Winter conditioning when Mother Nature is being a....?? Tips, exercises?

[Empressive_Award]

I refuse to give up on my winter riding goals! I have a lit outdoor with decent sand footing, but when Mother Nature has dumped 70+ inches of rain on us in 2018, and we just got 11" of snow, with a snow/ice/rain storm coming this weekend, my riding has literally come to a screeching halt due to frozen snow covered ring, and unless I trailer out, which is really only likely to happen once a week, I’m not going to be ready to do anything until May!

So anyone have any ideas and tips for surviving winter and getting in some fitness and condition on their horses? I can only hack so much. Any good exercises one can do in an indoor besides endless circles? Something to mix it up, keep it interesting for us both, but still achieve our goal. What are you all doing to prep for March/April events given the weather in the Mid-Atlantic?
Or do I just give up until March, and hope Mother Nature cuts us a break?

[devvie_continued]

I was going to say go hacking . . .

[rockonxox]

There is SO MUCH you can do in an indoor. I don’t know what your goals are, but these forums are rich with ideas for riding exercises using ground poles and cavaletti. I find that using ground poles keeps the visual aspect up for me and I can make them very interesting. Are you needing some without ground poles? There are also lots of thoughts on here for patterns to ride (some off the top of my head serpentine, lengthen, shorten, spirals, leg yields, practice some dressage tests, tear drops, transitions, etc etc etc) and work on doing them correct… make your shapes bigger or smaller once you’ve got it down. I usually scour pinterest for ideas too.

I don’t know what I’d do without an indoor. Even though the one here is fairly small it is better than not getting to ride at all. We’ve had a lot of puddles and lots of ice and it is only going to get worse so the outdoor has been out of commission. Yay winter.

[Empressive_Award]

My closest indoor is a 20 minute trailer ride and we are required to set up and take down any jumps or poles we use, so that limits my riding to weekends when I have extra time to do those things. If I trailer out during the weeknight, I guess I really am limited to flat work and doing lots of dressage movements, and working trot and canter in intervals to have any kind of condition built up. Other than that, it looks like hacking when the snow/ice mixture melt away.

I’m getting bored with my current repertoire of exercises restricted to the ring/indoor and thats crazy because I love dressage! So if anyone has any fun ones that arent your standard, obvious exercises please share. I’ve even tried finding Working Equitation clinics or schooling to try something new and fun! I’m desperately trying to stay motivated and in the saddle.

I really wish someone would build an indoor gallop track like us humans have indoor tracks to run on… Or indoor cross country or derby cross in the Mid-Atlantic area!

[EventerAJ]

What level are you trying to prepare for? You don’t need much fitness to compete at training and below, but you will need some for prelim, and more beyond that. I spent several winters in KY with no indoor, competing at prelim up to CCI2* in Feb, Mar, April. I did a lot of hacking, and road work when it was too muddy in the field or arena. There were days I did walk/trot lateral work up and down the driveway or quiet road; I walked the blacktop at least once a week to acclimate my horse to the surface. Mostly, I tried to keep to the same work schedule as summer, but had to watch weather carefully and be ready to adapt. I was fortunate to work at the farm with my house, and could ride early or late as conditions allowed (freezing/thawing).

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[Meredith_Clark]

I’ve been really stressing about this and I’m in the same boat. I have a lit outdoor that’s under frozen ice/snow. I don’t like hacking because my horse can be a bit of a fruit loop and I’m not at a boarding barn, so if he dumps me in a field no one will know until my husband gets home at 11pm.

I have an indoor closer (5 min drive) but I have to pay and it’s just a pain.

Im not as worried about getting him fit, but he’s older so I want to keep him moving and I am the one who really needs to work and maintain fitness.

I started working with a personal trainer who is a horse person and we do weekly Skype workouts and it’s really keep me motivated. I also keep entering local dressage schooling shows so I have goals and reasons to force myself to ride (but not so expensive that if they get canceled I’m out a lot of money)

i feel ya. Good luck !

[devvie_continued]

@Meredith Clark

I’ve been really stressing about this and I’m in the same boat. I have a lit outdoor that’s under frozen ice/snow. I don’t like hacking because my horse can be a bit of a fruit loop and I’m not at a boarding barn, so if he dumps me in a field no one will know until my husband gets home at 11pm.

I have an indoor closer (5 min drive) but I have to pay and it’s just a pain.

Im not as worried about getting him fit, but he’s older so I want to keep him moving and I am the one who really needs to work and maintain fitness.

I started working with a personal trainer who is a horse person and we do weekly Skype workouts and it’s really keep me motivated. I also keep entering local dressage schooling shows so I have goals and reasons to force myself to ride (but not so expensive that if they get canceled I’m out a lot of money)

i feel ya. Good luck !

