Winter - does not riding worry you?

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Ilovefoals

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I'm already thinking about winter and how bad it was last year. I didn't have to worry about not being able to ride as both mares had foals who we were gradually weaning so it really didn't matter.

However, I have since brought 1 mare back into work after her having a 4yr break as a broodie and she's proving to be quite quirky. I wont bore with the details but she's currently at my trainers yard so I can get regular help, and I'm hoping to bring her home in september.

I'm starting to worry now about how bad the snow was last year, the freezing temps etc and the fact that I'll be leaving this lovely yard with 2 indoor schools to bring her home to my place with just an outdoor. I'm worrying that if I can't ride, she might go back to her nappy ways but there is no way I can afford to keep her there over winter and pay livery when I have stables and land at my own place. OH is tolerating it just now as it's only for a couple of months.

Does it worry you, not riding in winter? I'm in the North East of Scotland where it's not just a sprinkling of snow. We're talking 2 feet deep and minus 18 degrees at times from nov to jan last year. Do I just write off the weeks where it's too bad to ride and try not to worry? What will you guys be doing?
 
I take a sabbatical, basic maintenance only.

Sometimes I just catch a horse up, jump on and go for a bimble in the forest in the snow. It doesn't bother me at all not riding, but then, my lot are mostly broodies or oldies so it doesn't matter to them, I don't have aspirations to do anything other than go out on the trails anymore so I do not have to bother about keeping a horse fit or schooled.

No point worrying about things you can't change (the weather) lay your mare off and bring her back into work in the Spring.

Our weather is similar to yours (you are actually probably further North than me) -10C is a warm day and snow on the ground generally from November to end of March.

Enjoy your winter.
 
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No but mine is ok to have a break, to me it's enough trying to do all the winter chores without fitting in riding aswell so horse will have a break from November to march/April time xx
 
I ride throughout winter.
We're lucky to have an indoor school which we can book for half an hour per horse per night, if you book one of the later slots quite often you can stay after your time (there's no charge, the limit was introduced in the interest of fairness.) I split the week between flatwork, polework, lungeing and interval training. As I'm now in 6th form I have found that early finishes twice a fortnight have enabled me to start taking a horse on a very very small hack- hopefully in September I will have even more of this free time ;D
On the weekends we usually do 1 trotting hillwork hack and then box to the beach/forest/mountains for some speed work.
When it snows, it ruins all hacks as I will not take my horses out with snow/ice on the roads especially as we're on lanes that have quite a few car accidents per winter, however we are lucky enough to usually be able to get to the yard and can then use the indoor and if not frozen the outdoor arena. We spent last winter using the outdoor arena as a galloping track :cool:
I keep my horses ridden over winter so they can start the endurance season in March fit, not riding wouldn't be a complete disaster for a few weeks but I couldn't give the entire winter off as working them back in spring when all the competitions start would be illogical.
Goodness, I have written an essay:o
 
I have no arena, rubbish non draining clay fields and back roads which never see a gritter. So in the winter riding is very sporadic. I have slowly got to the point where I dont stress about not riding. As long as horses are fed and watered then they are happy. My mare came back into work this spring as a nightmare as I had kept trying to work her when possible over the winter but the ground was not good enough for her to let of steam so we were in a vicous circle of everytime I rode she got wound up as could only walk. This year if she gets the same again I will stop riding until ground is solid enough for 2 weeks lungeing and then get back on her.
 
We are fortunate that where we keep our horses there is an arena that doesn't freeze so we can always exercise the boys.

We have decided not to compete over the winter though, we compete for fun & enjoyment & hanging around in the freezing cold & wet isn't fun so we ain't gonna do it anyore! :)
 
I can't school mine so I am forced to leave her over the winter and just do half an hour at weekends. I never worry about her temperament but I worry about her legs the following spring when getting her fit again, as she's not the most sound horse in the world. I just wish I could school her, then I'd be able to keep her going. She looks in better condition, too, when in work.

I dread winter.
 
Doesn't worry me at all, I'd rather be tucked up beside a cosy fire after doing chores when the weather is foul. :)
 
Yep, I'm very nervous about my first winter with the new pone!

I'm down south (but am all too aware of Scottish winters, being a Highlands girl :p) and the road maintenance isn't good when it snows, so I'm not only worried about riding, I'm worried about getting down to the yard! :( Luckily when I get to the yard we have 2 indoor schools (well, one fully indoor, the other just has a roof covering) I can only keep my fingers crossed that we all have a wet and windy winter instead of the snow.. xx
 
I hate winter. My horses come in every night all year long so the work is still the same!
I am happy if they get ridden twice a week in the winter months, although when its been really bad last yr they went for six weeks! My mare gets nappy and spooky too, when not ridden regularly, so I lunge her first before I get on again!
 
