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