Is there anyone near by who might want to hack with you? It seems that the solution is either hacking or just ensuring turnout and hoping your horse keeps moving on its own . . . there was also a thread here recently about someone concerned about hacking, and a discussion about walking a horse in hand instead of under saddle ensued. If you were to hand-walk your horse for your hacks, no concerns about falling off, you’ll both get a workout and gain some fitness. Why not? Good luck with reaching your goals.

[FitToBeTied]

Fox Hunting! Decades ago when the eventing season ended in October and didn’t restart until March, event horses fox hunted. Even upper level horses used to be hunting. My horses both event and hunt. This time of year they are hunting once a week weather permitting. They are in great shape. Plus they get all of the other benefits of hunting like dealing with more terrain then you find at an event, weird s**t happening, etc.

If you are in VA then you are close to some hunt. Give it a try.

[Nancy1]

I live where there is no real access to an indoor and yet we get lots of snow in winter. I’ve had to rehab my mare twice during the winter. Snow is great unless it gets icy, then my hubby makes me a path around all our fields. Our boarders love it and use it to walk their dogs as well. He uses either the big snow blower or just a blade behind the tractor to take the crust off the snow. You can do a lot of transitions and lateral work on a path. I am trying to get my guy fit as we are headed to Arizona mid February.

[DMK]

My problems are the samenotquitethesame. I’m trying to get my pony CDE fit (still has section A) in this godawful wet winter for a season that starts in January. We just finished a Driving Trial that was 6360m and he was OK. Not as good as I hoped but better than I expected given we lost 1/3 of December to rain… we actually lost more, but unless it was truly pouring I gave up and rode during the rain (somehow that is better than driving in the rain).

But I have an odometer on my carriage, use an exercise app when I drive and track workouts (and recovery) religiously. You can get a LOT more done in the ring than you think, you just need to embrace the boredom. I do a lot of 8km days that are 50 minutes and I average 9-11km/hr as an average speed (this includes all my walk work). Typically I warm up for 10 min, then I do about 15 min of dressage, working on lots of circles, inside leg/outside rein (some things never change), walk for 3 minutes, working on a good walk halt transition, then I blow him out for about 10 minutes going in and out of the arena to an adjacent field, lots of trot with some bursts of galloping, walk for 2 min and then finish up back on dressage, working on lengthenings or going through some cones, practicing hazard turns, etc for about 10 minutes. Finally I finish up with 300m cool off walk.

All that will get you ready for an HDT, not a CDE, but since long format is a thing of the past in eventing , it can be doable I think. I have to go up a steep hill to get to my upper field and it was so wet in Dec I just didn’t want to risk a stupid injury pulling the carriage up there so I ended up with a lot less real estate than I planned on and I still managed to get him fit with those limitations - I was shocked by how much ground we covered in those limited space works. Now getting him fit to 13K is the next challenge, but again, doable. Sucky. But doable. Extremely Sucktacular.

[Hilary]

Depending on exactly what is going on in your outdoor, can you drive the tractor around on it to break up ice, and groom the snow?

Pretty much in the winter I resign myself to trail riding on weekends. It’s dark before and after work. This year because we really haven’t had much snow since Thanksgiving we are doing a ton of roadwork. And yes we trot and canter. The past 2 weekends have been impossible because it’s been too cold (below 15F).

I am REALLY excited that we are getting a foot or 2 of snow soon because this means the snowmobile trails will finally be ready to go and they are more fun than just about anything. We have a few that provide miles of groomed footing to gallop on.

Even getting out twice a week is better than nothing for their fitness.

Try to think of it more as “so much fun hacking to do, we can get a mental break from work and be out of the arena” rather than “I can only hack so much”.

[Meredith_Clark]

@devvie_continued

Is there anyone near by who might want to hack with you? It seems that the solution is either hacking or just ensuring turnout and hoping your horse keeps moving on its own . . . there was also a thread here recently about someone concerned about hacking, and a discussion about walking a horse in hand instead of under saddle ensued. If you were to hand-walk your horse for your hacks, no concerns about falling off, you’ll both get a workout and gain some fitness. Why not? Good luck with reaching your goals.

That thread was me ! Hahah. Unfortunately not many people are off work before dark to hack with me. I’m a teacher so thankfully I’m home by 4:30. I’m making it work but it gets tough.

[Saskatoonian]

A vote for channeling your inner 10 year old and just playing. Jumping the mounting block is hard but as fun as you’d predict. Ride with no hands, no stirrups, disco dancing. Practice nailing every spot with a ground pole, then work on changes, and angling. Monkey around trying to play polo with a broom. Ride around with a glove under each elbow, or a rock in each hand. I’ve thought about picking a hard D test and trying to master it, but prefer my inner 10 year old.

Winter’s too long and dark up here in NE. I’ve had a lot of practice surviving it.

