How Cold is “TOO COLD” For Riding?

I’m one of those crazy people that you see out at the barn every day during the winter. I actually prefer winter riding over summer riding for a variety of reasons; mostly the lack of mud, bugs, and heat. So, being the snow-bunny that I am, I am frequently asked “Isn’t it too cold to ride that poor horse?”. I think you’ll be fairly surprised at the answers the world wide web provides: “There is no temperature where it is too cold for a horse to be ridden or to go outside if they are adapted to it” – Dr. Joyce Harman, Equisearch   Horses have one of THE most amazing cooling and heating systems in the animal kingdom. Their dense coats “fluffs” up in the cold and trap in the heat their body produces through eating and exercise. Horses actually produce heat when they digest food. You may notice horses eating through round bales faster in the winter. This isn’t just out of boredom, it’s to keep warm. They may also have quick bouts of friskiness, which is also to keep warm. The only thing temperature-wise you really have to worry about in the winter time is wind. Wind can penetrate the dense coat of a horse and give them a chill, but shelters or wind breaks take care of that problem. What about blankets as wind breaks? The problem with using a blanket as a wind break is it actually flattens the horse’s coat. When the horses coat is Continue Reading →


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Welcome to our Off Track Family “Legacy B”!

Get your buckets out! This one is totally drool worthy! 2 weeks ago I posted a picture of my horse Oz, and his pedigree in an Off-Track-Thoroughbred group (Facebook). It was “post your pedigree” day and everyone was joining in, posting whether they owned a sibling, cousin, knew the horse when it raced, knew the trainer, past owner, or simply thought the horse was dashing. All innocent fun, right? It was great to learn about my horses bloodlines, and that his great grandsire BailJumper was both a racing and jumper stallion. I already knew about his dad’s (Skip Away) $6.9 million Hall-of-Fame earning winnings on the track, but I didn’t know how many fans he had. There was something else I didn’t know about his dad, and I received a notification an hour after I posted that caught my attention. It was in regards to his 2010 colt who was running his last race that week. Sue, who is involved with CANTER PA (Thoroughbred re-homing charity organization out of Pennsylvania), knew of my horse Oz’s half brother who was coming up for sale the next week. I privately messaged her and said something like “Thank you, but I really need another horse right now like a fish needs a bicycle. Oz likes his title of most spoiled horse in the barn, and intends to keep it”. Sue replied with the contact information for the owner, giving me a 1 week head-start on everyone else (and reminded me it wouldn’t take Continue Reading →


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