Running on hard ground

From: Kaycee

Hi Jessica,

I'd like to start off by saying you have a great page. It's wonderful that you take time out of your life just to answer our questions.

Well I have a 17 year old Arabian mare. I usually ride her about 3-5 times a week but since it's the winter and there's a lot of snow and ice I'm lucky if I get to ride her once a week. But when I ride her she is very hyper, she won't trot at the pace I want her to, even if I'm doing the sitting trot and when I canter her she tries to go as fast as she can. I'm trying everything I know how to do, but nothings working, I was thinking of letting her run and keep running her till she doesn't want to anymore, is that a good idea or will that hurt her cause I usually don't run her very long? I'd appriciate any advice. Thanks! Kaycee

Hi Kaycee!

Thanks, I'm glad you're enjoying HORSE-SENSE.

I know it's difficult to know just what to do with a horse in winter, and you probably feel as if you need to do a lot of riding and just can't manage it. It's frustrating, isn't it! I do have some suggestions for you.

First, don't run the mare hard -- in fact, don't run her at all on frozen ground. It's too hard a surface, and she's not going to be terribly fit if she isn't getting much exercise. She'll benefit much more if you take her out and walk and trot her. On the days when you can ride her, walk for the first fifteen minutes and then do some trotting and a LOT of walk-trot transitions. Walk her for the last ten minutes before you put her away, too.

Your mare needs gentle exercise, not anything violent that could tear muscles and damage tendons and ligaments. The kind of exercise that probably wouldn't damage a seven-year-old horse on soft, level spring ground can ruin a seventeen-year-old horse on uneven, frozen winter ground. You'll have to be the responsible one of the team! Horses like cold weather, and when you come out to ride, your mare will probably feel very energetic and want to bounce around and run in the cold air. Your job will be to discourage that, but not by pulling against her and trying to force her to work at a particular speed. Just give her a lot of things to do -- transitions, figures, and changes of direction.

Keep the footing in mind whenever you ride. Frozen ground is just about like pavement, but it's usually a lot more uneven. The worse the footing is, the slower you should ride.

Try to turn her out as much as possible, unless the ground is actually icy and slippery. When there's ice on the ground, it's always best to bring the horses indoors and keep them there until the outdoor surface is safe again.
Even if she runs around when she's loose in her field, if she's not under saddle, she won't hurt herself as badly if she slips and slides. Horses can stop and start and turn -- and get their balance back -- much more easily without the rider on board! And spending most of the day in the field will help her stay strong and balanced. It's terribly hard for a horse to deal with a rider and bad footing if the horse only leaves its stall occasionally, when the rider has time to ride it. Horses stay healthier if they can keep moving around all the time. Their legs and feet are stronger and healthier and more able to deal with the demands of riding -- so give her a lot of turnout-time. Older horses tend to get stiff when they're confined, and although she's not terribly old, seventeen is old enough to need a longer warmup and gentler work during the winter.

Then, when you do ride her, do most of your riding at walk, but keep asking her to do things: bed left for six steps, straighten for six steps, bend right for six steps, and so on. Ask for transitions within the walk: ask for six strides of her normal walk, then six strides of a longer-strided walk, then six strides of her normal walk, then six strides of a shorter-strided walk. You'll think of other things to do as you go along, I'm sure.

Even if you only do this once a week, and she gets her own exercise in pasture the rest of the time, it'll improve your riding and her strength and coordination, and that will all pay off in the spring and summer.

Good luck!

Jessica

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