At this time of year, no. November is generally too cold for riding in the rain, forget about December! I had plans to ride in the early part of the snowstorm that started two days ago, and ended up in the arena because it wasn’t snowing, it was raining.
I bought a Kerrits coat a number of years ago so that I could ride in the rain without getting completely soaked. I will admit the thought of prepping a wet, probably muddy horse to ride is more of a deterent than riding in the rain.
I used to when I was younger and lived in a softer climate. But living in the mountains means any rain we have comes in occasional deluges and is usually accompanied by thunder and lightning, which I have no interest in getting mixed up in.
Not typically no. I have at shows (hell, the entries were already paid and we were there!) and obviously if I’m out on a trail I’ll head home. Now if it’s just drizzling or a light rain and our footing isn’t too bad I will keep riding, but if it’s heavily raining, thundering or lightning, I’ll get off. We primarily ride in our open pastures and it tends to get slick as pig slop after a rain. If it’s too slick, I won’t ride.Not worth the risk to my horse or myself, plus it’s no fun.
Generally I won’t, but that’s solely because I don’t want my saddle to get wet 
If I’m already riding and a light rain starts I’ll usually finish my ride, but we have an indoor so if it’s already gross I’ll just stay inside. I show in the rain though, and my horse is totally fine even in the most torrential downpour.
My mare is a bit ring sour, usually needs warm up before going in the ring. Our indoor can be crowded in the rain. We have very nice sand gravel paths in the park. If I had a normal.horse I would just go in the indoor like everyone else in the rain. I keep forgetting this is why I ride in the rain.
Also our rain can predictably have lulls and my weather app radar map is pretty accurate.
Yes. I prefer not to --I prefer a beautiful sunny day. But to me, any riding is good riding. After 57 years of fox hunting, I have excellent rain gear and a lot of it.
Sure.
No indoor to ride in.
My horse is Irish. He doesn’t care.
If the footing is all right for him and we won’t destroy it by being out there, out we go. Or hack on the road.
It depends… If I have a lesson and it isn’t raining so hard my trainer cancels I will. If its drizzling I probably will. If its actually raining usually no. Basically because I don’t feel like it. I have horses to have fun, I have goals of moving up the levels but when it becomes a grind I’m out. I also ride on crappy grass so i gets very slippery quickly.
Training/ conditioning rides- sure, as long as it’s not pouring torrentially. The park where I board has 15-20 miles of gravel trails so no worry about footing or tearing trails up.
For competition, we pretty much ride no matter what
Yup, I’d much rather ride outside in the rain than inside. I’m in Ontario, we’re lucky if we get six months of outdoor riding.
I just make sure to condition my tack after it gets rained on.
If you wear glasses riding in the rain can be tricky. I wore contact lenses for decades and rain-riding with them was no problem. But now can no longer wear them.
Not anymore! When there is conditioning to be done there is no choice. And if you compete in the rain both of you need to get used to it. But these days I am a total weather weenie!
I despise being wet. I hate being wet on a horse even more. So no, I would not choose to ride in the rain. Being caught out in it, I would continue on with the ride I had planned.
My poor mare hates it too. Our first endurance ride of last season, the forecast gave us no warning, and we had ~5 miles to go when we got caught in sleet and then torrential downpour. It was pure misery. Mare had her ears pinned back to her neck as tight as she could make them, and I could just feel the grimace she had on her face, even from the saddle. Ugh, I’ve never had blisters on my hands like I did at the end of that ride. A truly unpleasant experience!
I don’t mind if it isn’t heavy and there’s no lightning.
Speaking of which, anyone know the best way to protect a western saddle in the rain? Do you just let it dry on its own? I use saddle soap if I have it, and then a conditioner when it dries. Is that overkill?
My motto, when it starts drizzling/raining during my lessons in a sand ring, is that I am a hunt seat rider and I do not melt in the rain.
One time on a lesson horse it started raining. He spent the rest of the ride INSISTING that it was IMPORTANT to get under a roof immediately. Previously, at another barn, he had been lease as a 3-Day horse by kids. I guess whenever it started raining during a ride that those kids told the horse to RUN back to the barn and get under a roof.
I spent the rest of the ride proving to him that I did not melt in the rain, that he would not melt in the rain (he lived in a pasture, go figure), and that I expected to finish my ride even though water was falling from the sky.
That horse was not very pleased with me that day.
One of my favorite memories about a trainer I worked for when I was in high school:
The farm only had outdoor rings, no covered or indoor riding areas.
Fairly soon after I started working for him, we ran into some rainy weather.
I got to the barn on the first rainy day and saw the usual list of horses on the whiteboard. I tracked the trainer down and asked him if I was still supposed to ride, since it had started raining.
His response?
“It’s a dry rain. Go ride.”
I rode in a lot of “dry” rains under that trainer. 
Only if I happen to get caught in it when I am out riding and then it is only long enough to get back to the barn.
My horses hate it and so do I.
Wide brim helmets! It’s life-changing. If your preferred helmet doesn’t come with a wide brim option, try one of the detachable visors.
I just take a few minutes to dry mine off with a towel then after I’ve taken care of my horse and the saddle’s dried a bit more, then I’ll oil it or use leather conditioner if I have any.
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