How cold is too cold to ride?

I live in Alberta where the winters are COLD! We have been having a lot of -20 or -30 C temps lately and I was wondering how cold is too cold to ride. If its under -10 I usually don't ride with a bit in the horse's mouth, as I don't want to put a frosty, freezing bit in it's mouth and I just ride with a halter and lead ropes. I generally don't ride under -20 either - just too cold for me but do you think it does any harm to the horse? I don't do anything faster than light trotting either in the winter typically, so its not like they are working very hard.

I think it depends on how well you and your horse handle the cold. At lessons we go on trail rides in -10 F, but all the horses live outside 24/7 and deal with cold weather really well. I think that if your not working your horses hard, and they do well in cold weather, then they should be fine. Sorry if that wasn't much help.

It depends on the horse, the arena and how the horses are managed.
My horse is stabled indoors at night so I ride rain or shine cold or warm in the winter. He also has no coat to speak of.
For a horse stabled outdoors 24/7 it really depends on the arena. If you are working in an outdoor or unheated arena then I would say ride to about -20C as long as you don't sweat the horse up, and then you have to dry him. In a heated arena I wouldn't ride past -5C or -10C.
I'm also an Albertan and I share your pain :P I'm starting a petition to invade California and basically switch land with them.

It does depend on the horse & all, but to me, I can tell it's too cold to ride if even if I have layers of clothing on, & I'm STILL freezing, then it's a no-no. But the coldest I've ridden in is about 30F.

Thanks for all the help! I agree that if horse isn't being worked too hard its fine to ride them. I don't like riding too much when its below -20C as its just too cold and I don't want to risk hurting them but I'm sure if its just light riding they should do ok.

Good idea to switch land with California!! I just get so tired of -20 and -30 temps for such a long time! Thats true - if you are bundled up warm and you still feel frozen I think its best to stay inside and try to keep warm!

One horse I ride basically tells me when its too cold for her. She stops, looks up at me like, "you expect me to carry you around when its this cold?!" I also find she hates wind so I don't ride her when its too windy either.

I think it is too cold to ride a horse in anything past -30C but you can still groom them, sack them out, etc. But running a horse in cold weather is bad for there lungs. But minus 20 is totally fine I do it all the time.

I hate the cold. Despite that, if i chose not to ride in anything below -20C, I'd probably have about 3-4 months of no riding. So my limit is -30C. If its that cold outside, I stay home, as he's an outdoor horse, and I don't think its that good for him to come in, get worked, stay until he's dry and then go out in the freezing cold again-can't be the easiest on their lungs.

I'm not allowed to ride if it's below 20. Barn rule.

degrees Fahrenheit

Wow you girls are tough! I'm in BC and after November the horse's don;t get ridden at all till spring!