Can you manage without an arena?

[I don’t like mondays]

I previously posted about my livery dilemma and had great advice I’ve now been offered the chance to move to a friend’s yard. It’s only 5mins from home, good hacking, help on site and my horse can live out with others (basically everything I want).

The (big) downside is they only have a grass arena. It’s nice and flat and doesn’t get muddy. There is an arena I can hire a short hack away. My horse and I like to do low level riding club activities so I usually school 2-3 times per week. Am I mad to consider this? Would I find not having an arena really restrictive? Have any of you managed without an arena? Thank you

 

[hobo]

I think it sounds perfect for you as you say the horse will have everything you wanted for it. Ok in the winter you may miss the easy use of an arena but sounds like there is one close by that you can use and the hack there will be the warm up.

 

[ester]

Yes, lesson once a fortnight, grass at home for about 10 years. We did really like having an arena once on livery but fine competing low level BD/RC/BS without one.

 

[ycbm]

I schooled in fields for my first 15 years here and evented BE and RC dressage, it can be done.

But if that grass arena is usable all year round, it may be one of the sand based areas where you can get away with laying some railway sleepers as sides and putting a surface direct onto a membrane laid on the grass. That would be a very cheap way to get an arena and your friend might go halves, maybe?
.

 

[I don’t like mondays]

Thanks, that’s really reassuring that you have all managed with grass and it hasn’t held you back. So hard to find livery that ticks every box

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Yes, I manage ok and have done for well over 40 yrs (omg, did I just type that!)
I ride in my most level paddock if I want to school, or blag a small arena half mile away if its really bad weather and I'm desperate....
When I had HOYS or Olympia qualified ponies, these also schooled once a week in the field, often by car headlights.
I miss jumping without having to travel out, but otherwise it's no problem at all.

 

[I don’t like mondays]

Did you have many occasions where the ground felt too hard and you were restricted in what you could do?

 

[View]

We didn’t have an arena, all schooling done out hacking bar the summer he was with me in a riding school where I was working.

when we got him he was your typical on the forehand slob along hacking horse. By the time we retired him, he had tempi changes and solid lateral work. I find it easier to teach lateral work out of a school where there is no boundary to lean on and gravitate towards.

 

[View]

Did you have many occasions where the ground felt too hard and you were restricted in what you could do?

only in extremes of weather e.g snow, ice, fog. We just accepted what was possible on the day, and as always what the horse is telling you. Even with an arena, you have to ride the horse you have on the day - and can end up doing something completely different from what you planned.

But I did love not having to lug wings and poles around - we just jumped what was there in the way of natural obstacles.

 

[I don’t like mondays]

Thanks so much everyone for your replies, that’s really reassuring

 

[The Xmas Furry]

Did you have many occasions where the ground felt too hard and you were restricted in what you could do?

It gets slippery occasionally, I also don't hammer it if v wet. Of course if can get very hard in frozen weather and after a v long hot spell, like in July 18.
I'd rather school whilst hacking.
If you have a hackable arena then I'd be moving as the yard has everything else, look on schooling in the field as an additional bonus in dry weather.

 

[L&M]

Yes we do easily - we have a grass menage that is useable between approx april - oct, and if needed over the winter have use of a clients that is 1/2 mile down the road.

We use our grassed area more for jumping than flatwork, and mow it rather than graze it as keeps a better grass coverage for when the ground hardens up.

 

[TPO]

Do you have transport and does the grass arena have lights?

If you like to ride during winter you might struggle without an arena.

It is of course perfectly possible to manage without an arena but having a good arena with lights certainly makes life easier and things much more convenient

I dont have an arena and riding is impossible during the winter because of lack of lights and horrendous weather affecting the fields so they cant be ridden in. It is hard to stay motivated

 

[ester]

In winter I tended to ride in the dark and do my schooling round the edge of the field - low lying clay but we tried to keep good grass cover.
Summer it was hard, but so was everywhere else so I'll admit to not actual thinking about it too much with a good doer native who needed the exercise regardless.
Definitely swings and roundabouts and have been advantages and drawbacks in each situation for me.

