What are your winter must haves?

NLPM

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Turnouts with liners.

A long waterproof coat that I can ride in and have dry thighs (otherwise I freeze!), and carry haynets etc. without hay sticking to damp jods.

A thermos. Might be full of coffee; might be full of mulled wine.

Enough hay to avoid panics later on when we get unexpected snow in February, and then March... and then again in April.

I also like to have a massive organising session before winter really sets in, so I can find things very quickly (& without falling over other things) in the dark/cold. I have NO interest in taking my gloves off to fight with the lids of plastic boxes to see whether the rug I want is 'maybe in this one...'.
 

Surbie

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Decent waterproofs, spare batteries for worklights and headtorch, 25L water containers to put in the stable when it's freezing, enough haynets that I can do a good few days' worth in advance.

I've just been winter-proofing our storage area for me & the other DIY on my yard. I've hung hooks for haynets, barricaded ratholes & put up bike hooks so we can hang wet rugs from the ceiling. Also brought my stepladder over so we can reach the bike hooks...
 

meleeka

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My own little field with a hard standing and stables. No turning out and bringing in needed, I just shout 😀

A properly waterproof coat.

Properly waterproof boots

A large wheelbarrow with puncture proof tyres and good quality mucking out tools.
 

Keith_Beef

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Right now I’d really like sandy soils that drain, rather then clay!

If that’s not possible, I find hard standing, a shelter for a round bale, waterproofs and a good torch essential.

Oh, yes!

Where I live now is sandy; it can chuck it down all day and all night for three days in a row, and on the fourth day, you can hack out and on the fifth day you'd not even know there'd been a deluge.

On the other hand, during a dry spell if you hack out in a group you have to get used to being in a perpetual cloud of fine dust.
 

chaps89

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Spare set of clothes in the car for that 1 time you get soaked through even though you had your 'waterproofs' on.

Re-proofed or new waterproofs.

A good number of haynets that don't have holes etc in so you can do a few days/a weeks supply at a time.

Comfortable wellies.

Hard-core around the gateways, not just a few feet in.
 

dogatemysalad

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Good friends on the yard who will help out in an emergency and who smile between gritted teeth on those freezing, dark muddy mornings. It's a smile that horse owners recognise. It means they'd still rather be here with their horses than lying in bed, even in the most extreme weather conditions.
 

NLPM

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Good friends on the yard who will help out in an emergency and who smile between gritted teeth on those freezing, dark muddy mornings. It's a smile that horse owners recognise. It means they'd still rather be here with their horses than lying in bed, even in the most extreme weather conditions.

Off topic, but your comment about 'it's a smile that horse owners recognise' reminded me of a lady I met a few years ago.
It was snowing and I'd had to abandon the car at the bottom of a hill, and I was struggling to carry my haynets up the hill. The flu didn't make it easier. A lady passed me with her kids and their sledges, heading up the hill - she immediately took the haynets off me, put them on the kids' sledges and off we went. She said it was absolutely nothing and laughed about how she used to have horses and knew all about horrible winters. It may have been nothing to her but I thought it was really kind and I was SO grateful... too ill to tell her really though, unfortunately, so she probably thought I was actually just very surly!

OP, I think I'd add 'sledge' to my list if you're ever likely to need to take anything uphill in winter...
 
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