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Veteran
Posts: 160
 
| What do most of you do to get a horse legged up for the season during the winter when there is snow and ice everywhere? I do not have an indoor, or even an outdoor. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 762
Location: NC | im in the same boat as you so ill be happy to hear a response. Last time i rode with a saddle was dec.... Im supposed to be going to clinics in march and april.. going to be interesting |
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Veteran
Posts: 160
| Yea definitely will be interesting! I hope it goes well! |
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Red Bull Agressive
Posts: 5981
Location: North Dakota | I HAVE a heated indoor and motivating myself to ride when it's freezing is hard. If it's icy, I don't think there's a way to safely exercise them. Do you have an indoor you can haul to? |
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 It's not my fault I'm perfect
Posts: 13739
 
Location: Where the long tails flow, ND | Half of my barn is all sand and I'm lucky to be able to lunge. Otherwise I don't I would be able to ride with out that! Winter sucks in ND :( |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 898
Location: Mountains of VA | I just keep reminding myself that nobody in the east/northeast is able to ride right now......even with an indoor the footing has probably been frozen hard.
I am so far behind in getting mine going again! But then the whole farm has been in the winter "survival" mode for weeks now. Going to be warming up but rain is on the way. With the 8 inches of ice/snow already on the ground, the rain is really going to be a problem. Sick, sick, sick of the bitter cold and snow.
Think SPRING and WARM, SUNNY days.
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 The Bling Princess
Posts: 3411
Location: North Dakota | About three days a week I try to haul to an unheated indoor arena about 40 miles north of my house. It sucks. Hoping March is a bit warmer than what we are having right now. |
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 Undercover Amish Mafia Member
Posts: 9992
Location: Kansas | The ground is way too hard out here to ride. All my horses are pretty tender footed since the ground is frozen, then it warms up, and freezes again.
SICK OF WINTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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 Expert
Posts: 3782
Location: Gainesville, TX | We were having some nice warm days, like 60s and 70s in early Feb. Suddenly we've been hit by the ice, snow, and freezing rain, temps in the 20s. The horses are cozy in their stalls and with no indoor and it being either slick, hard, mucky, or icy, I'm not trying. It takes a couple days just after a rain for it to not be such deep much that I don't worry about my horses pulling something. I will ride mine in the mud but not to the point they may hurt themselves. If it was just cold and I could wrap up and ride, I would. Right now its dangerous. They are let out in their stalls and I turn them out in the pasture to run a bit if its not too yucky. That's it for now. Its inconsistent but I'll ride more after the weather clears some. I'm not going to risk their health. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 310
Location: North Dakota | I'm currently blessed with an indoor arena to ride in. Its not heated, but its still a blessing. When I wasn't so lucky, I'd get my horse safely to a gravel road and do long trotting. I would also long trot out across the pasture, since the footing out there was much better than the packed and icy stuff closer to the barn. Sure, you may not be able to do any drills, pattern work, etc. Legging up a horse in the north in the winter isn't always easy, but some exercise is better than no exercise. Its hard to stay motivated when its cold, but if you're not training, your competition is. |
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 BHW Resident Surgeon
Posts: 25352
Location: Bastrop, Texas | Under the right conditions, I think a foot or two of fluffy snow is great for conditioning, if you do straight line work, like long trotting. The snow provides resistance, so you can leg them up, provided it's not too cold. Twenty minutes of long trotting 3-4 times a week and that stuff is probably all you need. |
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 Veteran
Posts: 178
| I'm way up north with no indoor. My fields and ring won't be ready to ride in until April, when shows start. I'll spend March long trotting down the side of the road. I have a 4 mile block that takes me 35-45 minutes (usually in wind, rain, sleet & snow), depending on the horse. I once even had a news reporter stop and take my picture and interview me because he was driving by (weather was terrible) and wondering what the heck I was doing out there. You do what it takes. I'll do that every day as long as there is no ice. If there's ice I'll do other exercises or walk down some trails. I'll also occasionally haul to an indoor when I'm ready to start tuning. IT SUCKS. However, braving the elements and doing it has made it worth it for me, as my horses are usually right on target with others who have indoors, etc. at the first big shows. My non-horse friends just think I'm nuts.
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 I hate cooking and cleaning
Posts: 3314
Location: Jersey Girl | Can't do a thing until the white stuff and ice melts away. Once the arena is clear I can start. I had plans to trailer to an indoor very close by last weekend but we go more snow and the farm we were going to canceled our session. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 762
Location: NC | I would love to haul but unfortunately my trailer is iced/snowed in. heck if we didnt live in such a busy place i would even try road. UGH IM DONE WITH WINTER (sorry sick of frozen everything!!) |
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 No Name Nancy
Posts: 2715
Location: never in the right place | waiting for the snow to melt, then deal with the mud. I can haul to an indoor but trailer is snowed in and I bet their parking isn't the best to try and turn around there.
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 306
| Straight line work is your only real option when dealing with ice and snow. Trotting and loping in fields if you have the option. I'd try to haul to an indoor once or twice a week to do circle work if your able. And do lots of ground work bending and stretching. Winter is tough! |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| I haul to an arena to do barrel work.
I work horses in the snow, especially if they are fresh, it tires them out fast, then they pay attention.
As for ice, I am lucky I have access to a snow grader and a caterpillar tractor, I can push all the snow I want, then have it scarrified so no horses slip. |
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