 

[I don’t like mondays]

Do you have transport and does the grass arena have lights?

If you like to ride during winter you might struggle without an arena.

It is of course perfectly possible to manage without an arena but having a good arena with lights certainly makes life easier and things much more convenient

I dont have an arena and riding is impossible during the winter because of lack of lights and horrendous weather affecting the fields so they cant be ridden in. It is hard to stay motivated

Good points. I have transport but there are no lights in the grass arena

 

[Wheels]

It depends on the type of soil, I competed one of mine previously up to 1.20 SJ and well schooled in the flat in a grass field although that was very flat, well covered and on sandy soul. At the place I'm at now it would not be possible, field on a slope and too wet and boggy or hard and rutted in anything other than perfect weather

 

[LiquidMetal]

Grass is all I have at home and as that field doubles as pasture, I’ll never build a sand ring. Plus I really enjoy having a couple acres to roam around on. I’m in Canada so it gets covered with snow over winter so excessive mud isn’t a problem for me in winter. I am careful with it if we get a lot of rain and in late summer, I tend to avoid doing a lot of canter work if ground gets hard. Our soil is very sandy so if I do some harrowing, it’s typically not too bad even in summer heat. I personally think it’s an advantage to ride on a not perfectly flat surface. You and horse learn to adjust balance and rhythm over undulating ground. When we go for a lesson in the sand arena, it’s a luxury!

One thing I have noticed is that my horse gets better grip unshod when on the grass. I put shoes on due to more riding and using my coach’s sand ring more often. But my horse (who has weaker stifles) started slipping his stifle a lot. We ended up taking hind shoes off and that has greatly improved.

 

[tatty_v]

We haven’t had an arena since moving the horses home 2 years ago, just a flat, marked out grass arena. It’s been fine, very rideable in the spring and autumn but realistically too hard to do much in the summer and too sticky too do much in the winter. We have an arena within a 10 minute hack, but that’s tricky if it’s icy/dark/misty as you have to ride on the road to get there.

As a result, we’ve caved and are putting in a 20x40. It’s not absolutely necessary and I’ve coped fine without, but I’ve found the winters miserable (hacking before work is v limited and essentially roadwork).

I feel slightly ashamed (!) but my first love is schooling and I just wasn’t loving it as much as I do when I’ve got somewhere to work rain or shine.

Overall message though is that it is absolutely fine and I’m probably too much of a fusspot ?

 

[Marigold4]

I only have a field to ride in so have to hire arenas to school in some weathers. I often find the field is too hard or too slippy to ride in but make the most of it when I can. I'm quite fussy about hard ground though. On the plus side, my horses have been out and about a lot to other yards/arenas so take competing in their stride as it just seems an extension of what we normally do.

 

[AUB]

I could manage without an indoor arena if there was an outdoor arena with good footing and light. I mostly ride in the evening and not having an arena would not work for me during winter.

 

[J&S]

Some of us oldies have never had use of an arena of our own, or even one close by! They were very rare in the old days. I did RC and M & M WHP to a pretty good standard just using flat areas of the New Forsest and jumping gorse bushes for practice.

 

[milliepops]

i had 3 in work and no arena on site for nearly a year, there was one 10 min hack away. it was hard work in the winter going back and forth in the dark by headtorch. I've also boxed off several times a week to use an arena which was better but an endless faff.... I wouldn't choose it again if there was any alternative.

 

[fetlock]

Some of us oldies have never had use of an arena of our own, or even one close by! They were very rare in the old days. I did RC and M & M WHP to a pretty good standard just using flat areas of the New Forsest and jumping gorse bushes for practice.

In all the years I rode and competed I think I had the use of an arena no more than twice a year.
All schooling was done in fields, and fields which were far from flat at that. Any grumbling about that was met with "showfields aren't always flat" by my trainer, and she was right.
A few days before a dressage event I'd mark out an arena with jumping poles, guessing the size and usually badly.
No surfaces at shows either - all on grass and ponies never sick or sorry, despite competing whatever the ground from March through to late October.
For a few years I didn't have fields to ride in either, or in winter anyway. Schooling was done out on a hack, and on a large area of grass in the middle of a housing estate (that I hacked to in the dark), and handily lit up on two sides by lamp posts.

