Things I love about winter

[Flicker]

Just to get me through the things I hate about winter, I started a little list in my head. Feel free to add:
No flies
Cats spending a lot of time indoors, with me.
A well clipped horse in a smart quarter sheet is a beautiful sight to behold.
Putting cold hands under toasty warm rugs.
Slow roast meat.
Crisp morning hacks with steam breathing horses.
Riding outdoors under floodlights - you feel alone in the world, in a bubble of light.
Dubarry boot warmers.
Hot, soaking baths defrosting frozen limbs (usually after crisp morning hacks)
Hot drinks and hot mashes for the horses.
Snuggling down with a hot water bottle, listening to the wind's howl and the rain's tattoo on the glass, knowing the cats are with you on the bed and the horse is tucked up in his box, munching hay.

What have I missed?

 

[Lucky788]

Excellent list!. I love nothing more than wrapping up warm and hacking out on a blustery winters day, great for clearing the mind!

 

[lewis2015]

Lovely list I actually love lots about winter! Warm mashes for the horses is my fave thing

 

[AmieeT]

I love winter too, not this 'winter' so far!

 

[Enfys]

For me.
Little to no rain.
No mud.
No bugs.
Ski pants.
Snow boots
The fact that I no longer consider minus 10 particularly cold
Yaktrax
That no-one panics the end of the world is nigh when it snows


Going for rides with friends and back for chilli and hot toddies, which is where I am going right now.

 

[Enfys]

Riding in the snow, which is falling pretty fast right now.

 

[Flicker]

Those of you who have snow are so lucky! Nothing nicer than that satisfying crunch underfoot!

 

[Flicker]

Excellent list!. I love nothing more than wrapping up warm and hacking out on a blustery winters day, great for clearing the mind!

Yes, it totally blows the cobwebs away and leaves you feeling tingly all over

 

[Spilletta]

I'm very impressed with that positive list - good idea! The older I get, the worse I'm getting for disliking the cold and wet. Don't even like "good" cold, where it's sunny, crisp and dry. Always think the idea of skiing is madness

However, I do enjoy a nice soak in the bath and curling up in bed with a cat or two, and a good book, early doors. That's not quite the same in summer!

 

[Greylegs]

Things I love about winter ....

Clipping (I know I'm weird,but I love it and having a very hairy horse, it's very satisfying to get a load of hair off him). ...
Frosty mornings ... Not that we've had many of those, but I live in hope.
Being able to wear my winter stuff, like woolly bobble hats, thick jumpers and quilted jackets ...
Winter food .... Casseroles, home made soup, chilli, hot chocolate ... Yum ....

... Winter isn't all bad, and the next thing to come along is spring .... Yippee!

 

[Fiona]

Err nothing, especially this one....

Roll on spring, at least the days are getting longer now.

Fiona

 

[CrazyEquestrian]

Clipping is one of my favourite things about winter, I love it!

 

[MrsMozart]

Hot chocolate!

 

[twiggy2]

frost-I really really really want some really hard frosts, the ones that last for days accompanied by clear skies and bright moons-we have not had weather like that for a few years and I miss it

 

[dominobrown]

frost-I really really really want some really hard frosts, the ones that last for days accompanied by clear skies and bright moons-we have not had weather like that for a few years and I miss it

Love those kind of days.
Also when the horses are snuggled up for the night and i am on the sofa listening to the rain on the windows outside
Obvioudly there is nstional hunt racing, pointing and hunting too.

 

[Notimetoride]

No flies and no sweet itch. My pony really suffers in summer so i spend all summer up to my elbows in smelly sweet itch lotions, and end up wearing more seriously stinky fly spray than she does (accidentally that is - I don't choose to wear it!). Also have to strip graze with elec fencing and am regularly zapped by it 😖. I love summer but it can be more hard work than winter.

 

[maisie06]

There is NOTHING I like anout UK winters, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain, rain and more and more and more rain, mud , mud mud mud ,mud and more and more mud. Beacuse of all this crap rain I will have to give up my horses as new yard can't be finsihed and field lease runs out in this month leaving them homeless. Will be ringing around dealers monday to see if someone wants them.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

TBH, I can't think of much to like about this winter;
the high winds earlier in the week blew a roof panel of one of our stables and it wasn't safe to put it back until 36 hrs later, so the poor mare spent another night with part of her stable open to the elements,
the Draft mare has a fungal infection from being too hot all the time, she has had to have a bib clip and has broken half a dozen fence posts trying to rub on them, she also decided to rub her bum on the gate and destroyed it in the process, managing to cut her leg at the same time,
we are up to our knees in mud all the time,
my bedroom sprung a leak when we had high wind and extreme rain (think its the gutter).

On the plus side, though, after yesterday's thunder and lightning, we had a spectacular full double rainbow and an incredible light quality. Fingers crossed for some frost!

 

[JustKickOn]

Bobble hats

 

[DragonSlayer]

At the moment, all the horses resemble bog monsters, so not enjoying this winter at the moment.....so not TOO much going on with ours, they can stay bog monsters! When riding, the important bits get cleaned only!

...but I have two Trec events coming up from next week, so a bucket of hot water will be needed to tackle manky tails at least....

UGH!

 

[Limbo1]

Being in a stable listerning to the wind and rain outrside
Fires
Woodburner
Being in bed hearing the wind blow.
soup
furry ponies

 

[Princess16]

Crisp frosty mornings
Doing my pony's net and feed and seeing him standing waiting for it getting all excited (he lives out so only feed in winter)
Hot soup, casseroles, comfort food
Mulled wine at Xmas
Drawing the curtains and sitting under my cosy blanket watching TV

But TBH there is nothing I like about this horrible wet mild and muddy weather! Give me frosty and sunny any day

 

[Enfys]

Those of you who have snow are so lucky! Nothing nicer than that satisfying crunch underfoot!

Our snow has ice on top of it right now, only a couple of inches so not much in the grand scheme of things. I do feel for those of you who are still being rained on.

We did have a fab ride though, and lovely, lovely hot cider and loads of food when we got back, I had to leave (a nice warm house, good company and booze) early to ride home and even then I didn't make it before dark, all the others are still over there and other than tacking the horse up again I have no transport here, and I am not walking a mile back along spooky dark lanes

 

[Enfys]

frost-I really really really want some really hard frosts, the ones that last for days accompanied by clear skies and bright moons-we have not had weather like that for a few years and I miss it

Oh I hate frosts when the ground is so hard the poor horses are tippy toeing about, on the other hand, it is a darn sight better than mud I do admit.

 

[flirtygerty]

Def not this wet n windy winter, but I love
no disagreements about coming in (very wet field)
going to barn to find contented horses munching hay, just love the sound of them eating
having time to groom/pamper them
home made soup
Hot toddies
open fires