Can you manage without an arena?

[Elf On A Shelf]

I don't get this whole new arena obsessed horse world. Do people feel safer with 4 walls and a surface under their horses feet? When I put on a showing show for exracers the other year so, so many people asked if we could swop the grass arenas for the surfaced ones as they had never ridden their horse on turf. So many kids only ever know an arena and don't feel safe outside of one now.

I've never had an arena. All of my breaking, schooling and retraining is done in my field with other ponies milling about eating or in stubble fields. None of mine ever meet a surface until I take them to a competition on one for the first time.

I find it far easier to school without restrictions. Getting a horse going forwards properly is far easier when you have an almost unlimited straight line, your not having to collect to turn a corner every 2 seconds. Horses can truly let themselves down and work to their true movement with no restrictions.

 

[J&S]

Micheal Peace wrote some thing that really gelled with me, as a non arena user. When you school a horse out in the open there is no "anticpation" on the horses behalf regarding corners/turns even letter markers. Out in the oepn it is purely the riders decision as to which weed/flower/stone/bush they transition/turn at so consequently the horse cannot anticipate and must listen closely to the rider's requests.

 

[TPO]

Not having an arena is fine if you have suitable alternatives e.g. access to hacking or a suitable alternative

I dont have an arena and for years kept my horses places without arenas. Winter was/is a write off because not enough daylight hours during the week and the winter weather makes field unrideable. They arent unrideable because I'm precious or scared but because I cant afford to sacrifice that ground when the horses need to eat and riding will damage the ground further.

I dont have access to great hacking either and nor do I have transport.

I sold my lorry last year but even boxing up to hire a local arena is a pita. Silly things like quitting on a high after getting good work 20mins in but you've paid for an hour or having a bad turn and needing a bit longer but others are waiting for your hour to be up so they can get in. Then just the hassle of loading the lorry and trying to remember everything only to get there and realise something has been forgotten and you cant just yip to the tack room.

I've been on yards with schools that I wouldn't use because the surfaces have been so bad and theres been no grass alternative so just hacked. I'd rather a good grass arena over a surface but they are even harder to come by and can be very affected by the weather.

Yes of course you can survive without a school but depending on what else is available sometimes it's not much fun. So it depends what you want to do abs how much you want to ride during the months of bad weather that might affect a grass surface.

I know of yards that have grass arenas but close them off October-April to save the ground.

Arenas help massively because good ones are "all weather" surfaces and they often have lights to permit riding in the dark.

If you are used to an arena it is a big change especially with our lack of seasons and constant rain. If you are happy with boxing to arena hires and have decent hacking then it might not be a drama at all.

 

[brighteyes]

Personally? No.

 

[ycbm]

I could manage, but I would hate to be without mine and there were lots of plusses (and some big minuses) about riding schools teaching riding out on hacks.
.

 

[LEC]

I don't have an arena and now my schooling field is getting hard. I have both horses who are in the middle of having serious changes made in the way they go and will be stymied by it. They both will need to do 4 days a week of this as well. Supposed to be getting an arena but its a slow process and frustrating. I lasted for years without one but they make a difference if you are competing.

There are pros and cons and tbh most of the top pros I know will vary between an arena and grass.

 

[milliepops]

Micheal Peace wrote some thing that really gelled with me, as a non arena user. When you school a horse out in the open there is no "anticpation" on the horses behalf regarding corners/turns even letter markers. Out in the oepn it is purely the riders decision as to which weed/flower/stone/bush they transition/turn at so consequently the horse cannot anticipate and must listen closely to the rider's requests.

this works the other way too though. For instance If I'm lazy my horse will take itself round the corners. she knows what happens in a corner - you go in and come out so she will take the easiest route. But for test riding i need her to go into the corners in a way that takes more effort than she'd naturally put in, so we increase engagement or collection in the "negative space" of the arena ready to do the next move which is usually on a diagonal or starting from the centre line. So I have to train myself not to let her go her own way and to ride each step. she has to let me train her not to take the easy way out.
Teaching a horse who wants to anticipate, to actually follow your aids, gives a true confirmation that they are waiting for the rider's instructions.

