How Do Horses Spend Their Winter?

While most of us are bundled inside our warm homes sitting by the fire with a warm drink, what are the horses doing? Some live outside year round so they grow a scruffy coat as if they were living in the wild. It's thick enough that they only need a light blanket to keep them warm. However, there are the horses that live indoors year round and because of that their coats don't grow in as much thus they need a heavy blanket or two. 

During the winter, some horses have the time off to recuperate from the rigorous schedule and workout they are consumed by during the warmer months. Some are exercised with light work and others are given the time off completely just to eat and "relax." However, there are the high performance horses who are kept in low to medium work through out the winter. That is to keep them prepared for the show season, which for some begins in January on either the east coast (in Wellington or Ocala, FL) or west coast (either Thermal, CA or Tucson, AZ). 

In Tucson, AZ, the event is called HITS Arizona. HITS stands for Horse Shows In The Sun. HITS also hosts the shows in Ocala, FL and Thermal, CA during the winter. People from as far away as Vancouver and Calgary will travel to the shows in AZ or CA. However, the shows in Ocala and Wellington have the most draw for people living on the east coast because the cold weather would normally prevent them from competing in their home states. Traveling down to Florida allows serious horse show people to continue to compete year round. The horse show in Wellington is the FTI Winter Equestrian Festival (WEF). It is the longest of the winter shows running for 12 weeks, beginning Jan. 11 and running until April 1.

I look forward to blogging on Patch about my experiences in the horse show world while I am down there!