This weather and riding!

[whymewhyme]

Is anybody actually riding? I have not riden in 3 months!!!!! i feel like the weather has beaten me! My stables don't have electricity so im rushing around to get done before it goes dark and my stables flood on a daily basis, i don't have a manage only a schooling area secioned off within my water logged field, ive tryed riding in it but its lethal and not worth the trouble. Every time I've attempted to ride my horse has been verging on dangrous becuse he is very reactive he hates wind and rain( weird i know) I am litteraly just going up everyday and doing the basics because by the time I've swept inches of water out of my stable i just cant be bothered / havnt got time to do that and ride. Is anybody else not riding or am i just being pathetic?

Make me feel better guys, haha!

Just hacking on roads for now but not on really rainy/windy days. Luckily my boy is very steady and ok in the wind. Our stables kept flooding last year. Have put rubber matting down now which is just high enough to stop water coming in. Field is a mud bath! It’s horrible!

We also put a solar light up as no electric, really cheap, less that £20 at B and Q and it’s amazing! So at least I can do a short hack first then muck out when it’s getting dark!

The road dressage my daughter was doing on her pony yesterday in the wind was awesome, to be fair. I think the airs above the ground were a little beyond the scope of the 'Grassroots 2018' pony club test she is learning, mind you. Some very tidy lateral work executed, though.

I think im a fair weather rider lol do you have a link to the solar lights?

www.diy.com/departments/blooma-kenora-matt-charcoal-solar-powered-led-pir-flood-light/3663602893400_BQ.prd

Sorry it’s £27! It seems to have poor reviews but I’ve used it all winter and it stays on for as long as I need it, usually 30-40 mins to do 2 stables. The solar panel has to be in good light.

I am riding but it’s a struggle, completely sick of the horse and pony being in and steaming hay, every morning afternoon and evening caring for them and having a job and toddler plus yard and village dramas mean at times I could pack it all in but it is February and I know this will pass

I am but it's a struggle, my mare is absolutely wild right now due to lack of turnout and the wind/rain whipping up her tail/causing things to flap, plus the school is half flooded, boggy and deep in the best bits, a lake in the worst bits plus spooky in the corners so everyone is crammed into the middle which makes life even trickier in the 'peak' evenings when school is busy, it's a miracle there haven't been crashes/someone getting squashed or kicked

I'm managing 20-30 mins a day ish, if she gets less she'll be even worse tomorrow but motivation def lacking, I would lunge or lead her out in hand instead but too dark and windy for that either! This time of year is the absolute pits IMO, feels like it's been winter for ages and yet so far to go until Spring. Head down I guess and think of summer! If anyone has a better answer let me know...

No riding here either and we have a good surface in the school. To be honest being on 16.2 of horse whilst it turns it self in and out due to the wind isn’t my idea of fun. Luckily DH likes him sharp so I can get away with no getting on. Which I haven’t done for weeks properly

@maxelly head down and think of summer is the only plan I have got! At least we are all being honest it is a right pain having a horse at the moment even if you really love them

This morning my daughter and 1 had to spend 20 mins untangling one of the ponies from a fence, where he'd got both back legs stuck, due to the silliness in the wind and the wanting to get to the other field which has about 3 extra blades of grass (they have plenty of hay, but.....) Thankfully, despite being a youngster, he stood like a rock while we helped him, and has hardly a mark on him.
Looks like an evening of mending fences in the rain, mud and dark. Joy.

Glad i am not alone! It soooo hard, i have had horses all my life and i have never known a winter like this one! Thanks for the link i will deffo get the solar lights!

I have only ridden once since Christmas. My ponies are steady and easy going, even my 2 year old, which is good because they have hardly had any turn out and the fields are swimming pools...

Mine’s been off since the beginning of Oct as having treatment for pyloric ulcers - ongoing. So that’s my excuse for not riding.

She now looks like a hairy monster as I didn’t bother re-clipping, but I don’t think she’s very worried about not being ridden.

We moved yards 2 weeks ago for better hacking and better turn out 😂

DD has ridden once. It was lovely here last Saturday so she got out for a hack

Both ours are silly in the wind - one is retired and sometimes forgets that she has severe arthritis and ends up crippling herself for a few days if she goes out when it’s really windy. But then she stiffens up if she’s in so we can’t win really.

The ridden one is ok once she’s got it all out of her system and DD keeps planning on riding in the school - but as soon as we set foot on the yard the heavens open and it absolutely lashes it down so she’s given up trying

Half term next week so fingers crossed, if not - 108 days till Summer!

We’re lucky - the livery yard dhorse is at has huge, hilly turnout fields so he’s had turnout every day all winter. He’s in at night at the moment, but will be back out 24/7 by the end of March. Because they’ve got so much space the fields are holding up really well and the only muddy bit is by the gate. The arena’s newly resurfaced and floodlit and is only unrideable when it’s frozen (which has barely happened at all this winter). Most of the hacking routes are still ok and there’s lots of sandy canter tracks so dd and horse can have some fun. So he’s in regular work and fit as a fiddle. I wish the drive down to the yard wasn’t so muddy and pot-holey but apart from that we’ve got away very lightly.

There comes a point when you have to conceded defeat and give them a couple of months off. Trying to ride once every two weeks, a horse that is full of energy and hasn't had proper turnout or work, can get old really fast.

Have just about kept on top of it but I am lucky that we have some turn out, although it's limited. Also we have a school with a good surface so I can lunge, which gets rid of the worst of the fizz. However, this last week has been a wash out. Any time when it's daylight and I'm not working, it's been pissing with rain. Since I'm not competing I figure it isn't worth the risk, or unpleasantness.

Dpony has pretty much had 2 months off with the odd hack, our livery bought the horses in in october.

We had to move them early jan as dpony was unrideable, shes now living out 24/7 but is still being a prat in the school when ridden out in the wind, we were so looking forward to some daylight riding time with half term this week.

This is our first winter with horses. We've already decided next winter we will just take 2/3 months off riding with just a bit of hacking on nice days

Can I ask, people that rough their horses off/turn them away over the worst of winter, do you already have good turnout or do you move them somewhere where they can stay out 24/7? This winter has been so horrible and downright dangerous to ride in at times, I am really tempted by the idea for next year, think they would benefit from the break and my sanity certainly would! But at my yard the most they've ever managed through winter is 12 hours or so a day out, and this year we've been down to 6-8 hours a day at times due to trashed boggy fields. I don't think my mare would cope very well with that plus not being ridden, and if I moved her to somewhere else for turnout I'd run the risk of losing the stable (unless I paid for both of course, which would be £££)?

It is really awful at the moment. My plan was to spend the winter getting lessons to improve my flatwork but the last two have been cancelled as it has been too windy to travel. I am trying to keep positive by thinking we are almost there and it will be summer soon.

maxelly We do rough off for the winter and pursue other interests but we keep our ponies at home and yes, they live out 24/7. Even when they have to come off their winter grazing in January and live on their corral, they still have an acre to mooch around in and have a hoon, with hay hutches filled with hay. We don't have an arena and as we live in Scotland the days are very short in the winter. We just let everyone have a break and get back into again when the weather is nice. We are not massively competitive and have native ponies who fitten and muscle up fast.

My Native is roughed off from November to March, he lives out 24/7 and is currently a happy semi-feral Yak!

Hopefully the Unicorn will re-emerge April time

@MrsLumsden that's one FINE yak. He's gorgeous!

I hate it. I no longer compete so I reason that as I ride for fun, there is no need to ride while it's like this.
I'll have to start exercising them soon though, as the grass will be coming in and waistlines need to be watched!