conditioning in winter

[dave & abby bloxsom <cyclone@snet.net>]

horses love snow.

horses with fuzzy coats are fun to ride bareback.

deep snow is excellent resistance training for muscles. (a little goes a
LONG way)

borium shoes and anti-snowballing pads take care of the slippage.

if you can stand the mess, try leaving the winter coat intact.  when you
clip it off for those early spring rides, the capillaries are right up
close to the surface, and all the sweat glands are really well tuned
up.  it's like the marathon runners from arizona who trained for the
humid events by running in their raincoats.

i don't know how cold it gets where you are, or how much snow you get,
but we get a lot of crust on our snow, and it makes the snowmobile
trails really easy to ride on.  the rest of the time, i chug on down the
middle of the tarmac, much to my farrier's dismay.

the problem i have yet to solve is that my saddle either fits in the
summer or fits in the winter, but not both.

you can also try ski-joring for fun.  it's like waterskiing only with a
horse in the snow instead of a boat.  that increases the resistance even
more, but requires twice the manpower.

good luck!