Horsey people! And non horsey people!

[inforthewin]

I know I could post on the tack room but there isn’t always traffic there.

does anyone else (horsey people and non horsey people!) feel completely miserable at the fact it’s almost winter?

I had to bring in my horse from the field and he was completely CAKED in mud- it suddenly hit me that summer is over. Bring on the rain, mud, wind and freezing cold. 6 months of utter misery!

I could cry at the thought of freezing hands, muddy horses, swampy fields and icy roads. I swear there should be a devision of seasonal affected disorder specifically for equestrians being miserable with winter.

countdown to summer begins🤞🏻

I am also endlessly grateful I am no longer on a livery yard for winter - no stressing that mine are the last ones left out and doing the wall of death when other liveries (who don't work for a living!) bring theirs in at 2pm because it's raining. Mine all have access to shelters and couldn't care less what the weather is doing. Also no more worrying that exceptionally wet weather is going to mean stabling 24/7.

No stables, no mucking out, no rugs. (The only rideable one gets a bib clip but no rug as she's fat!). I still don't like winter and horses but, my god, it's so much easier on my own little place!

Oh god, the wind! Just had a fun half hour of trying not to get killed catching stupid mares that think every tree is out to get them.

The two I look after are now retired, I'm attempting not to rug mine this year as he seemed to get too hot last year even in the worst of the weather and he lived in a lw most of the year anyways and was still fat, they get hay everyday but it's now the wading through the mud to the shelter to hang the nets while they barge about or spook at everything because it's windy, breaking the ice on the troughs if it freezes, dragging said trough around out of the muddiest areas - for them to poach up where you move it to, and doing everything in the dark wearing layers of clothes.
It's still better than the years of mucking out and turn out bring in though - I can go at anytime now, don't need to be up at 4.30am to do horses before an early shift 🙈

I have a love/hate relationship with autumn/winter. We have a couple of horses.

The crisp autumn weather with crunchy leaves is just bollocks. It’s just grey and damp and it’s still dark when I have to drag my arse out of bed to go to the yard.

I have an arthritic old lady who absolutely thrives in the autumn. She hates summer - the ground is too hard so we have to double/triple the Danillon, she hates the heat and flies and really hates being turned out at night. She is currently very full of beans and acting like a dickhead half her age.

I’m not a lover of the extra mucking out, but we’re still quite mild down here, we’ve got tonnes of grass and while the ground has definitely softened up, we’re not at ‘mud’ levels yet. She is meant to be grey, but she is currently sporting poo stains and grass stains, but as she’s retired I just clean the worst off and let her get on with it. We don’t clip her now, so don’t have to worry about rugging other than a rain sheet on really wet days.

By next month the happiness of seeing the change in my oldie will have well and truly worn off and I’ll be hating it all.

I feel your pain. I noticed the ‘back to school’ chill in the air in early September, then my two NF ponies started getting their winter coats. Then the nights getting darker, my after work/evening rides being almost dark on the way home now. I’ve already got my winter horsey waterproofs (aka Aldi ski gear) out ready for use, dusted off my waterproof aussie hat and charged the batteries in my head torch. Luckily I too moved to a much better managed grass livery in the summer so no worries about mine churning up the fields when left out after the others have come in as they are all out together. Hay in field all provided and no mucking out. But yes some kind of horsey/dog walking SAD needs to be recognised by the medical profession I think 😂

I was thinking the same this week. Mine live in all year anyway so the mucking out doesn't really change. Mud is vile tho, as is wind blowing rain in your face, and ice is a fucker.

However my highland pony loves the cooler weather and is a lot more enthusiastic, its easier to keep their weight down, it's lush coming in after evening stables all cold and getting a hot shower and PJs on.

@Lastqueenofscotland2 I have one of those too. Only got him last spring straight off the track, had a lovely calm summer getting to know each other, and then from November onwards he became a fire breathing bucking plunging dragon. Am waiting nervously for the change this year. 🥹

I did this for years when I was a teen - up and 5am to turn out, muck out etc. in all weather. I don’t remember it being a miserable time then. Now I’m very very grateful to have ours on full and working livery. Why did I not feel the cold as a teen?

We couldn’t have the ponies without the support of the livery so actually, if anyone has any winter ‘must-haves’ that I could treat the yard owner/manager too I’d love to hear about them.

