Things to do in the snow - Wintertime blues

I don't have access to an indoor areana on a regular basis and during this time of year we have an endless supply of snow here in Northwestern PA. While I know that I am able to give my ottb a good workout by riding her through the snow I have found that she finds this boring and thrives when I am able to find an area where the snow isn't very deep where we can work on walk trot transitions on a 20 meter circle. Does anyone have any other exercises or things that my mare and I can do so that we can get through this winter and be ready to train again in the spring?

I find that desensitizing in the winter time is great. If you do just a little bit everyday it keeps your horses mind active, you don't get too cold and all those little things add up so that when you really get to work in the summer your horse is really focused on you and not all the "boogie monsters" around him! Haha :)

My mare knicked her hip backing out of a friends trailer and then after that refused to back so we have been working on that - backing out of stall, out of barn, through doorways, of course being the smart tb that she is once she figures out what you want she does then is like come on challenge me. She doesn't really get spooky about much (I think I prepare for some super scare but she just looks at things and is like "whatever") Do you have any specific exercises I could do for desentsitizing that I could do? I spend time brushes and handling her daily to improve our bond and I noticed a huge difference in her trust in me when we had to go on a crazy wooded adventure looking for my sisters dogs. But I to do more.

Got anyone that nearby that owns cows? I've found that a number of the horses here find cows to be fascinating/terrifying-horse-eating-monsters and our neighbors here in Aiken happen to have a decent sized herd of cows + two donkeys in a field that is right next to where we have lessons and work them. Most of them have settled and don't mind them anymore, but one or two still worry at them every time they see the cows move or hear the donkeys bray.

Also, bright blue tarps covering large piles of things. The horses don't seem to mind the greyish/silver tarp we have over the shavings, but the neighbors also have a huge blue tarp covering all their hay along the fence bordering us and a few of the horses don't like it. Leaf blower/snow blower? Those can be scary too. Suddenly opening umbrellas, people sitting in chairs near you when you ride then standing up quickly as you pass (personal experience here! Happened to me during a dressage test and my horse shied and started bucking.), things that seem relatively harmless seem to be the biggest things lol.

Ah, I actually live on a beef farm and that is one thing that Sky has officially decided she doesn't like. We have progressed to being able to pass them without her focusing so much energy on them. But the tarp adn umberalla are a fantastic idea. Thanks

No problem. :)

Also, while it is a somewhat rare thing for a horse to encounter, if there is somewhere near where you are that has regularly used train tracks and you can ride near them that's always good to desensitize them to. At an event I used to compete at in Texas they had consistently used train tracks right on the other side of the fence that ran along a good deal of the cross country course. I can't count the number of horses that were doing super on cross country until a train came by. While, like I said, it's not something you would necessarily encounter a lot, it's just one more thing to check off your list! StormyBlues can probably attest to the train thing, since I think she's competed at the same place I mentioned.

Got any Amish buggies around?? LOL!!!! ;) There is one farm that always holds HT's about an hour from where I live and it's in the middle of Amish country and you should see some of the newer-to-showing-there horses FREAK OUT when they see them come by!