Frost and horses

Another morning of sharp frost and freezing temperatures. Extremes of temperature do not suit horses, in my opinion. Frozen ground means no grazing and I have to bring feed and hay to horses and ponies in the fields. They are all wrapped up in warm, winter rugs so they don’t actually mind the cold but I have to break the ice in the water troughs for them.

It’s impossible for me to work the horses, of course, as the sand arena has frozen hard and any roadwork is out of the question as ice makes hacking dangerous. I once had a fall on the road when the legs of a thoroughbred I was riding went from under him on an icy patch and it was an alarming experience which has made me very careful about horses and ice ever since.

Talking of ice, I recently saw a photograph of horses racing on snow on a frozen lake in Switzerland. In the photo, it looks their shoes have special grips but I wonder how they don’t injure their legs with these. If I find out more about horses racing on ice, I will post the information here.