Tips for Winter Riding

Posted in: Featured, Horse Care, Horse Training, Ranch Life

Winter riding can be a lot of fun or a major hassle. Here are some practical tips to make riding through the cold months more enjoyable and safe. Basics include some safety things to keep in mind for your horse and you. As well as some easy solutions for even the most frigid days. With horses, you must remember, an easy way to get them sick is to work them hard and put them out into the cold while still coerced in sweat. Another major issue can be proper shoes for riding in the snow. Also, knowing when not to mount your horse through the winter months are all things I will cover to help you do your best riding!

If you have an indoor arena a lot of these rules need not apply, this is for those of us who are riding out in the elements. One thing I ALWAYS have on hand is a fleece cooler. After a good sweaty workout, your horse is sweaty and steaming, the last thing you want to do is turn them out in this condition. This is where a good fleece cooler comes into play. The cooler will help wick the moisture off the horse quickly, while keeping him warm. This is a cheaper and easy to find, solution to cooling down your horse. I also make sure my horse is out of any wind or snow (preferably in a barn or covered shelter) while he is cooling down. Once your horse is completely dry you can usually turn him out. 

Proper shoes or no shoes is an important thing to talk to your farrier about as well. Depending on exactly what your need is and how much you will be riding and how broke the horse is all come into play when deciding whether to shoe your horse through the winter or not. If you have a very broke horse and you will be doing lots of riding in slick snow or ice, you may want to consider putting winter shoes on your horse. Every farrier will have their own opinion or style of doing this, but in the end it will be some type of shoe that has spikes or gription on the bottom of the shoe to create grip. Now I typically have the farrier pull shoes all together. Since I ride younger horses that aren’t always sure on their feet and I don’t do a lot of long winter rides. With bare feet, I always make sure to pick out their feet before I ride to make sure there isn’t any snow balled up in the foot making it even more slick for the horse. I also stay off my horse if there is lots of ice out, just as a personal precaution. Whatever you decide to do, talk with your farrier and make a call that is safest and best for you. 

Now something that is VERY important is knowing when not to swing a leg on your horse. I was always taught that if it is below zero do not mount unless you absolutely have to. Below zero is just very cold, hard on their lungs and hard to get a horse to dry off if they sweat. Now there are some cases, especially on a ranch, where you will have to saddle up anyway and in these cases I make sure to do everything in my power to keep the ride as easy as I can and the horse is one hundred percent dry before being turned back out. Though I try my best to make days like this a tack cleaning or inside the house type day and give my horses rest and lots of food to keep warm. 

All in all, riding through the winter is very doable, with lots of layers for you and proper cooling off for your horses. If you have access to an arena it makes it all that much easier, but there is something very beautiful and fun about a ride through the snow on a good horse. Happy winter riding!

winter riding

Posted in: Featured, Horse Care, Horse Training, Ranch Life


About Anna Foulger

Hey there! My name is Anna Foulger, I am a young mom of soon to be two; a toddler daughter and little boy on the way! Me and my husband ranch in Eastern Montana with his family and we love every minute! My background is in...

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