Winter is coming and I'm not ready for it yet

[Kenzo]

Well I think I may of just had my lask week day hack last night or possibly this evening, its a mad dash from work to the yard, quick change in the car, a sprint across the field to catch them and tack thrown on with not a brush in sight lol

, yes the nights are now drawing in and the think the curtain closed at what time...6:45 - 7ish last night? its depressing only being able to hack out at weekends.

So its back to school work during the week *yawns* riding in a badly floot lit manage on cold wintery evenings, oh they joys of Autumn!

Just being nosey really, wondering how many of you change your horses work load/type of exercise etc through the winter, is it because you choose to for example you may concentrate more on a certain discipline through winter...say hunting or due to lack of shows then perhaps dressage etc or are you forced to change what you do purely down to the the yard your on, due to lack of facilities/day light/time and lack of competitions that you usually do through summer etc?

Or can you keep an even keel all year round?

Do you ever feel that the current yard you are on, is in a way holding you back from progressing with your horse?

General chin wag really

 

[SonnysHumanSlave]

well im only working part time, so nothing really changes for me. Some days i know only 1 of the two will get ridden, due to me being miserable in the weather, they are not really doing anything over winter so im sure they wont mind!!

 

[Kayfm]

My horse is at the peak of fitness at the mo, however not sure I can continue in this way throughout the winter. Will try and lunge 2 nights and ride 2 nights in the week - weather permitting then hack out at weekends. Going to compete lightly through out the winter. I hate winter in all respects, not just horses. I hate all of the darkness not to mention freezing to death !!!

 

[Shazzababs]

I know what you mean. I have switched this week to riding at lunchtime on the 2 days I work from home (Weds and Thurs). Monday is his day off, as we do the local pub quiz, and I do the riding in the semi lit menage thing on a Tuesday.

In the summer I hack out or jump on Fridaysafter work too, but in the winter I will ride in the school if I didn't on Tues, but otherwise he gets an extra day off.

The dark evenings seam to make me knackered and lazy.

 

[Kenzo]

Arh well that's not too bad then if your working part time, I wish I could...but then I wouldnt be able to afford a horse then so errrhhh maybe not!

I'll have my work cut out this winter because I'm bring sh*tbag back into work after his summer off so I'm not exactly looking forward to it and I'm sure he's not either, I guess I'm just building myself up for it the battle and cold nights ...and the mucking out

 

[beckieswann]

During the week I'm trying to stick to this, however I will be rota'd on at different times soon so no doubt it will go tits up!

Monday - ride
Tuesday - groundwork (getting used to poles ,, building confidence etc)
Wednesday - Lunge
Thursday - Ride
Friday - Day off
Sat - Lesson
Sun - Hack

Ideally, i'd like to have my lesson during the week so I can hack out both days, but my instructor is a busy bee!

However when I'll be finishing 7 at night and starting at 10, that week I'll be lucky to ride!!

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

I exercise 6 days a week - horses always have Sundays off. Also have every other Wednesday off if hunting on the Tuesday. I leave at 7 a.m in the dark and exercise for an hour a day. I take the dog too so kill 2 birds with 1 stone!!

 

[TGM]

We don't have an arena and my daughter is at school, so has to ride late afternoon/early evening. Once the weather gets really wet it is too slippery to ride in the field at home, so she has to hack to use a friend's arena. We can keep this up until about the end of November when it is too dark to ride back from the school on the road. Then the pony will only be ridden at weekends for about three weeks until the Christmas holidays - as she is working quite hard up to this point we find she doesn't lose a lot of fitness. Christmas holidays mean she can be worked more frequently again, then back to school means a couple of weeks of weekends only again, then it starts being light enough to get down to the school again.

 

[Spotsrock]

If anything I ride more int he winter as I am on the yard mucking out anyway and there's less else fun going on ie BBQ's, pool parties etc!! Also I think t does Beau good to get back into a routine and a bit more schooling after the summer at shows most weekends and hacking most days!! Still go out jumping in the winter and hack out at weekends but concentrate on our education and development in the school more in the winter.

 

[Hippona]

I'm same as you Kenzo- hacking on a weekend only and arena work in the evenings if I can be bothered- dark nights make me want to go home and snuggle down....

...I seem to do more lunge work in the winter, as it takes less time to sort the horse out before and after....its my mission to get the pony fit and more muscled for next years shows and keep the old lad going in general.