No not at all. Most yards I've been on have had terrible access and as I don't have a 4-wheel drive I've usually had to park on the road and walk when it's been icy. The last several years I've moved both horses in winter to a friend's 12 acre field for at least four months. No shoes or rugs. I move back to the livery yard when the weather improves. They seem to come back into work with a better attitude. In fact the YO thought I'd sent them away for professional schooling over the winter as one horse in particular had improved so much. Last winter I was on a sunny beach in Thailand looking at the horrendous chaos in Britain. No. I don't miss riding at all in the winter.
 
I agree with Enfys, who lives somewhere pretty cold - where DO you live, Enfys, or is that revealing all?!

I grew up in Northumberland, where the winters can be cold and snowy too, though not as bad as Nortern Scotland I would guess. Our horses were kept in because we hunted. When the snow was too deep to ride the horses got turned out instead, every day, for at least a couple of hours. The coldest day was in 1962 when the temperature over night went down to -8F and the crust of the snow supported me when I went to get the gees in.

My horses now live out 24/7 (with access to barns). They did really well (too well) through last winter, and I rode when I could - I always have road nails in anyway and the back roads hadn't been touched by ploughs or gritters.

If you have stabling and land at home, I would just ensure that your mares have good rugs, don't clip them unless you have to which means that their rugs can be lighter and act as wind turners more than duvets, turn them out by day at least with some hay/haylage to nibble on, and let them exercise themselves; then bring them back into work in the spring. Life's too short to be worrying...
 
Mine used to be ridden only at the week ends until I found him a loaner who takes him out atleast once in the week, and then he gets turned out for a few hours in the afternoon which barely keeps him ticking over, he is like a wound up spring in the winter but I know there is nothing I can do about it unless equiping him and me with lights and reflectives and riding him in the dark after work around the tracks (which I have thought of doing).
 
I'm lucky x2 my horse can be left weeks then just get on and go also we have indoor and covered arenas, the problem is often the passage to the arenas is too icy to get to it.
 
Even though we are no way in the same region as you (midlands), winter was very harsh here. Think we got snowed in once or twice!!

What surface do you have and could you/would you be able to top it up with rubber? Ours is silica sand/rubber mix and didn't freeze once. It's a thick enough layer that you can only just see the sand through. We were riding all winter through.

Also, I know it's a long shot and just not convient or appropriate for most people; but ours don't have shoes...so no slipping or snowballing in the feet :)

Don't worry about it now, see how the weather turns this year. Hopefully it will be mild and we'll all be pleasantly surprised!

soulfull said:
the problem is often the passage to the arenas is too icy to get to it.
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Would it not be worth gritting or sacrificing a bale of shavings to put down on the top of it?.....
 
I 'try' to ride all winter these days (old days used to give Nov & Dec off, then bring in during Jan for show prep) as hunting calls.....

However, last Nov & Dec snowfalls even here in the SE, put paid to a lot of riding for a bit.
Don't have schools, so we get straight out hacking (no roadwork either) & usally it works for us :)
 
My old boy has to be kept in constant work due to a back injury he sustained a few years ago now, but my mare tends to get about 4 weeks off round about Xmas time, just due to the fact that I have worked over this period every year, my gelding used to get this 4 weeks off until his injury.

I dont have a school so most of my winter riding is hacking or getting lessons.
 
I live somewhere SO hot that the winter is the best time to ride! I dread the three months of the summer - although we can ride at night, which is nice.

The two years we lived in Galicia were a nightmare (climate like the UK) I reckon we only rode about 4 times all winter. I can genuinely say that if I lived in the UK I don't think I would bother to have horses as the expense of keeping them for the amount of riding I could do wouldn't be worth it.
 
Rose Folly said:
I agree with Enfys, who lives somewhere pretty cold - where DO you live, Enfys, or is that revealing all?!
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Southern Ontario :) We have it warm here, a friend in Yellowknife accepts -35C as normal :( That would be pretty nippy in my book.
 
Nikkimariet - we have a very rubbish woodchip surface down which was there when we moved in. We are looking into replacing it tho I have to say, it didn't freeze last year. My main worry is it usually gets a wee bit cold, then chucks it down with snow which then lies for weeks and weeks. It was so deep last year, in some places it was up to my thighs! But usually it's a foot at least :( She is barefoot which isn't an issue as far as feet snow balls go tho which is good. I guess I'm just worried with her being a bit quirky, that she might go back to her old nappy ways with lack of work, but on the otherhand, a little time off might give her the chance to digest all she's learned over the summer. Do you think?
 
I've had my current horse two years - I found the first winter quite stressful, he is better in regular work and I didn't have a school and the awful weather/my full time job meant I was lucky if I rode him once every three weeks in an indoor school when safe enough to get the trailer out. I've got three other ponies too on DIY - winter is hard work even without riding..

Last winter I threw the towel in when it snowed in November.. I bought him back in to work Feb/March and he was great - I think the break did us both good. He lives out 24/7 too and I think this helped keep up some of his fitness levels.

I'm going to play this winter by ear - if it's bad in December again I wont think twice about packing in riding for a few months.
 
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