How the snow has affected horse owners

By Alison Goulding

How have you been affected by the snow? Horsemart reader Alison Goulding tells us how she and her horse Cady have been coping with the big freeze.

Worrying about the threat of snow makes you forget how beautiful it is when it finally arrives.

My fears of icy roads and frozen hands vanished last week as I turned Cady, my Anglo Arab mare, out into our round pen to stretch her legs.

She has such a zest for life that within minutes she was down for a good roll and snuffling her nose around in it, trying to make sense of the changed scenery.

Then her head went up high and she snorted around the pen with her special tippy-toe trot reserved for exciting moments like this.

Harvey, my French Thoroughbred, was a little more reserved. While Cady likes to zoom about he takes a gentler approach to life.

It is hard to believe now that he was once labelled as dangerous and almost put down.

I'm a firm believer that the majority of troubled horses respond well to a good routine and lots of positive attention and Harvey has certainly supported this theory so far.

He was very nervous when he arrived in December but now he knows exactly what's what and his lovely personality has just popped out.

The snow didn't faze him one bit and he just went about his business as usual. If he's got food and friends he's happy. In fact, his only objection to the snow was that it made his carrots freeze! 

The yard where they live is really beautiful and quiet and with the arrival of the snow it was like a postcard.

Wrapped up warm, I didn't even mind the cold - the beauty of horses is that there's always so much mucking out to do you've no excuse to be cold for long.

Since the arena surface froze, riding was ruled out for a couple of days but this never bothers me.

There's so much to do with Cady and Harvey that riding is the tip of the iceberg. 

So instead I turned my focus to groundwork.

Cady is great to ride after a year's hard work but she's still nervous to lead at times, so I like to practice asking her to back up and move around me in a calm manner so she remembers her manners even when she gets a bit spooked.

With Harvey I spent a little time doing some desensitisation work, making sure he's comfortable having ropes trailed off him and waved about before we progress onto long-lining.

He needs to start his ridden career from scratch and to rush him would be disastrous so for now it's lots of small baby steps and praise.

With a little training out of the way and a flask of coffee in my tum I then got busy with haircuts! Both my horses are well fed and rugged up so I try not to let them get too woolly or I'd have to use a lawn mower to find their eyes come June.

I tidied up their manes, feathers and bridle paths and then tucked them in for the night with their tea.

The next day the arena had softened a little so it was back to business riding-wise.

Cady needs lots of suppling work but we stuck to walk as it was still a bit slippy. From the arena I could see our lovely view over the snowy fields and I thought, not for the first time, how lucky I am to have this life.

Photo: Cady in the snow

Alison Goulding, based in Sunderland, has been riding for 22 years and owns two horses.