[Empressive_Award]

Im only expecting to compete at BN/N, however I actively compete in Dressage also and plan 2-3, if not more shows a month plus lessons. I want a fit horse, and need a fit horse in order to move up levels. I’ve watched a lot of people I know go out to March and April events and have a horse come off course blowing and covered in sweat because the horse wasnt fit and struggled with even mild temps. I dont want to be that person, and its really not fair to my 14 year old horse to not get her even somewhat fit in the off season before I ask her for a gallop XC. I realize its not a requirement to have a 2* fitness plan for a BN ride, but I also have an easy keeper who tends to carry the fat in spring/summer if I dont keep her in work. I dont want to start my season at the end of May like if did in 2018 because I missed the whole winter and spring due to weather and ZERO riding space. So Im REALLY trying to stay motivated and find someway to get a 20-30 minute ride in a few times a week and not just by hacking. Unfortunately hunting is completely out, my mare will lose her marbles with the hounds.

We just keep getting pounded with weather. We still have snow on the ground from last weekend, 1-2" expected tonight, with more this weekend and freezing rain. I am going to highly suggest to the BM, scraping/shoveling snow from the ring, even if its just in 1 track around the outside, and dragging so its usable…so good idea- labor intensive since we only have a 4 wheeler and not a tractor- but might be worth it.

@Saskatoonian thanks for the suggestions! Ill try to keep things silly and fun provided I can get the ring clear and its not frozen.

Hooking the trailer up, catching said horse, grooming, tacking, loading, driving to the arena, ride, load, drive home, untack, groom, put up for the night…is a total of a 3 hours + process after long day at work, not to mention paying to ride 2x a week. Im not so sure the SO will approve of me coming home at 10pm 2 nights a week for the rest of winter… Trying to get off early from work is a miracle in itself.

Im feeling a bit defeated even typing all this!

Dear Mother Nature, please cut us a break this spring, and actually give us some sunshine!! We are sick of cold, dark ,wet, and muddy

[TakeAChanceinVA]

I am in the same boat as you here in VA! With all the wet/snow/mud/ice it’s treacherous going out on the roads, hacking is a no go, and I havnt bothered to even look at my outdoor ring since the snow last week. Just getting the horses to and from their turnouts involves picking out ice balls, riding seems completely out of the question.
And I also can’t haul out multiple times a week. Im almost tempted to try and board my horse out at an indoor facility for the month of February so that I can be ready for April events. Thats the only solution I can come up with!

[Hilary]

Maybe this can make you feel a little better about what will happen come spring. I had the opportunity to ride in an indoor yesterday. My horse has been back in work after an injury for about 4 months, mostly out on trails because he needed to get strong before we worried about stuff like contact and bending. He’s ridden only on weekends since November, and while we hacked Saturday, prior to that it was Jan 1 that I was on his back. My friend and her 3rd level horse have been our trail riding buddies and she’s been able to ride him in the ring maybe once every 3 weeks since November. Both horses went to work, behaved themselves and performed pretty much exactly has they had last time they were asked to do dressage. I think we were sweatier than they were.

Get out as much as you can, even if it’s 20 minutes of walking around doing "driveway dressage’ (during which feel free to add Saskatoonian’s disco program to the mix) and when real riding season comes back I think your horse will surprise you.

[Larbear]

I would also say to get out and walk as much as you can. I’m in the northeast and this is what I have to do. My goal is to walk an hour but if it’s pretty awful out, at least a minimum of 40 min. Right now the ground is hard and up until this past weekend no snow. Basically doing ‘road work’ since Dec. On the weekends if the weather is ok I can truck out to an indoor.

Admittedly it can get pretty boring so I try to mix it up some. On the really cold days I’ll do some ground driving and that way I get more walking exercise in for myself as well. If there’s snow on the ground it makes it more work to walk through and thankfully my area got some. That should help my rides this week

[Empressive_Award]

@TakeAChanceinVA

I am in the same boat as you here in VA! With all the wet/snow/mud/ice it’s treacherous going out on the roads, hacking is a no go, and I havnt bothered to even look at my outdoor ring since the snow last week. Just getting the horses to and from their turnouts involves picking out ice balls, riding seems completely out of the question.
And I also can’t haul out multiple times a week. Im almost tempted to try and board my horse out at an indoor facility for the month of February so that I can be ready for April events. Thats the only solution I can come up with!

We must be near each other! I’ve given up in the last 2 weeks since it snowed. I attempted to ride Saturday morning by hacking out but the snow has become sheets of ice and the roads are hazardous in spots. I gave up after 10 minutes as its just not fair to risk an injury to my horse for the sake of a hack. Our turnouts are horrible as its semi private and no vehicles have packed down the snow creating ice. Finding stall board at this point in the winter is going to be extremely hard to find with an indoor. I only know of one place and its over an hour from my current barn which wouldnt help my riding situation at all, and I cannot afford full training board to keep her going.
At this point I have resigned to pray from “mildly above freezing, and no rain” for the remainder of winter…

[goodmorning]

Just want to say I can’t stand this winter and all the rain! Snow is so much easier. It’s just a miserable time. Doing my best to keep the horses non feral - my goal