It’s been about 22 degrees F, with wind chills in the single digits, for several days, and thick sheets of ice are all over the hard ground. I’ve been hand-walking my horse who injured her leg while playing in her paddock. I slowly walk her to the indoor arena, watching carefully the way with its frozen and uneven ground. But once inside the indoor, the footing is still soft and cushy even with the below freezing temperatures, and I don’t worry about making the injury worse with hard ground.
Yesterday, after finishing walking my horse and while opening the arena door, I heard galloping. My horse, who has been laid up with injury, started spooking at the noise. “I think some horses got out,” I warned to the other riders in the arena. The thundering hooves are loud on the frozen ground. But then I realized that the horses hadn’t gotten out. They were turned out into the big outdoor arena. And they were not only running, but they were being chased!
Yeehawing and giddyupping, the horse’s owner was running after them, cracking whips.
“That is not safe,” I commented to one of the riders in the arena. “Not safe for those horses or us.”
As my horse is now doing hopping rears, hearing the bugle call from the racetrack and knowing that she is supposed to be ahead of thundering hooves, I’m trying to keep her from further injuring her leg and wondering how I can get a now frazzled horse past these running horses on frozen ground.
But, more importantly, this treatment is just not safe for those other horses. I don’t advocate chasing horses regardless of season, but on frozen ground is just begging for injury.
There are a few issues to consider when working horses in winter. Horses need some warm up time, longer than in spring and summer, to get everything warmed and loosened up. In cold temperatures, a horse’s legs, tendons specifically, will be stiff like ours. At 20 degrees F, can you go out without a warmup and run all out for 20 minutes without feeling pain in your legs? Your horse can’t and shouldn’t either. These horses were turned out and chased without any warmup except the walk from the barn.
Frozen ground also increases the concussive forces inflicted upon the hooves and legs. Aren’t we always so concerned about the type of footing we ride on? Why is it some horsepeople seem to forget that when turning horses out? Why would you chase your horse into a gallop on ground that you wouldn’t even trot on if you were riding?
I frankly wouldn’t risk the possibility of a bowed tendon, twisted ankle, sore soles, laminitis, navicular or even a fracture from forcing a horse to run on frozen ground. My horse manages to get an injury just being herself alone in her paddock; imagine what can happen to a horse forced to run all out on frozen ground?