 

[millitiger]

I feel a real lightweight… I’ve just bought my own place and less than a week after completing the purchase I have put planning in for an arena
It’s the number one thing on my list, the house doesn’t even have central heating but that is down the priority list for me and just fingers crossed the budget stretches to a boiler!

I am currently riding in the field and it is ok for exercise but not real schooling- I’m riding before 7am and if it’s a dewy morning, we stick to walk and trot and don’t do any sharp turns or circles.
I can’t see me getting much of anything done in the depths of winter or a summer drought without a surface to work on.

I’ve no issue competing on grass, however with 2 x 17hh big movers, we always have at least back studs and I cannot be faffed with that at home.

 

[tatty_v]

I feel a real lightweight… I’ve just bought my own place and less than a week after completing the purchase I have put planning in for an arena
It’s the number one thing on my list, the house doesn’t even have central heating but that is down the priority list for me and just fingers crossed the budget stretches to a boiler!

I am currently riding in the field and it is ok for exercise but not real schooling- I’m riding before 7am and if it’s a dewy morning, we stick to walk and trot and don’t do any sharp turns or circles.
I can’t see me getting much of anything done in the depths of winter or a summer drought without a surface to work on.

I’ve no issue competing on grass, however with 2 x 17hh big movers, we always have at least back studs and I cannot be faffed with that at home.

This is me 100%! Although I did stick it out for 2 years ?

 

[Ownedby4horses]

OP, you’ll be fine. Most of us grew up without arenas. Can you get your car near to the grass arena? Schooling by car head lights in the winter can be done!

 

[I don’t like mondays]

Thanks for all of these replies. It’s good to see the advantages and disadvantages. Lots of food for thought...

I’d be able to ride during daylight hours in my lunch break however I’m wondering how many months the ground would be too wet or too hard

 

[I don’t like mondays]

OP, you’ll be fine. Most of us grew up without arenas. Can you get your car near to the grass arena? Schooling by car head lights in the winter can be done!

I’m not sure if they’ll let me bring my car that close but it’s an excellent idea (free flood lights!!)

 

[palo1]

Most of us don't make the most of non-arena opportunities but really there is so much that can be done out hacking. The number of transitions that you can do whilst hacking is probably far more than we can be bothered to do in an arena session, also the on-and-back exercises in each gait, square corners, turns on forehand and haunches, shoulder in, leg yield, shallow loops and so on. I only have a very novice horse and no arena but I am optimistic that a lot of schooling can be done at home and I use an arena once a week where we do all the stuff I can't do out hacking. I do even use bits of common land for larger circles at home which is the thing that is hardest to do without an arena really. It is, or can be a bit less convenient but even a 30 minute hack allows for 10 minutes warm up and 20 minutes work - the cooling down done with walk/halt transitions and free walk on a long rein. Where there is a will!! I am not great but I try to do at least 1 schooling hack per week where I really concentrate on that rather than going somewhere nice It's a really good sneaky way too to encourage a horse that switches off in the school!

 

[SO1]

How many people will be using the grass arena.

If there are quite a few of you using it in the winter it could get churned up quite quickly if it is wet. I would be very surprised if it is does not get muddy if there is a lot of rain unless it was not used much by the other liveries.

I need a decent arena with floodlights and surface because of work I don't get to the yard till gone 7pm so dark most of the year and I need to be able to ride after work as I have a good doer pony that needs to have a lot of exercise for weight control.

If I was able to ride during the day then an arena would be less of issue as I could hack if the grass arena was too wet to use. I had no access to an arena as a child as kept ponies at home. I lived in a village where quite a lot of the local kids also had ponies at home and we just set up jumps and stuff in the field but it was different back then as I was not having to juggle working with horses and had long school holidays to ride.

I presume if you only get an hour for your lunch break that you only have a quick ride anyway by the time you have got from work to the yard and got tacked up so not as if you could hack to the hireable arena in the winter on the days you want to school.