The more nervous amongst you .................

B

Bert&Maud

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Do you find you are more nervous when it's windy? It's been blowing hard here all day, and I've been feeling really anxious about riding my young horse (totally unfounded, he's not put a foot wrong in nearly 3 months), so in the end I lunged him. Typically, once I'd put him to bed and fed him the wind dropped!
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Well I think your anxiety is justified as I think most people will say that horses can be more exciteable on a windy day. Maybe you are feeling the vibe from your horse subconciously?
 
horses rely on their hearing alot, and cannot hear well in the wind, which makes them 'exciteable' (actually makes them nervous).

I don't ride in high winds for this reason, no point in stressing the horse out for the sake of it.
 
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horses rely on their hearing alot, and cannot hear well in the wind, which makes them 'exciteable' (actually makes them nervous).

I don't ride in high winds for this reason, no point in stressing the horse out for the sake of it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Ditto Charlie.
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Even the most sane horses can become stressy when hacked out in high winds, so really no point in making yourself and your horse nervous.

I think you made the right decision.
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Yup. I was thinking about hacking Berlin out on our own today (Berlin tends to nap and I'm not brave enough to smack him one and tell him to get on with it! It's pure naughtyness as he's fine with his owner) but the wind and my present condition (no stomach muscles, schooled a very stubborn pony yesterday and we both worked hard!) meant that I ended up schooling. Berlin still spooked and was a general pig-headed pain in the backside. Turned out he needed a pee but still, he could have insisted on stopping but he decided to be naughty instead!
IMO for my situation, Berlin is not mine and I'm only riding him until I get my horse back in the summer, and/or buy a new horse. He has many issues and so do I, and although I have fun doing what I do on him (hacking in company, lots of schooling, hoping to do some dressage, going to riding club camp) I have no desire to push it any further (say jumping - he has a pole phobia) and risk losing my confidence. It took my horse eight months to get my confidence back, and my last share took me further in six months, and now I have been fairly "static" in confidence levels in the last six months I am probably at more risk of going backwards. Therefore Berlin and I enjoy doing what we do best!
Enjoyment is the main thing.
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I really HATE riding in the wind, especially as several of ours are quite spooky at the best of times.
I was trying a possible new pony today, so I guess it was a good test, and he was very good!
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I will ride in the wind but today was too much, I could not hear myself think and barely walk across the field in it...not safe to be on the roads in that!
 
I rode today although the wind had died down considerably but he was still a total arse
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I did lunge first and he looked ok hence the decision to ride, normally I wouldn't though!!!
 
I don't like it much, and I do feel more nervous, especially on my TB- although this is also quite unfounded. He's stupid and spooky about little things, but actually quite alright in the wind. I did ride out the ponio though today and she was a bit on her toes but otherwise fine. Have to say, I wish we hadn't gone on the road though because, as pottamus says, it was difficult to hear cars.
 
I never ride when it is really windy. It just isn't worth it, so I long line or do some groundwork instead.
 
I rode in the wind today, took my tb up to the mountain for a gallop, little bit more spooky than normal, but manageble. We both enjoyed ourselves. I think for me it depends on how strong the wind is
 
I am quite lucky that my mare is quite bombproof on the roads, including flapping plastic from wrapped bales etc - the thing I don't like is not being able to hear the traffic coming up behind us!
 
The wind here was beyond ridable in, plus I worry when hacking about being able to hear traffic behind me. I think I would have blown off today, couldn't cross the yard in a straight line.
 
I lunged in the end too - my mare is spooky enough as it is, plus when I took the dog up the hill it was hard enough staying on my feet let alone sitting on top of a nutcase mare!
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I'm a nervous rider with a lovely but silly warmblood and if i ride in the indoor school when it's really windy, the whole thing shakes and rattles and my mare freaks out and swings her hindquarters all over the place and wriggles but sometimes i deliberately ride her on windy days when i'm feeling brave just to try and work through it...

most of the time i just chuck her in a pen though.
 
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