As an Equestrian in the good ole' state of New Jersey, I have witnessed every season including the white stuff that comes from the sky: snow. Here are some struggles every Equestrian experiences when snow hits the ground and the temperature hits below 32 degrees.
1. "Do I put a heavy weight or medium weight on?"
When the weather starts to become colder, you have to break out the blankets. The temperature varies (especially with global warming) and you can never tell which blanket to put on. Should you put the rain sheet on, the medium weight, or the heavy weight blanket? Especially with older or skinny horses, you don't want them dropping weight because it takes a lot of energy to keep them warm. So many options and the weather changes all of the time.
2. Blanket Shredders
Getting the text that says, "hey your horse ripped his blanket" sucks. The horse pictured below isn't mine but I take care of him and I had an old rain sheet to put on him so he stayed warmer than he would've been without it. The next day I get a text from my friend that said that he ripped the sheet and destroyed his halter.
3. Unfreezing Water Buckets
Carrying frozen water buckets that are still somewhat full out of the barn sucks. Chipping water troughs with a metal rod sucks. That's all I need to say.
4. You Can't Ride as Often as You Want to
When the temperature drops below a certain point, you're not supposed to work your horse too hard. The reason behind that is because if it gets too cold, the cold air can hurt them. Winter just sucks.
5. Multiple Layers
Walking around the barn with three pairs of pants on, Carharrt overalls, four shirts, a Carharrt jacket, three pairs of socks, and insulated boots is a challenge. When you're doing barn work and start to sweat, you start to take off some layers. Then when you go outside, you immediately freeze to death. It gets so cold that you end up having to take your extra cooler to keep warm while your friend rides. In the picture below, I was done riding and was waiting for Phantom to cool off.
6. Being So Cold You Have to Cuddle With Your Horse to Keep Warm
When you finally get the chance to sit down, you have to crawl into your horse's stall and share their body heat. Although it's not a negative, it's still a struggle because sometimes your horse doesn't want your attention.
7. Worrying About Your Horse Constantly
When ground hardens, there's a higher chance for your horse to come out of the pasture lame because he twisted his ankle. Also, the ground freezes and there's ice, there's a chance that they can slip on the ice and fall.
8. Getting to the Barn Can Be a Challenge
When snow falls and there's ice on the roads, getting to the barn can be close to impossible or it will take longer than the usual commute. There's also idiots on the road and you have to be careful of them. Another thing is when you're coming home at night can be nerve wrecking because the road freezes.
9. It Gets Dark Earlier
Getting to the barn at 6:00 at night and it's dark out is terrible. What the heck is that?!
10. Hearing Non-Horse People Say, "OH EM GEE I LUV WINTER!!1!!!11!!"
You don't know annoyance when you hear those words come out of the mouths of people. When people say that I reply with "ew winter, gross" they question it. I list everything from above and
