United States Eventing Association

10 Tips from the USEA Membership to Help You Survive Winter

For many of our members, winter is right around the corner (and for some of our Northern members, winter might already be upon you!). While some eventers head south for warmer weather in the winter months, a large part of our membership huddles down at home and use the winter months as an opportunity to rest from the season behind them or prepare for the season ahead. We asked our members what some of their favorite winter weather hacks around the barn were to help you make the most of the winter season.

Tips For You

Kristen W: " Put rubber dishwashing gloves over your normal gloves to fill waters, break ice, etc. Warm and dry hands make a huge difference!"

Free Rein Equine LLC: " Keep your water troughs filled halfway and place a 12" rubber play ball in each trough. The ball will move with the airflow and keep your trough from freezing. No airflow? Simply lift the ball from the trough for easy access to the unfrozen water! Perfect for field boarding and when horses are turned out. Let Mother Nature help you!"

Tanya A: " Bringing out a hot drink to the barn for motivation and layer up!"

Katy N: " Wool socks and insulated boots."

Ariel W: " Ororo heated vest is the best way to stay warm and not freeze!"

Elise S: " We love having a microwave in the barn for bit warmers and to keep our coffee/tea/hot chocolate warm!"

Tips For Your Horse

Kelner Equine Services: "Winter is a great time to work on groundwork or hack out in the deep snow. If we end up at an indoor lots of creative pole work, obstacle work, and don’t forget transitions, transitions, transitions!"

Kristian R: " Hot toweling the horses before and after rides is my favorite. I lose bit warmers so I always hang my bridle around my neck under my coat so it’ll warm up."

Melissa H: "We like to give our ponies a month off for Christmas, then lots of hand walking with bands to work on core strength. Plus some fun riding in the snow and plenty of groundwork."

Ashley H: " We live in Colorado. The trace clip is my best friend. I love for my horses to live out as much as possible, so with a full clip they get a bit cold, but we still do work in the winter because we have a nice large indoor."