Quarantine – 8 Ideas on How to Keep Busy

As the UK goes into quarantine to stop the spread of Covid-19 (coronavirus) and in line with the Governments advice, the horse world also stops. All racing has been suspended until the end of the month and big annual 5* competitions like Badminton Horse Trials, which takes place in May, have been cancelled this year.

The Horse Exchange – THEx have put together some ideas for things to keep you and your horse busy if you are in quarantine.

  1. DIY your stables – move all the mats and disinfect the stables. Now is the time to fix any broken tie ups, stables doors and freshen the stables with some paint.
  2. Have a tack room tidy – use this time to go through your tack room have a clear out of broken tack and haynets. Identify your unused saddles, bridles, stirrups and post them on a sales site like The Horse Exchange – Equine Marketplace (it’s FREE to advertise for tack & equipment)
  3. Prepare your fields for summer – fix any broken fences and gates. Poo pick the fields and clean the water troughs.
  4. Practice your polework – use the downtime from competitions to try new techniques and work on both you and your horses partnership. Take a look at Little Bentley Equestrian who have launched a new free online jump training competition series. Each week they will be posting a training exercise. All we have to do is film ourselves riding the exercise and either post it on Facebook with the #lbevideoentry or send the video in by email or WhatsApp. The video will be assessed by judges – feedback and scores will be provided. There are also a range of top prizes to be won.
  5. Enter a virtual dressage competition – as with the jumping there are organisations that are running virtual dressage competitions. British Riding Club have also stated that they will be running monthly virtual dressage competitions and training. Dressage tests will be ridden at home, filmed and then sent in to be judged by a BD judge. You will receive a score sheet as well as suggestions and training notes. Rosettes will be given to 10th place with the top 3 receiving prizes in each sections – keep looking on the British Riding Clubs Facebook pages for further information.
  6. Wash and clear out the lorry – tidy the lorry inside and out. Reorganise the tack locker and kitchen. Check things like your travel first aid kit for both horse and rider as well as lorry related things like tyre pressure and oil levels.
  7. Give your horse a bath. Give the dog a bath…. then have a bath yourself!
  8. Once all the jobs are done, then settle down in front of the television, scrolling horses for sale on The Horse Exchange on your phone, and watch replays of Badminton Horse Trials – who can forget in 1995 when Mark Todd rode the cross country with one stirrup?!

Stay safe if you are in quarantine everyone.