@Wideawakeandconfused

Long thick socks
A decent thermos mug
Lip balms
Long sleeve thermal tops

My three live out at night all year round, so I never have to rush out to feed and then turn out at 6.30am. Nor do I have to be there to bring them in at bang on 4pm. They come in during the day- avoids the sun during summer, and always available right there warm and dry when I want to ride, or the farrier arrives etc in winter. I cannot understand the British “in at night” compulsion. @

horses happier, I’m happier. Much less mucking out, so costs less and less effort. I feed limitless hay both in stables and in the fields.

fixing gateways with plenty of stone, under draining fields to minimise mud…. Those things are game changers.

This is my first winter in almost 20 years without a horse. I can’t say I’m unhappy about that, although I desperately miss my horse (and the associated social life). I won’t miss freezing my arse off at the yard, having to pick my way across the iced up rivulets, mucking out at silly o’clock. I’ll still have to walk the dogs, but that’s reasonable, I can wrap up, it doesn’t take too long and I have a dogwalker who’ll take them on their usual walk when we can’t. Roll on spring!

Less piles of shit left in the road by lazy horse owners and stables so I’m happy

@RatherBeRiding I am also endlessly grateful I am no longer on a livery yard for winter - no stressing that mine are the last ones left out and doing the wall of death when other liveries (who don't work for a living!) bring theirs in at 2pm because it's raining.
God, yes. I have been horse-free for two years after years of having them at livery and I don't miss a bloody thing about winter at livery for someone with an actual job outside the home. Random instructions from the farmer, such as all the horses need to be in by 3pm - why? How? Text message to say that the manager has brought my horses in because they 'looked sad' and all the other 'horse mummies' have come and put their rugs on because it's threatening to rain. Having to pull them out of the stable in the pitch dark at 6am with a headtorch to try and get past all the electric fencing to our paddock with the horses on tiptoes knowing that if either of them touch an electric fence, I'm on the floor in the mud while they end up heaven knows where. Not even getting to lie in slightly at the weekend because I knew they'd be kicking the bloody doors down. The frozen water, the ice, soaking the bloody hay in icy water and hoisting it up with a broken collarbone. Hanging up the stinking wet rugs. Only seeing the horses in daylight at the weekends and trying to poo-pick in the pitch dark after work. Anyway, I think that touched a nerve so will shut up now. Anyway, the upshot is, YANBU.

Yeah, all those lazy horse riders out exercising with their horses at unholy hours in subzero temperatures and wind and rain while everyone else is cosied up at home or in bed

yeah, we’re the lazy ones

Must be to not go back and clean up after yourselves

Winter is the reason i never bought a horse. I'm a fair weather rider 😆

I'm with you OP. I had horses when I lived in Canada — you don't want to try cinching up a Western saddle at -20C! Or chipping ice balls the size of your fist out of their hooves.
The only consolation is that at least the poor things get a break from being constantly pestered by flies.

Oh yes,@Seaweasel how could I forget about the frozen buckets of water! Hauling them into the house, melting them in the bathtub, refilling, carrying them back out, hoping they'll drink it... and then going back to the house and cleaning all the hay out of the bath.

@LikeTearsInRain there is nothing "unclean" about horse shit… it's basically compacted grass. I have picked it up with my bare hands many times. It's good for the environment and in fact many gardeners are happy to pay for it!

Aw yes I had that same thought tonight. It was so cold, theres mud everywhere, the pony was sweaty but needed rugged. They are all behaving like arseholes after being gems all summer, back on lami watch and restricted grazing for some. We have to get up early to go jumping and it's going to be pitch dark. Car is filthy, dog is filthy. It's not long since we lost the flies and shipping in water though - horse riding really does only have a few optimum weeks a year. Why do we even do it 😅🤣

it’s… grass? Did you know that? Just grass

Not dangerous like dog poo. Not toxic. Not a biohazard

it’s just grass

when you can point out a legitimate problem that leaving horse poo causes, let me know

@MarieIVanArkleStinks

Just saw your post - hope you are recovering well 💓

I was forced to give up my horses a few years ago.

I used to love tucking them into stables at night…the rest I don’t miss one bit! The mud, wet, horses trampling me through the gates to get in for tea, annoying yard owner constantly texting that they needed to stay in for any bizarre reason she could think of, people leaving mine out and not letting me know so she was insane by the time I got up, unable to ride because of arsehole
drivers almost running me off the road, the livery fights for the arena in the only couple of after work hours, and then the cost!

As lovely as the very short summer was, it wasn’t worth the hassle!

I don’t have horses anymore.

There is a lot that I miss but none of those things take place in the Winter.

I especially do NOT miss trying to open frozen bales of haylage in the pitch black using a frozen hoof pick to saw through the twine and tearing off freezing plastic with my freezing hands because someone hasn’t put the twatting knife back where it should be.

Oh god and trying to fasten metal rug buckles which are freezing with my raw freezing hands