Riding out in icy conditions do you?

biggingerpony

biggingerpony

Well-Known Member
Joined
8 March 2009
Messages
899
Visit site
I was always taught not to ride when its icy. But I've seen increasing number of people on here that they say they do.

I feel that not only are horses at risk of slipping but cars may have less control on the roads.

I have no problem riding on freshly fallen snow in the field, its actually great fun! But would never risk it on the lanes.

Do you ride when icy? And if you do why? And do you take any extra precautions?
 
No, not when the roads are icy. Will ride on snow, the dry powdery stuff or will ride in the menage if it has a good surface.
However was long lining down the lanes yesterday morning when it was icy. Horse was fine but I nearly slipped over a few times.
 
Absolutely not a chance. Foolish and Extreamly dangerous..!

My friends horse slipped on ice coming in from field, it broke its back. Imagine if a rider was on board. We have a door leading to indoor school from stable block so when I've I'd bad we don't have to risk out horses or our necks on ice.
 
Weather doesn't really have any bearing on whether I ride or not, if I don't fancy it because the weather is totally crapp, I don't, but I have ridden in every thing, rain sleet snow wind frost ice fog light dark, I try to stay away from traffic, but sometimes the road is the only place as it's gritted, riding is always a risk, I think it depends on your animal, mine tends to know it's slippy and goes accordingly, some years back we set off about 4 oclock, the temp suddenly dropped, by the time we were coming back it was slippy as hell, an illegal trial bike came up behind us, he was like Bambi on ice but kept sensible, the biker switched his engine off and we slithered back to the yard, if you have an animal that acts stupid regardless, then it's obviosly a no go, same as riding in the dark, if your animal is ok with it then it gives you confidence which your horse picks up on ect, if you have a stupid horse then it's a non starter, trying it for the first time is the tricky bit ;)
 
Interesting differences in opinion!

Pedantic - I think its great that you have that relationship with your horse but surely when the roads are gritted they only reach the middle of the road, not the sides where you would be riding?

I definately would not like to risk it myself! Shes the type of horse to trip over a stick lying across a path, sooo clumsy!
 
No, personally I'd never ever do it. Its just not worth it IMO. Imagine if something happened and the horse slipped and broke a leg out on the road, how awful that would be, and how guilty you'd feel for evermore afterwards - and I suspect the insurance wouldn't pay out either coz they'd say you were irresponsible for being there in the first place. So no, a big no-no as far as I'm concerned. Yes its frustrating not being able to ride if the roads are slippy, but at least if the horses are turned out in the field they can't be falling down on the ice.

The problem with riding in snow is that you have no idea what's underneath; it could be a sheet of ice underneath and you wouldn't know it.
 
I'm not so worried about how the horse will deal with it - I'm more concerned about drivers. They may have less control. I know from my own experience how dodgy it is driving in icy conditions. I don't want someone skidding at me.
 
Absolutely not for me.

Rode out on a cold winters day (no snow,and no apparent ice on the hack i was going to take),came to some black ice i hadnt seen at a road junction. My poor boy nearly went down on his knee's and i was nearly thrown under a car. He was fantastic and recovered himself...but scared the c*ap out of me.
 
Don't go on the roads now as did once a few winters ago & got caught out on icy lanes, luckily my horse is very obliging & didn't mind me getting on & off every 10 mins to squeeze him past bad bits on narrow verges! Last yard the school wasn't good & froze a lot,1st full winter at new yard so hoping this school will be better. Also we can ride in several huge fields at the yard, this morning the drive wasn't icy so I went down to one of the fields for a couple of circuits in trot & canter as ground wasn't hard.
 
ebonyallen said:
No never, I value my horse far too much, would never forgive myself if something were to happen, just because I wanted to ride.
Click to expand...

^^ This

The roads around my yard can get really, really icy - in fact as I was leaving tonight, 2 cars, one of them a 4x4 had got stuck on black ice coming up the short hill to the yard.

This is why I'm disliking this icy spell we are having as we're pretty much stuck on the yard!
 
Don't risk it........though when I had to ride out horses we were training for pointing - we just rode along the gritted roads - dull, and we would ride for a couple of miles and come back the same way (which for fresh racehorses, is a veritable nightmare) When it snowed, it was wonderful and steep roads could be used as gallops, I once won first time out, using that training method!!
 
