Riding in windy weather

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SO1

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Now it is winter unless I have a day off the only time I can ride in day light is at the weekends and as it has been so windy I have not been hacking so sticking to the school and mainly in walk.

Pony is fairly steady sort normally but he is not keen on going near trees in windy weather {very sensible} and he can be a bit spooky about flapping plastic bags and we seem to get quite a lot of fly tippers in the area so seeing plastic bags out hacking is not uncommon and I would not want a plastic bag to get blown into his face or branch to fall and hit us.

Some people are hacking out in the winds and have said their horses where fine and others are just saying it is too windy to ride at all and that they will wait till better weather. I don't want to be confined to the school if we have a windy winter especially as pony not massively keen on schooling but at same time I want to remain safe.

He is out during the day and in at night. We don't compete so he does not need to be mega fit for that reason. However he is 13 now and not that active in the field and he is prone to weight gain so I ideally I want to keep up the gentle exercise to help keep his legs strong and also to prevent obesity. I am going to try and do some planning so that I can try and make the time in the school more interesting for him and have to accept that in the winter hacking may be limited. I guess I just feel a bit sorry for him really that he has to do more time in the school when he prefers to hack out but the winter will soon pass and he will be able to hack more then.
 
Riding in the wind is a case of definately knowing your mount :)
I've been having a blast on FLF these past few weeks, but my closest neighbour hasn't ventured out as hers is a spooky wotsit with anything flapping about & its been known to spin & trying to go home even in company.

I'm one of those who goes out just about regardless of weather (unless its in the 30's - too hot, thick fog - too daft, or setting out in lashing rain - there is always later, unless its been doing it for days in which case I do wrap up so much as I can and pootle onwards).

How is he in-hand OP?
 
We tend to ride in windy weather too - but it doesn't really faze either of ours. I think anything would spook at a plastic bag in the face but seems to me to be more of a risk in less windy weather than now. Anything loose and flying about has caught in a tree or bush by now - but we've had high winds here for days. The only thing that seems to be a problem for us is that the jumps blow over in the school and the wind around the jump stands makes a whistle noise. On the other hand - loads of fallen bits to jump on hacks!
 
If you're worried about the wind, is it feasible to take him for a walk? Most horses are calmer in hand and if it's you that has the jitters (rather than the horse!) it'll calm your nerves, too! I love going for walkies with mine and one girl on my yard ONLY walks her horse, now!
 
OP I feel like you! Last winter each weekend either had gales or ice.. Which meant hacking was not safe as we are on a very steep hill and the ice made it dangerous. My two aren't great in high wind and as we have to do some road work to get to the forest, didn't think it safe to tack two twits out when you can't hear the traffic.
This winter seems to be a repeat of lasts (although thankfully one one weekend has been icy).
Luckily like you I have daily turn out. I do walk my oldie a lot more in hand in the winter rather than riding him as he finds it easier to walk off stiffness without the weight of a rider. He is happy to come out with us and is very well behaved in hand whatever the weather. However I would walk the mare in hand in the roads as she is the type that is safer to handle on board.

Could you not ride or lead in the dark during the week, even if it's a short one? The weather is so much better, typically!
 
I've been avoiding riding because of the weather. 1) we've both lost our confidence after several years off 2) riding is very much a bonus for us - I never thought I'd do it again - so we both need to enjoy it 3) he can be a little reluctant to go forwards. I don't want to add "rubbish weather" to the list of possible causes.

I am getting seriously fed up with it though! If it wasn't for the confidence thing I think I'd bite the bullet because we used to hack (and even compete) in all weathers, but I worry that he'll spook and slip and that'll be it.
 
I'm always a little nervy about windy weather. However my RI says to me every time 'they graze in it, he's not scared' which is true. Each animal is different, but my boy isn't scared but if he is unoccupied and not having his brain used he will look for excuses to spook. As long as he's occupied he is sensible.
 
I rode out in gale force winds yesterday. Most on my yard said no way but I did and it was fine. My lad is spooky but over stupid stuff. Like birds.
He didn't seem bothered and we have to ride down a road surrounded by massive trees. But he is fairly used to it as in winter I can only hack at weekends so we go regardless. Generally.
I agree with comments above about when it's that windy most things have caught in trees etc and if a bag etc was to blow out it would be gone in seconds.
My horse also has no issue grazing in severe wind so I would expect him to hack too!
 
my 5 yr old isn't at all fazed by the wind! I was lunging him yesterday and it was sooo windy the flaps of his saddle were being blown up! I got on and rode afterwards and he was happy with the wind! but spooked at a bit of broken fence, which is always there!
 
