British Horse Feeds sponsored dressage rider Dominic Wolfendale
talks to us about his winter routine and how he keeps his horses
fit and healthy when the big freeze takes hold...
Q – How did last year’s heavy snow affect you?
A – All the horses ended up having six weeks off work!
Winter Fitness Update with Dominic
Wolfendale
Q - What level of work are your horses in over the winter
months?
Dominic out on his winter training
A - I don't really compete much in the winter as I tend to focus
more on training, so this winter I will be looking to move up to
intermediate I level in preparation for small tour next year.
Q- Do you have access to any indoor facilities when the weather
is bad?
A - When it snows here no one goes anywhere! We only have an
outdoor arena and unfortunately when it freezes the horses are just
turned out!
Q - How does your routine change in the winter?
A - I tend to do more hacking for fitness, I have a lot of very
good hills which really help improve the strength in the hind leg,
I also spend more of a schooling session on stretching to really
make sure all Laddie's (Lantinus) muscles are warmed up properly
before staring the collected work.
Q - How did last year's heavy snow affect you?
A - All the horses ended up having six weeks off work! In a way
a holiday is good but on my terms not the weathers! The horses were
turned out every day with hay to keep their digestion working, we
upped the hard feed fibre intake to help keep them warm on the
inside and all of the horses were fed Speedi-Beet.
Q - How do you prepare for winter?
A - If it's going to freeze then all the horse have buckets of
warm water, this helps reduce the risk of colic which can be caused
by a sudden intake of very cold water, they all have as much hay as
they want to keep the fibre moving through their systems.
Q - Do any of your horses have specific problems in the cold
weather?
A - As of yet we haven't experienced any problems. Laddie
struggles to keep his weight on so I tend to up the Speedi-Beet to
compensate, being non-heating means he won't charge around in the
snow or on frozen ground, but will stay warm and keep weight
on!