Shy is having a nice rest from riding atm - not even sure I'm going to risk taking him across the yard to his field if it gets really bad (kept him in last year when it was slippy). He only has little legs.
 
Great to hear everyones opinions :) I'd always been taught never to ride out when icy and never have done. I just wouldn't risk it! Just I'd seen a few threads were people had said they were riding out in ice etc.and just wanted to see other peoples p.o.v.:)
 
biggingerpony said:
Great to hear everyones opinions :) I'd always been taught never to ride out when icy and never have done. I just wouldn't risk it! Just I'd seen a few threads were people had said they were riding out in ice etc.and just wanted to see other peoples p.o.v.:)
Click to expand...

My guess is that those who ride out when it's icy haven't had the misfortune of seeing it go horribly wrong.... :(
 
No i won't ever ride out in icy conditions whether that is roads or tracks as ice can be just as bad on the tracks as it is on roads. My horses mean far too much to me to risk damaging them through riding them when it is icy, i would never forgive myself if i lost one of them through it.
I couldn't believe it this morning when i saw someone riding out on the roads around here this morning. The roads were terrible and the cars were slipping quite badly so certainly not safe to be out on a horse.
 
I would never ride out when it's icy. Last year I was hacking out and my horse slipped on a shiny, worn patch of Tarmac (spring day, no ice!), he fell down on top of me and it was the most awful feeling. He got straight back up thankfully and there wasn't so much as a scratch on him but it was terrifying and Could have been disastrous for him, and me. So given that happened on a nice spring day I'm very choosy about road surfaces now and would never go out in ice.
 
Never ever ever!
After having Rosie fall oven on me as we walked across the gritted yard i vowed never to ride in bad conditions. I value mine and my horses life too much thanks!
But not only do the horses have less grip but the cars aren't as safe either so i just would not trust the roads when icy.
 
Back in the 1950s I used to ride whatever the road conditions....wearing 3 pairs of pants sometimes to keep warm!! But, even though the ponies were shod we smeared their soles with grease and out we went. We kept to our local lanes but in those days drivers were considerate and slowed down so you could turn around and ride past the stationary vehicle!! Nowadays, even with no ice, I won't ride on the roads!! Todays riders are SCARY!!
 
I do, but only because I'm lucky enough to not have to ride on any roads. I've got one to plait up for hunting and then four to exercise today - all will be being hacked out as our new school is still a few days away from being finished. I have ridden on icy roads, but if I can avoid it, I do.
 
Nope, we're on hilly v rural roads, so no chance of a gritter either! Not worth the risk, if this carrys on then they'll have a few weeks off and we'll simply have to suck it up!!
If it is deep snow and I know the ground well then we'll take a potter around the field in the snow, but never on the road or unknown ground.

At the end of the day it is my decision to take them over whatever ground, that is a responsibility because they'll do as I ask, so it is a decision to be taken carefully when our lovely girls have such trust. Wouldn't risk them for the world.
 
Ludoctro said:
Absolutely not a chance. Foolish and Extreamly dangerous..!

My friends horse slipped on ice coming in from field, it broke its back. Imagine if a rider was on board. We have a door leading to indoor school from stable block so when I've I'd bad we don't have to risk out horses or our necks on ice.
Click to expand...

Absolutely No. I have been caught out on lane before(not icy at home but on exposed road etc turned and went home immediately). Have been out on soft snow but as a rule definitely stupid to ride in icy conditions putting horse and rider at risk. Look at A&E how the broken limbs rocket due to ice.
 
Ice is the only weather condition I refuse to ride in.

Every road out of our village yesterday had a car accident on it. There is no way I'd risk my horse falling or a car sliding into us.

Wind, rain, hail and sun no prob. Ice presents a risk factor that can't be controlled with the best behaved horse or most aware driver.
 
I don't risk it, either. My test is the driveway to the field, which is quite steep and uphill. If he slips even once on that I turn back. When he was younger I don't remember ever turning back, so I don't know if he's less careful, I'm more scared, weather is worse for longer, or what.

The trouble is, round here it tends to ice up and THEN snows. I'm already have to take a run up to get over the large icy patch on the uphill lane (underground spring which has flooded the road since year dot). So, I rarely get to ride in snow, either. Shame, as I used to love it, but it never just snows round here. Always icy first!

ETA: My riding is all off road, too, so it's not so much the lane that I cross, but the ruts once I get onto the byway. It's just not enjoyable for either of us!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top