 

[JenTaz]

i still ride every day apart from a saturday durin the winter he gets lunged 4 times a week then we go for a wee hack with all our hi viz and our head torch on the go he cant handle not getting ridden he fizz's up to much that he can become slightly dangerous if not we ride in the school and do flat work and jumping we have all weather gallops as well so makes it easier to keep him fit

 

[millyspaniel]

Am very lucky as i am self employed so choose to work when i want and even then it max of 2 hrs per week.
My horses all live out year round i have no menage but theres one just down the road which i can hire.
I have a lesson every week and just started hacking out on my own in the mornings, shes been a little star this morning

 

[Sol]

Livery yard I'm on has the largest outdoor arena which is floodlit for use every night - and then there is another outdoor, small indoor which can be used to an extent for free by the liveries, and the large indoor for hire all winter

Can't hack as much as I'd like to, but means I can still carry on the same pretty much

I usually only hack out as an extra.

First winter on a decent yard! Can't wait!

 

[BayJosie]

My mare is pregnant this winter and I've stopped riding her. This might sound off but I'm so thankful in a way becuase it means a winter off from being down the school on my own, having to turn off the horrible lights and always been cold when riding! I can spend my winter evenings giving her a lovely groom, being all wrapped up and warm!

 

[Taffyhorse]

I hate riding after dark (even with a floodlit menage) - I just get tired and lazy in the winter. Normally when the clocks go back I ride Tues and Thurs mornings before work - luckily yard is just down the road and can go in a bit late and then ride sat and sun. Work tends to be a mixture of lungeing, schooling and hacking and we are also lucky enough to have an all weather canter track.

 

[karenjj]

Last year my boy was at a livery yard and I rode most nights after work in the outdoor floodlit school but this year he is at home so I have no idea, it gets very muddy. I will still be having lessons at the weekend down the road so will hopefully get to hire out the school in the week as well? Whether I'll actually manage this or not is another thing! I get tired and lazy too! I'm not ready either! AGH!

 

[KatB]

I've got an outdoor floodlit school, but my girl is only 4 so wont be schooled every night!! She will be lunged once a week, schooled/pole work maybe once or twice in the week, put on the walker once or twice a week, and then hacked at the weekends.... so a relatively busy but not "hard" work for her

 

[Kenzo]

That's the problem I worry about really, big lad needs plenty of exersise but I don't want to bore him, it really sends him stale doing school work as he's really come on this summer so I don't want to spoil it as for Mr M, well I need the safety of the school anyway

but he won't be doing too much due to his age and at the moment his fitness etc, just bores me so I know it must bore them.

 

[Theresa_F]

I can only exercise four days a week so not a huge difference - I like to do ground work and school on Tuesday and Thursdays and more fun stuff or am out showing at the weekends. I rarely get to the yard before 7.30 - 8 in the week and also have to poo pick so don't get a huge amount more time than winter.

Mondays in winter, school is used by the dog club so I don't do anything, but in summer, I can get out for a nice hack if I want to.

I am also doing more jumping and hacking at the moment at the weekends as show season is over and this is what I want to concentrate on up to Christmas along with a bit of dressage and maybe some hunting to give us a change of work.

 

[Ranyhyn]

I change my horses, though his sharer will help immensely as she may be able to ride some daytimes, but for me, he will only be out on the weekends.
Have to say though so looking forward to crisp, bright sunny days hacking with billows of vapour from our noses (more from his though!

)

 

[Coffee_Bean]

Well at least most of you can ride. My dear cripple is limited to hacking, so down to riding twice a week

When she was in full work she would be schooled three times, probably including poles once a week, and have a couple of days off.

 

[lilym]

I really miss my evening hacks, in winter i make an effort to hack in the morning, and do some schooling in the eves - i also do alot more groundwork, longreining and laterals - NOT parelli!!

 

[Ziggy_]

My old yard was hopeless in the winter, the school used to flood after each day of rain and the hacking was pretty poor, and all roadwork - so hacking during the week was out of the question too.

All we could do was hack out at weekends and get the odd day in the school when it was dry enough, every couple of weeks. The school was tiny anyway so jumping etc was out of the question over the winter. I gave up riding last winter and turned my horse away for the winter instead.

My new yard, totally different story. We've got an indoor school, properly maintained outdoor school, and direct access to off road hacking. I'll be popping down the beach at 6am tomorrow morning for a canter before getting to work at 10, and I'm planning to really work on our dressage over the winter as we hold comps every two weeks so plenty of chances to improve our scores.

It sounds like I'm boasting, but I searched high and low for a yard like this. I found out too late last year that my mare can't cope with time off due to her bone spavin, she gets so stiff she becomes unlevel, and then I have to get the physio out as it throws her back out as well. She never has been a horse you can ride once or twice a week, she needs regular, varied work or she gets bored and really plays up (think rearing and spinning on hind legs, taking off out hacking, you name it). Juggling keeping her exercised with a full time job isn't easy but hopefully my new yard will make things easier this winter.