SO1 said:
Now it is winter unless I have a day off the only time I can ride in day light is at the weekends and as it has been so windy I have not been hacking so sticking to the school and mainly in walk.
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Whenever I am on something that I feel may get its back up or be a prat in any way in the school, I get up into trot PDQ! Get them moving to warm up and not feel the wind up their tail and give them stuff to think about - transitions, changes of direction, variation within the pace, leg yield etc etc - also off their back, forward seat and into canter to work off excess joie de vivre!

A serious p~ss artist would get lunged first. I am too old to bounce.

Having said that I do hack out regardless. Been out today on five year old.
 
I dont hack out when its as windy as it has been this weekend. Pony isnt overly bothered but its the fact that you cant hear whats going on around you properly, stuff blowing about (even the best behaved pony can be forgiven for taking fright at inside out umbrellas flapping in the hedge and empty Mcdonalds cartons rolling across the road at you). Its more about everything else that is likely to happen than the pony, personally I dont think its worth the risk. We dont have a school and I can only ride weekends thru winter so I just have to except that sometimes, I cant.
 
If I didn't ride when it was windy I wouldn't get out much!

My lot don't like bags etc flying towards them, but apart from that they are really good - but obviously they are only really good in the wind because they are regularly ridden in the wind!

You got to do what you feel confident with, no point going out and then spending the whole ride worrying.
 
I rode my 5 year old today and he was really good. Only one shy at some straw bales behind a hedge and lots of trotting to keep him occupied.

Although he doesn't like wind it is my fear that stops us going out so a few weeks ago we went out in a gale anyway. It was a lively ride to say the least but unless I persevere he is never going to get any better. Sometimes you just have to put those sticky breeches on and get on with it.
 
The trouble with living on a small island in the middle of a big ocean, is it's always "too" something. On Saturday it was nearly 30 degrees. On Sunday it was raining. Several days last week it was blowing a gale. Weather just is, so unless it is seriously unpleasant, we just go.
 
It depends entirely on the horse for me. I have two five year olds. I have one I will take out in anything and one who would be a danger to other road users in an exceptionally high wind and an unpleasant, though not particularly unsafe, ride in an ordinary high wind. Same rider, different horses. I've owned perhaps two out of thirty-ish that I would/could not have taken out in a strong wind.
 
I managed to get out today as the winds dropped so a group of us went on a nice walk hack round the roads. He is normally good in company but out on his own in the high winds he gets more nervous. He does not like plastic bags caught in trees flapping either.

There is no way I could consider hacking in darkness or leading in hand in darkness after work as when he used to live out I could not ride him in the evenings in the winter as it was too difficult to get him out the field and lead him the 15 minutes up a path up to the yard as he used to get very nervous and spooky in the dark and once spooked got free whilst I was leading him and jumped the 5 bar gate back into his field. On windy evenings sometimes he was too frightened to come near the trees by the gate so I could not even get him out the gate to feed him by the gate. Not an issue now as he is on part livery and is always bought in before dark and the school is only a few meters from his stable so I can ride in evenings in the floodlit school during the winter in the evenings.

His natural response to something scary is flight so he would be more inclined to spin round and try and run home, rather than planting or shying.

It is frustrating but weather is beyond my control, and as I was saying to my dad this evening on the phone we have to be glad for what we have got, and just being able to ride at all is great. I think I need to manage my expectations a bit better and if he can hack out at least once a month during the winter that will be good and then once the summer comes we can enjoy getting out and about a bit more.
 
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I hack in the wind on my 2, they are a bit more on their toes but i quite like it. That being said my hackings offroad so less to worry about in case of a stupid moment! Last weekend i had a pretty big branch land on us and stuck just in front of the saddle...horse was fine about it.

I will not go out if there might be thunder. I got stuck out in one once and it was awful, hail and everything. Luckily it was on the hairy one whos prefered pace is trot. We still got back rsther fast.
 
