For Horse owners the onset of the winter is always a dreary one, cold early mornings, dark evenings, mucking out, rugging and extra costs for bedding, feed and hay, the list of extra jobs is endless.
For me it means seeing my horses in the pitch black with my head torch firmly attached to my woolly hat hoping the battery is going to last long enough for me to complete everything needed for my horses.
There are so many more jobs to do during the winter, smashing frozen troughs, poo picking frozen poos, although sometimes this can be easier, rug repairs, keeping clothes, tack and horses clean from mud, endless mud. When it’s dark, cold, raining or snowing winter just feels like it’s gone on for months and months and months.
Mud, where does all this mud come from, it’s like the magic porridge pot story where loads of porridge was produced but in our case its mud. It gets everywhere and when you walk your horses in from the field you always get mud kicked up the back of your clothes or if you’re like me and sometimes can’t be bothered to change out of your office clothes before going up the yard and hoping you don’t get mud splashed.
But when it gets to the 1st of February, my birthday I might add, it means the evenings are still light at 5pm, finally, there is light at the end of the tunnel.
When spring is just round the corner there are lots of things to look forward to for us horse owners. Lighter evenings is a winner for me, it means we can now ride outside of the school, we can start venturing out again and enjoying the countryside.
Ditching your wellies!!! My wellies are very comfy but come the end of the winter im sick of wearing them, I also have a bad sock day with wellies, I always have that one sock that slowly rides down my foot and I always decide to deal with the bad sock whilst standing in the field, usually ending up with me struggling to balance.
Warmer weather, we all love the warm weather, it brings so many things with it, the grass grows, less rugging, less clothing to wear, lighter evenings, less mud and it means we have more daylight hours to ride. I always like a cuppa after riding and we are lucky enough to be able to have chairs in our field so we can drink tea and look across the beautiful valley. One of the downsides of the warmer weather is if your horse isn’t completely clipped you have the mammoth task of stripping out their winter coats. The hair gets everywhere, in your bra, in your mouth and I’ve even had horse hair in my knickers!!! Don’t ask
One of the biggest things for me about spring is, if the weather allows, the horses can live out, for me it’s more healthy and natural for them. It also frees up more time for me to actually spend with my horses rather than carrying out the endless list of jobs ensuring they are happy.
So here’s to looking forward to springtime where there will be less work and more play