You start every winter with the best of intentions. This year, I’m going to keep riding all winter, no matter how bad the weather gets!

You’re a tough equestrian, right? You’re not going to let a little snow (wind/sleet/ice) stop you from spending time in the saddle.

But then deep winter sets in, and you struggle to simply keep up with the regular daily barn chores, along with the myriad of winter-centric tasks (shoveling, de-icing, shoveling, then some more shoveling). Throw in some winter weather advisories and what seems like two hours of daylight per day, and it’s no wonder that you ultimately decide that spending some downtime indoors sounds like a pretty good idea.

Winter downtime is one thing, but you also don’t want to go stir crazy. And horses are your thing—you want to learn, grow, explore—without freezing for hours on end outdoors.

The good news is there’s so much more to the equestrian lifestyle than time in the saddle, and winter is a great time to invest your energy into activities that will make a positive impact on your involvement with horses.

The following are a few ideas to get you started.

Read Horse-Related Books

We always tell ourselves we’re going to make time to read … and then we don’t.

This winter, make it happen. Set aside some of your downtime to explore an assortment of horse-related books, both fiction and nonfiction. Revisit childhood favorites and enjoy them with a new perspective. Explore new subjects that interest you—maybe training young horses, equine nutrition, or the history of your favorite breed.

Check out vintage horse books. Try some biographies of pillars of the industry. Read old breed association yearbooks. Catch up on your pile of magazines.

You’ll learn a lot, and you’ll have the satisfaction of making a dent in your TBR (to be read) pile. If you don’t have a TBR pile, get in the habit of keeping a list during the fair-weather months on your phone’s notepad app. When a book strikes your fancy but you don’t have time to read it, just jot down the title.

Explore New Skills

Quiet winter weekends are a great time to explore new skills. Have you always loved taking photos but wish you understood the nuances of equine photography? Do you wish your horse show videos weren’t so shaky and choppy? Maybe you daydream about creating beautiful artwork or sculptures of your horse.

Daydreaming is great, but you can take action by pursuing your ambitions: sign up for some art or photography classes, find a mentor who can give you some guidance, and practice, practice, practice! You’ll be surprised at how quickly you can make progress when you carve out regular time to pursue your passions.

Learn More About Your Horse

You love your horse and all of his endearing habits and mannerisms—but this winter, why not learn as much as you can about him?

Start with his pedigree, if available, and begin researching his ancestors. Look for photos, gather info, and find out more about your horse’s background.

Learn the basics of equine coat color genetics and discover how your horse came to be the color he is, as well as how and why he inherited his white markings (or lack thereof).

You can also explore breed registry resources to learn all you can about the history of your horse’s breed, or send off a DNA test if your horse’s ancestry is unknown.

Study for Certification

Do you have long-held ambitions that you’ve always wanted to pursue? Winter is the perfect time to take the first steps.

Check out educational courses and programs, then find out what it takes to become certified in the field you’re interested in, whether it’s judging, training, instructing, horsemanship, equine appraisal, massage, or another related area.

Fulfilling all of the requirements for certification can take a long time (in some cases years), but you can take advantage of the winter months to get the ball rolling. The time will pass either way, so you might as well be making progress toward your goal!

Stay in Shape

When it’s cold, chances are you’re craving comfort foods. Of course, comfort foods get most of their comfort from the gazillion calories they contain. And when you combine that with decreased activity levels during the winter, the result leaves you in something less than tip-top physical shape.

But it doesn’t have to be that way—staying in shape during the winter not only feels great, but it also gives you an advantage when the weather improves and you can get back in the saddle on a regular basis.

Your specific method of staying in shape will depend on your individual circumstances, but might include walking, swimming, yoga, visits to the gym, et cetera.

Make Plans for Warmer Months

There’s no better time to make plans than during the winter. Evaluate the upcoming year and begin to set goals and plans.

Which horse shows will you attend? Can you pencil in some weekends for trail rides? Add in dates of clinics, horse expos, breed association meetings, and local club events so it’s all on the calendar from the start of the year.

Then determine the training goals you want to accomplish with your horse this year. What farm improvements would you like to make? Are there any important purchases you need to consider this year? Start tackling the logistics now, while things are quieter and less chaotic than in the summer.

Get Organized

Wintertime is the ideal season to work on getting organized. Who wants to deep-clean a tack trunk in the middle of a crazy show season? Or sort a box with 43 nylon halters when it’s 98 degrees?

Use the quiet time and the cooler working conditions to make some cleaning headway in your tack collection, show clothes, and trailer. You can get organized slowly, at your own pace, without the rush-rush-rush of the summer schedule on your mind.

Set a Budget

Just kidding. Budgets are for New Year’s resolutions!

Tackle Repairs & DIY Projects

Feeling handy? It’s time to work on some of those long-overdue repair projects you’ve been avoiding.

From little things like repairing tack, fixing buttons on shirts, and replacing laces in paddock boots—all the way up to bigger DIY projects like repainting jump standards, building window boxes, replacing the flooring in the bathroom at the barn—you can tackle these projects during the winter months and feel relaxed and ready to roll when spring arrives.

