Too cold to ride?

[winter]

I keep my arena at 40 I guess ( 5 C) and the barn at 15 C (59 F). We ride and turnout not matter what the temperature. We will shorten turnout when the windchill is -30 and below. The horses are all clipped and wear blankets with hoods when they’re outside. The days they get cold are spring days with rain, rarely in dead of winter. The young horses that live outside don’t get blanketed and they are fine! (with shelters full of straw). Riding horses that live out are clipped with with legs and heads left on. They don’t get ridden when it’s super cold if it’s at night.

It is very expensive! We are lucky to have natural gas so less than some places but still a lot. Electricity is almost as much in winter as gas since we have to plug in all the machines and the waterers outside are heated. Plus it gets dark here at 4:30 in the afternoon and doesn’t get light until 8am in December. Thankfully it’s light out until 11pm in summer!

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

Just to throw another vote for “it depends” into the mix–where I live, although it can get very cold and snowy, it’s rarely upper New England/Canadian levels of cold and snow (and I’ve lived in Boston, so I know what that means). I don’t know of any barns with heated indoors in my immediate area (maybe some high-end show barns, but I don’t ride at one). Also, as others have pointed out, horse care over barn care comes first, and if a barn isn’t used to dealing with an extended cold snap in the teens and single digits, keeping the indoor or rings in rideable condition is a low priority versus dealing with removing snow from paths, keeping water sources unfrozen, and so forth.

For me, I’d agree with the 20F cutoff, and that was when I was leasing a horse and could choose to manage my ride comfortably for both of us. Now that I’m taking lessons, I would probably cancel if it was below the mid-20s, simply because I can’t get warmed up in a short period of time to use my body effectively enough for serious work.

It also depends on the horse. The horse that I leased was a Morgan and was pleasant and forward to ride in the cold. I’ve known a few horses who get super amped-up in the cold, and not in a good way.

[joiedevie99]

It depends on what the horses are used to. Same is true for the people. Around here, we ride down to about 20F. Below that, we stick to walking only. Nothing that would make the horse breath hard or sweat. Under 10, I’m likely to skip riding entirely, or hop on bareback over a blanket or a few coolers.

[mmeqcenter]

When I lived in Ohio, I always boarded at barns with indoors. Not insulated or heated, but you know, walls and a roof, so they were always a least a teeny bit warmer than outside. I’d usually ride per normal down to like 25°F outside temperature, below that I’d just walk down to about 5-10°F, and not ride at all below that. Walking is so great for them, I never felt that I was missing out on conditioning or training.

[Renn_aissance]

@mmeqcenter

Walking is so great for them, I never felt that I was missing out on conditioning or training.

:yes: I’ve had some very productive rides on winter days walking for 45 minutes, bareback (except for my horse’s rug.) Not just around and around the track, but stretching the walk forward, compressing, turns on forehand and haunches, lateral work, spiral in, spiral out. It’s yoga!

The days that this is punctuated by a working gallop, incited by snow falling off the roof, are super fun.

[GoodTimes]

I ride down to around 0f or between -15C and -20C. If there’s a one off cold day I’ll skip it, but a cold snap? Nah we’ll tough it out. I have heated insoles and we keep it short.
Basically the same temp that I would consider too cold for cross country skiing.

Currently my horse is out 24/7. Since our arena isn’t heated he isn’t clipped. He’s fit enough that he generally doesn’t break a sweat unless it’s above freezing. We consider those days balmy!

We spent a couple years in Edmonton with a heated arena. It had pros and cons. Riding in single layers is always nice.
My horse lived out 24/7 there as well so everything was clipped except head and legs. Unfortunately furry heads take forever to dry.

[olim2005]

It depends on the other conditions for me- wind, humidity, and what you are use to. I would say 25 degrees with good winter riding boots is still possible.

I also noticed it depends on the time of day. If my horse is sitting around in single digits all night, riding in the morning is not going to work. Talk about stiff.

I noticed sun REALLY helps a horse with stiffness due to cold weather. So if they can sunbath for a few hours before you ride, that always helps.

[olim2005]

Thought of something else to note; we are so lucky we ride horses. With the right equipment and an indoor, it is still possible to ride in the winter. My husbands sports are really only warm weather and he gets so BORED in the winter.

[ktm_here]

My horse lives outside and is clipped (I have quite the armamentatrium of blankets). I will ride down to single digits in the non-heated indoor. A good quarter sheet for her and for me I have quite the outfit. From amazon, I got a heated vest. Coils in from and in the back with rechargeable battery pack. Then I have a down riding skirt from uhip. With all that, it’s usually the footing, not the actual weather that keeps me on the ground.

[lonewolf]

Canadian here. Most people where I’m from will ride until -15C, or 5 Farenheit in an unheated indoor. At that temp I reduce the intensity so the horses don’t sweat (not to mention the fact that I personally don’t breathe well). Usually I start and end with a cooler over the butt. I have heard from various vets that horses’ lungs are actually better insulated from the cold than our are. So they may be fine for moderate work at a colder temp than the riders.

[kenyarider]

Check out these little cuties. Yakutian horse. They have no problem in the cold.

[Showbizz]

My rules:

If the daytime high won’t reach 25F, I cancel lessons. One, I get COLD teaching as I’m not generating much heat, and two, I can only think of one or two students who would not complain in those temps

If the daytime high won’t reach 20F, I say I’m not riding. Truth is, I usually do anyway. I’ve got work to do and show season is coming, even though you can’t tell looking outside!

[anicolle]

We ride when it’s about 25 out or so.

I live in Montana and for the past week we have highs of 0 and -45 wind chills. It’s 20 degrees today and I’m ready to run around in shorts.

It mostly depends on the wind / if the sun is out. I don’t have an indoor so from November-March I do very little riding unless I’m moving cows. Horses all live outside 24/7 now. It was a big adjustment from California.