Way back 30 or 40 years ago equestrian sports were seasonal, including those at the professional level. I suppose that not as many people had access to indoor facilities during the dark, cold, and wet parts of the year back then.
Lately I’ve been reading posts about how to stay motivated to ride during the fall and winter seasons and wonder if that’s really necessary. Of course it depends on the rider’s goals and frankly this rider doesn’t have any goals except personal safety, happy and healthy horses.
So why do I have the blues? It’s pouring down rain for days straight, the footing is terrible, and it gets dark early, the sun rises late. I wonder if I should be doing something/anything with them. My two Mustangs don’t care about my goals and possibly prefer the lack thereof. They want security, food, and water. Likely in that order and they prefer to avoid shelter.
I provide them with shelter but they would forego that if the food showed up outside. I think they should come out and dry out once in a while. They may not agree but choose to come inside for hay.
This equestrian nomad would like to know if you and your horses take seasonal breaks? If you don’t, would you like to and what’s stopping you? Or, what keeps you motivated? Do you think equestrian sports should return to its former seasonality?
To be fair, every time I’m with my horses I train them or untrain them. This morning, I was very proud of Bragi for going into his own stall for breakfast. Usually he’s in Odin’s stall with Odin and I take the opportunity to lead Bragi away to his own stall and own breakfast. Granted, this “training” takes less than a minute but over time, these one-minute training sessions teach Bragi the important lesson of being more independent. Independence is an important skill for a 3-year old baby horse.
Anyway, here’s more about the horses:
Odin was gathered and gelded at age 6 (years). He still thinks it’s his job to stand guard if there are critters, deer or predators, doing their own business in the nearby woods. Odin is a good saddle horse and learns new skills from positive reinforcement. I adopted Odin from a Mustang gentling event in July 2018.
Bragi was gathered and gelded at approximately age 6 months. His priority is food and hanging out with Odin, although he loves to learn new skills as long as I teach at his speed. See this post on teaching him to accept vaccines. I adopted Bragi from an approved Mustang trainer who taught him basic good horse skills: accepting the halter, leading, picking up feet for the farrier, and trailering.
It sounds as though the horses do not mind a little respite in the dark months, like their owner! Question: how can you tell when Odin is “guarding”?
In this particular case Odin left his hay to go watch for critters. Odin loves his food so that he left it tells me that there are more important things going on that he feels might threaten his safety (can be more important than food to horses). I’ve also seen him watching deer in the back pasture. He likes to know what’s going on 🙂
Always interesting to read about your horses, Corrina!
You referred to Bragi as a baby horse at 3 years old. At what age does he (or any typical horse) become a teenager, and then an adult?
Good question and of course there could be many answers. My best estimation is that horses are babies until about 4 or 5 then they transition more into teenagers/young adults. A mature horse is probably around 8 years old.