As we move into the cold, wet, sometimes freezing, and snowy winter months everything starts to slow down, which can include our motivation to continue participating in regular physical activity and sport. Shorter, darker days don’t help with this either. Gone are those long, summer evenings where we feel like we have endless time for everything. Whereas in winter, time seems to disappear all that more quickly and we can be more inclined to hunker down and spend our evenings cosy on the sofa. It is important to use this time to rest and recoup our bodies and allow them time to recover from, what for some people, will have been a very active, and outdoors, summer. Winter allows us vital downtime, and it’s also important that we’re aware of those environmental factors, not least the cold, that can put pressures on our bodies and make activity – especially if done outdoors – all that a bit more challenging and indeed exhausting.
However, it is important to maintain a regular physical activity routine throughout the winter months. For some, there may only be minimal changes to their regular training routine. For others, they may reduce the intensity, or swap to a different location, for example, outdoor swimmers might move into the pool once it gets colder. Others might switch to a completely different set of activities, for example, summer rock climbers, suddenly transform into winter skiers! With this change in mindsets and approaches to activity, it can be a great time to pick up a new activity. This got me thinking about what sort of physical activities that might be a bit different, perhaps a little alternative, that would be great to pick up and learn during the winter months – with the view, of course, to them becoming a regular part of an active lifestyle.
Horse riding
Horse riding has been part of my life since I was little. I loved Saturdays spent at the stables – first a lesson, followed by mucking out, and then carefully polishing up the tack. I loved the farmyard smells, the sounds of horseshoes clipping on the yard, and being deep in the Northern Irish countryside. Fast forward to the current day, in my 40s, and nothing has changed. I continue to love all these things, albeit now in the Scottish countryside, and continue to ride on a weekly basis. Horse riding has long been associated with health, well-being, and therapeutic benefits. Both regular and occasional horse riding is associated with, for example, improved mood, improved physical condition, and increased social well-being. These benefits have been explored and reported across a range of patient and non-patient populations, as well as for caregivers. One key message is that you don’t need to be on the horse to experience these benefits, you simply need to spend time with horses, for example, helping out at a local Riding for the Disabled group.
Getting into horse riding is probably the most difficult part of the process. If you don’t live near a stable offering lessons, it can be a difficult activity to access. Many adults report feeling that it’s more an activity to start as a child. It’s also an activity that is a bit more expensive, potentially making it more of a luxury treat than a weekly essential. It’s also important to recognize that it is not for everyone – and that’s ok.
For those who are keen, winter is a great time to start taking lessons – most stables will have a schooling arena that is undercover and floodlit, allowing for lessons during the evenings, and even in the worst of weather. My personal recommendation for lessons in the Edinburgh area is Lasswade Stables – they offer lessons for adults at all levels and the instruction is outstanding and expertly tailored to each individual in the lesson. Which is a perfect approach to accommodate those who are not able to ride on a weekly basis. Of course, the biggest issue with getting into horse riding is that eventually, you’ll want your horse. Once that feeling takes over, it is extremely difficult to shake it off! Unfortunately, for most people, horse ownership is unrealistic – for many reasons, the main ones being the cost and the time needed to look after a horse. However, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible.
Enter Pentland Ponies, a horse share scheme based at two sites – the Pentland Hills and East Lothian, and run by Louise and her family:
“Horse riding is a wonderful form of exercise for the whole body and is extremely beneficial for mental health. There’s something about being around a horse that quiets the mind, tires the body and is just good for the soul – there’s no problem that can’t be mulled over while mucking out a stable or taking a peaceful ride out in the countryside. Unfortunately, horses are very time-consuming, expensive to keep and require good overall knowledge of how to look after them, so once you’ve been to a riding school and mastered the basics but yearn for more, what do you do? A horse share offers hands-on experience with the horse practising the practical stuff like grooming, tacking up, riding out on the roads and local trails, paddock maintenance and general horse management without the commitment of actually having to own a horse full time. A horse share means you can look after and ride the horse once or twice a week and the rest of the time the owner or other sharers share the care and costs of the horse, which is a great way to build the knowledge, skills, and confidence needed before taking the leap into purchasing your horse. Pentland Ponies started out as just five ponies five years ago and has steadily grown into a full-time enterprise with two premises (Currie in Edinburgh and Gifford East Lothian) offering well-schooled horses and ponies for the part share. We have some groups of sharers that don’t know each other out with Pentland Ponies who now meet every week for a hack and a stop at the local coffee shop. Looking after horses will definitely help keep you fit – looking after them is physically challenging – but you might just make some new friends too!”
