Anyone else have stubble fields that are too hard/cracked to ride on?

[Umbongo]

All this talk of riding on stubble fields and I am very jealous

Went for a walk with my dog while they were baling the straw today and the dessication cracks in the ground are huge! Been riding my friends horse a bit this summer and only been able to canter him a handful of times due to him being an older lad with arthritis.

We have access to stubble fields with open gateways and ditches so you could effectively go on for a mile or 2 without stopping...I think by the time we get enough rain to soften the ground the farmers will be ploughing it all up

The grassy tracks look inviting but the ground is so hard and cracked underneath as I discovered when going for a jog and nearly twisting my ankle!

 

[Sparkles]

Yep! Though have enough grassy gallops cutout to use

But it's been my aim this year to jump the bales! And all the ones round the farm have been collected whenever I've set out to give them a go lol...then FINALLY found some over the hill which were still out in the field....and the sodding ground is completely baked up there! Gutted.

 

[freckles22uk]

Yes here.. :-( my field I rent out had barley grown on it again , and its right outside my front door... hard as a rock... grrrr..... but then again I do live in Spain and its been a hot hot sunner..

 

[MissMincePie&Brandy]

In Bedfordshire, where the ground is Clay (famous for brick making), it would be suicidal to ride across the stubble fields. They are hard as concrete with huge cracks in right now, but all it needs is a deluge of rain and they will quickly become so sticky you'd be blowing tendons left right and centre!