Lincoln Riding Tips - Horse Riding In England

All equestrian tips have been submitted emailed or whispered to me by Lincolnshire riders.

Lincoln Imp Top Tip for Spring :
Spruce up - Take advantage of those lovely spring days and repaint your show jumps and spruce them up for summer.

Top Tip for Summer :
Cool Horse Treats - Make your own summer treats, fill a container with water and add a few pieces of carrot or apple then freeze. Once frozen drill a hole through the centre tie with strong string or baling twine and hang on the gate or fence for your horses to enjoy. They'll love them

Top Tip for Autumn :
Clear out - Have a good clear out and sell all those things you dont use, the extra cash will be great towards the winter feed bill. You could advertise them for free in our classifieds section.

Top Tip for Winter :
Cleaner rugs - Use a summer sheet under your horses stable or turn out rugs. It's a lot easier to clean than your heavy rugs and will help keep your horse cleaner.

Horse Care & Grooming Tips :

Bridle hooks -
Use old tuna cans by nailing them to the wall, they make excellant cheap bridle or headcollar racks. You can even paint them in your own design.

All round cleaning -
Unscented baby wipes are great for loads of things like cleaning around the eyes, the nose, anus or even wiping over your horse or your riding boots. They are very handy at shows for a quick wipe over eveything.

Coat shine -
Add 1/4 cup of baby oil to 2 cups of water, then add 4 tablespoons of cider vinegar in a spray bottle. Shake before each use and just spray on.

Thick manes -
Sounds silly but mayonnaise makes your horses mane clean and shiny and is great for thick manes that tangle easily. Use it like shampoo and then wash it out. It will make your horse's mane as smooth as silk.

Snow packed hooves -
Try useing vaserline in your horses hooves before turning them out in snow, it helps to prevent their hooves filling with snow and ice.

Clipping -
After clipping your horse try adding some soda crystals to a bucket of lukewarm water, wash your horse this is great for removing scurf and grease, please remember to rinse them well.

Stable boredom -
Try a few or all of these ideas to help prevent boredom over the long winter months. A stable mirror is great for helping with separation anxiety. Hide a few treats like pieces of apple and carrot in their stable so they can find them throughout the night. Leave on a radio to add a little backgound noise. hang up a stable toy.

Mounting block -
Make your own mounting block, use an old milk crate it's a great portable mounting block, or even make it into a luxury one by nailing a flat sheet of wood to the crate then varnish the wood and sprinkle sand on the varnish before it dries for added grip.

Wheel barrows -
Fed up with mending punchers on your wheelbarrow, Buy some tier foam from a auto shop fill your barrow tier, problem solved no more punchers.

Water -
A horse should drink around 25 litres of water a day to stay healthy, to help encourage your horse to drink try adding a few drops of apple squash to their water bucket.

Saddle soap -
Dont throw away old small pieces of saddle soap, melt them with a little milk in the microwave put in a plastic container to cool, then use.

Get your rugs ready for winter -
A cheaper way of rug cleaning is to brush them over with a stiff brush, then pressure wash them yourself and hang them up in the glorious summer sunshine to dry.

Rug repairs -
Try using fishing line to sew your rugs, it's a lot stronger than cotton and doesn't rot.

Cheap paint -
Go to your local diy store during the january sales and buy cheap paint then put it away ready for spring and use to spruce up your show jumps.

Vermin -
Rats and mice are always a problem especially over winter and Ferrets are the king of rodents. So, if you know anyone who owns a ferret ask them to save you some of the ferrets bedding. Place the bedding around rat runs and the scent of ferret wee will help to deter rats and mice.

Water Troughs -
Use a sieve to clear away unwanted flies, leaves ect from your water trough daily, this will save you time as your trough wont need scrubbing out quite so often.

Help save a little life -
Tie a piece of rope to your water trough and place the rope in the water with knots about two fingers width apart, This can help save a squirrel or a young birds life and save you the unhappy task of having to remove the body from your trough.