Island Life Magazine Ltd December 2012/January 2013 | Page 84

EQUESTRIAN

Stay safe

this winter
For equine enthusiasts this time of
year can seem like the start of a long,
hard slog towards spring.
Most things about keeping and
caring for horses become harder in
winter. Conditions are often cold,
wet and muddy; turnout time can be
limited; mud fever can set in, water
pipes freeze up and many of us have
to do all our yard chores in the pitch
dark.
To add insult to injury, those with
9.0 to 5.0 jobs and no access to
floodlit arenas tend to plough through
the hard labour that is winter horse
care whilst only actually getting
to enjoy riding their horses at the
weekends. C’est la vie – one cannot
change the weather, and as the old
adage goes, ‘a horse is for life, not just
for summer’.
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Doom and gloom aside, winter can
provide some beautiful crisp days
to enjoy hacking out, and hunting
gives an opportunity to ride on
some fabulous land. When daylight
hours are so short though, and low
winter sunlight can also be a hazard,
it is more important than ever to be
prepared and be visible when hacking
out: BE SAFE, BE SEEN!
There can be a certain stigma to
wearing hi-viz around horses, and
most of us have heard comments like
‘she looks like she’s wandered off a
building site’. My answer is simple I’d rather wear a hi-viz jacket and keep
myself and my horse safe.
By wearing hi-viz, YOU can give a
driver an extra three seconds reaction
– at 30mph, that’s the equivalent
of a car travelling the length of an

international dressage arena. Having
recently witnessed two New Forest
ponies hit and killed on the road the
message was reinforced further for
me – these were ponies in the middle
of the road that the driver just hadn’t
seen in low light conditions. If he
didn’t see two ponies in the middle of
the road, why would he be any more
likely to spot one pony with a rider
on its back? By wearing hi-viz, I can
certainly lengthen the odds for me and
my horse.
Now let’s move on to the
practicalities. Obviously there are lots
of equestrian products on the market,
but there is also a huge proliferation
of hi-viz cycling and running gear
that suits the needs of riders. A quick
search reveals well made, nicely fitting
clothing designed with outdoor use in