Riding in windy weather

I can ride mine out on the lanes with it howling a gale and he doesn't seem to mind. On Saturday his hi viz sheet was blowing so badly that it was only his tail holding it down, the fillet string was rammed right up his bottom like a thong, poor lad :D he doesn't care, and was quite happy to shove his head down to have a graze or smell pooh left on the road whilst it did so!
 
milliepops said:
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.
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Oh I am not worried about the horse, she can look after herself, she's 17, been there, done that, got all the badges :) I am worried about me, and also I do tend to consider my family, who probably wouldn't be very happy if something happened to me when I was being foolhardy.

I don't fancy being dumped, maybe injured, in minus stupid degrees, in the forest, in 3 feet of snow.
 
A friend and I went to the beach on Saturday! We did wonder what the heck we were thinking when we arrived and the car park was practically a sand storm... but then other mad people turned up with their horses, so we decided to crack on :)

Getting from the car park onto the beach was interesting... but once out there, it was ok. Very, very blustery; especially when riding into the wind but once we got going it wasn't so bad. Got a few good canters in. Both horses very good, not keen on getting their toes wet though! Don't blame them, the water was a little choppy! But was a fun day. 40-50mph winds according to the coast guard.

B is quite chill in most situations. He could cope with this, but the sound of wind blowing on the walls of the indoor make him jumpy... There are some horses who we wouldn't have even considered taking!

Def a case of know your horse!
 
Enfys said:
Oh I am not worried about the horse, she can look after herself, she's 17, been there, done that, got all the badges :) I am worried about me, and also I do tend to consider my family, who probably wouldn't be very happy if something happened to me when I was being foolhardy.

I don't fancy being dumped, maybe injured, in minus stupid degrees, in the forest, in 3 feet of snow.
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No, granted :p
I'm footloose and fancy free, so perhaps I have a different attitude because of that :wink3:
 
I took out my 4yo on his own on Saturday, precisely because it was windy and I wanted to challenge him. I did think the rattling bunting and flags outside the car garage might get him on his toes, but it turns out even the recent addition of an 8ft inflatable snowman wasn't enough to get a reaction.
 
pennyturner said:
I took out my 4yo on his own on Saturday, precisely because it was windy and I wanted to challenge him. I did think the rattling bunting and flags outside the car garage might get him on his toes, but it turns out even the recent addition of an 8ft inflatable snowman wasn't enough to get a reaction.
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Haha, the best thing about the gales has been it's discouraged people from putting up their Christmas inflatables, so riding through the little estate at the end of lane has been pretty uneventful so far. TBH hacking out, windy or not, is always a bit of an adventure, you never know what you will meet and sometimes I'm astounded at what my horse passes without a second glance and what winds him up. As I hack on several single track lanes, i do like to be able to hear the traffic, not because Mr B is a problem but I do need to be able to get into a passing place pdq with some drivers.
 
If I waited for a nice day I'd never ride. Sometimes the wind works to my advantage pony may be going sideways past a flappy thing and a gust of wind blows her back in the right direction :P
I really hate wind though but I've had to get used to it, I grew up near a forest but I now live in a very open, arable land, there's no woodland at all, and the site of a few wind mills so is always pretty windy, even when everywhere else isn't! People joke that my house is like wuthering heights lol I don't particularly enjoy being blasted out the saddle with wind, so I wouldn't go far in v strong winds but I work shifts so when I'm off I ride. Horse needs exercise and will miss out otherwise. The only things I don't hack out in is thunder storms, torrential rain and dark. (Although all of these have happened at some point, when I've been caught out etc!)
 
No weather stops me riding my cob. She has to be exercised for health reasons every single day so we just crack on. She is a mega cob tho and I know she doesn't care about any weather.

Before she was diagnosed I was like most people and could always find reasons not to ride when it was horrible.

However now, as long as I have the right clothing I can honestly say I have absolutely loved every single ride since she came back to work in Feb. Treasured them actually.
 
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