I must say I'm a bit more cautious about the wind having only moved yards a month ago.. But went today in the howling wind/drizzle and the lad was pretty good. I find the more we do it the better he gets. He is used to being out on the forest in all weathers so I am putting the jitters down to getting to know new areas, plus I had a (not serious at all) fall a few weeks back and despite best efforts is has knocked my confidence a a tad. Will be pleased when the spring comes but by then he should have fully settled in :)
 
When I went to view my cob it was so windy....G Force on my face.....as I was tacking him up at the dealers yard I was thinking 'What the hell am I doing....this could go horribly wrong'....as we went out of the yard to see what he was like to be hacked out....and rubbish was flying at us I was thinking he has got to flip....and as we went over a top bridge over the M25....I was thinking I don't fancy the drop....and as went up to have a gallop I thought I could be dead soon......and off we went and as we came to the end I lightly pulled the reins and he came to a stand still....and then I thought I have gotta have this horse....and still the wind and gusts did not faze him...and as the dealer that I brought him from said 'This is a good day to try out a horse!'....I could not agree more :)
 
I'm not worried about how our ponies behave in strong winds but don't hack out in it as all our hacking is in heavily wooded areas and I think it is dangerous.
 
I didn't ride Saturday morning as there were trees and branches falling around the yard. I did ride on Friday night in the school under the flood lights; the wind was whipping up the leaves in mini tornados. The spooky TB was a little uptight but I kept her working so she didn't have time to think about how scary it was. I wouldn't try to hack out in it though as I would not be able to keep her attention on me. I try to ride whatever the weather, the exclusions are: very high wind as we had on Saturday, high winds and heavy rain, and hail stones (although the horse was a complete super star when we got caught last week in a hail storm. She just turned her back to the wind and stopped)
 
I ride in pretty much all weather (only ice stops me hacking, and not just weather I go out when motocross or 10k runs are happening and when hot air balloons are out) and am strongly of the view that the more you get them out and the more they experience the more normal it becomes and the less likely you are to have problems.

People often think that my friend and I hack out in anything because our horses are good. In fact it is the opposite, our horses are good because we get them out and it becomes normal to them.

If you are worried see if you can get someone to walk or cycle with you to give you and your horse confidence.
 
I'm not a fair weather rider and my two are pretty good in all conditions but there's a point at which brave / stoic becomes foolhardy. Most of our riding is in woods or tree lined lanes so if there's enough wind that trees could come down (especially with heavy rain as the weight of water makes the trees more likely to fall) we don't ride out. Riding in the school is fine as long as it's not flooded (quite rare to be fair but has been recently). The weekend before last they didn't get ridden at all which meant by Saturday A hadn't been ridden in a fortnight and M had only been ridden in the school 3 times in a fortnight. Luckily neither is affected by not being ridden. A is no more of a thug than usual and M is no more of a slug! I just accept that they might not be as fit and tailor my work / competing accordingly and then up it slowly as spring approaches.
 
It really does depend on your horse and your hacking.....as someone else said they graze in the wind so they aren't scared of wind per se.

I have been hacking my 3yo out and he's been a total pro but he's not a spooky sort and we don't have fly tippers so not much crap blowing around etc. I've been going out mid day or very early sat when the roads are quieter too.
 
We take the mares out as they are fine even with flapping plastic, but I wouldn't take my 4yo out on his pony. Hence he has ridden once since Halloween :(

Fiona
 
Enfys said:
Same here, I don't fancy having half an oak tree land on top of me :(
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My horses don't hang around long enough for anything to fall on them - went out the other day and branches falling left & right. Horse was somewhat lit up, and shot forwards with each crack but we got home safely (just in double quick time!)

I live in a forest and ride in anything except sheet ice. One of mine is pretty weather proof, the other is a bit unsettled in the wind, but we manage. The more we do, the better she gets. I am lucky that I don't have to go on the road with her though. She's best if given something to think about in the school - jumps, poles, lots of transitions - generally anything that takes her mind off the wind rustling in the trees.
 
Kat said:
I ride in pretty much all weather (only ice stops me hacking, and not just weather I go out when motocross or 10k runs are happening and when hot air balloons are out) and am strongly of the view that the more you get them out and the more they experience the more normal it becomes and the less likely you are to have problems.

People often think that my friend and I hack out in anything because our horses are good. In fact it is the opposite, our horses are good because we get them out and it becomes normal to them.

If you are worried see if you can get someone to walk or cycle with you to give you and your horse confidence.
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^^ I agree *almost* 100%. There are a very few horses that are a bit too hysterical to learn to cope though, I do believe that.

My bombproof worldly horse is only that way because she's been everywhere and done everything. But she's got the right kind of brain to make use of her experiences :) Cob is learning to be that way, which I'm delighted about.
 
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