Go Horse Shopping

Buying a new horse is a surefire way to have fun this winter and make the most of the seasonal downtime, right? Of course, even if you’re not in the market for a new horse, it never hurts to browse some listings or watch a few YouTube videos of horses for sale.

Window shopping can be almost as much fun as actual shopping, plus it’s a lot less expensive.

Get Crafty

Why not put your crafting skills to good use? Maybe you’ve always wanted to make a ribbon quilt with your keepsake show ribbons.

Or maybe you love to crochet—why not start making crocheted ponies for the kids in your life or to give as prizes at next summer’s horse shows?

Volunteer Your Time

Breed associations and local horse clubs are almost always in need of volunteers to help with events, to serve on committees, and to handle the details of various programs. Your assistance will be gratefully received, and you’ll have the satisfaction of being a vital asset to these organizations.

Perks of Trying Winter Equestrian Activities

After you’ve put the winter months to good use, you’ll be more than ready to greet the coming spring from the vantage point of the saddle. But you’ll also have the satisfaction of knowing that you put your time to good use even on the coldest, windiest, and snowiest of winter days.

This article about winter equestrian activities with less time for riding appeared in the November/December 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Winter Equestrian Activities: How to Spend Your Time with Less Riding appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.

For many equestrians, winter means a change in routine. Bitter cold winds, freezing hands, thick mud, and icy roads can have the potential to make riding dangerous, inaccessible, or just downright miserable. Even those who live in more favorable climates may find the dwindling daylight cramping their riding schedule.

And saddle time is often replaced with extra-grueling barn chores. Aside from making sure our fur babies are taken care of, it may be tempting to put all unnecessary movement aside and curl up under a thick blanket and wait for spring to come. But neglecting winter fitness could mean increasing your chances of injury and setting you back on your riding goals come spring.

What is Injury?

In the equestrian world, the word “injury” may conjure up frightening images of fractures and concussions, but small muscle strains are also a type of injury. These tears are sometimes caused when too much force is exerted on a weak muscle after a long period of inactivity.

These sorts of injuries can affect even those who are committed to a regular fitness routine. It can feel like a sudden pain in your back after bending the wrong way or reaching up too high.

Particularly in cold temperatures, blood tends to leave the extremities to keep the core temperature regulated, decreasing the pliability of ligaments and increasing the chance of a tear. These injuries can also pop up when the weather warms again if we’ve been inactive and our muscles have become weak.

The good news is that these imbalances can be avoided with a bit of body awareness and a few changes to your routine. If you apply these guidelines to your day, whether at home or at the barn, you will achieve a more balanced musculature and decrease chances of injury during the colder months.

Equestrian Winter Fitness Tip 1: Always Warm-Up

Just as it’s important to warm your horse up prior to any exercise, warming your own body up before activity helps avoid injury.

While “warming up” is a bit of a misnomer since your internal temperature is already warm, doing gentle cardiovascular activities, such as walking in place, further increases blood flow to your muscles.

This is important for everyday activities like bending down to unload the dishwasher in the morning, but even more so with activities that require more force, like lifting a 50-pound grain bag.

A great starting point is a brisk three-minute walk or jogging in place, followed by gently mimicking the motions you will be performing later.

Equestrian Winter Fitness Tip 2: Recognize Your Dominant Side

If you do your own barn chores, winter signals the return of certain tasks. While it may have been months since you’ve done these chores, your body’s muscle memory enables you to pick up those activities where you left off. This is great for getting the job done quickly, but bad for creating muscular balance and avoiding injury.

If you tend to rotate to the left to shovel a frozen pile of manure into a wheelbarrow, one side will become very strong, and the opposite very weak. But even if you don’t do barn chores, using your non-dominant side during everyday activities will promote balance.

To put this into practice, start by recognizing your dominant side when you open a door, throw the ball for the dog, carry groceries, or groom your horse. Then switch to the other for a few repetitions or minutes, slowly building up frequency over several days.

Equestrian Winter Fitness Tip 3: Keep Moving

You’ve probably heard Sir Isaac Newton’s first law of motion, that a body at rest tends to stay at rest, and a body in motion tends to stay in motion. He was talking about physics, but the idea holds true with our health habits.

Winter can be a time where we not only fight the weather and shorter days, but sluggishness and holiday overindulgence. If we set very small goals to stay in motion throughout the day, we are more likely to continue with even more movement and not sink into sedentary habits.

Using larger, oxygen-hungry muscles throughout the day not only promotes good circulation with nutrient rich blood, but it helps improves your mood, energy levels, and sleep quality throughout the winter. Staying active can be a challenge for those who have more sedentary jobs, but it doesn’t require much time. Scheduling several short three-minute walks around the office building is one way to keep your body in motion.

Key Takeaway

You may not be able to control the changing seasons, but you can control decisions regarding your health. By making these simple changes, you will increase your body awareness, decrease potential injuries, and—who knows—you may even find yourself looking forward to next winter!

This article about equestrian winter fitness tips appeared in the November/December 2023 issue of Horse Illustrated magazine. Click here to subscribe!

The post Winter Fitness Tips for Equestrians appeared first on Horse Illustrated Magazine.