I will sometimes set up an exercise where i know my horse will anticipate the usual ending, e.g. canter across a short diagonal, horse anticipates the change on the track, but I will ride around to the short side in counter canter before allowing the change. it reinforces the need to follow the actual instructions

So swings & roundabouts when you are at the stage where there's effectively only one test at each level the horses WILL learn the movements and you have to be able to tackle anticipation head on IMO

anyway sorry for diversion... just something I find interesting

 

[LEC]

this works the other way too though. For instance If I'm lazy my horse will take itself round the corners. she knows what happens in a corner - you go in and come out so she will take the easiest route. But for test riding i need her to go into the corners in a way that takes more effort than she'd naturally put in, so we increase engagement or collection in the "negative space" of the arena ready to do the next move which is usually on a diagonal or starting from the centre line. So I have to train myself not to let her go her own way and to ride each step. she has to let me train her not to take the easy way out.
Teaching a horse who wants to anticipate, to actually follow your aids, gives a true confirmation that they are waiting for the rider's instructions.

The biggest issue with free space is straightness and accuracy. It disintegrates very quickly as you have no markers. Its good for forwards and tbh that is about it. You cannot tell if a horse is falling in or falling out easily. Cannot tell if your lateral work is good enough. Honestly, quotes like the Micheal Peace one makes me roll my eyes.

 

[MagicMelon]

Never had a school, competed up to 1* eventing and 1.20m BS with no issues.

Do I dream about having one, absolutely! Its not so much the wet I struggle with, its when the ground is rock hard in the summer so I dont canter or jump on it which is limiting.

 

[milliepops]

The biggest issue with free space is straightness and accuracy. It disintegrates very quickly as you have no markers. Its good for forwards and tbh that is about it. You cannot tell if a horse is falling in or falling out easily. Cannot tell if your lateral work is good enough. Honestly, quotes like the Micheal Peace one makes me roll my eyes.

Yes. you only have to think how small a 20 x 40 on grass feels after warning up at a horse trials. the freedom feels great until you come to do something precise.
When i was about to give up in my search for suitable yards i nearly brought mine home, i would have had a bit of flat-ish space we could have rolled and marked out but I'd have really struggled to do the sort of work i was doing this morning without a really good surface and defined edges. i think we'd have plateaued which is fine if you're happy at a level and won't be frustrated by that... i feel the months and years slipping by with my horse and know there's a limited window where we can still keep training up so would have been ripping my hair out.

 

[Tiddlypom]

When the going is good, a grass arena works very well. I had all the white boards and markers set up on mine as a 60m x 20m, and mowed it weekly.

However, in the real world, it's often too hard/too boggy/too slippery. We had just a grass arena here for 25 years. On some days you could crack on with advanced twiddly stuff, on many others you just had to stay off it and go for a hack instead.

Winter was a complete no go.

The Michael Peace quote is annoying. Without markers, in an open field, you can drift along thinking how wonderfully well the horse is going, but working to the markers where a transition or movement has to be done HERE is a much truer test.

 

[palo1]

The biggest issue with free space is straightness and accuracy. It disintegrates very quickly as you have no markers. Its good for forwards and tbh that is about it. You cannot tell if a horse is falling in or falling out easily. Cannot tell if your lateral work is good enough. Honestly, quotes like the Micheal Peace one makes me roll my eyes.

This is true but it is possible to make up an arena with some cheap fascia boards or old plastic guttering so that you can work on straightness and accuracy in a test type space. I have done that in the past and just put them out when needed in the field - not using the same place every time. I think that an arena is great tbh - it cuts down time and energy for schooling BUT they are expensive to put in and may be hard to justify for a one or two horse owner. They need to be used and maintained and it is absolutely possible to get good stuff done without one though there are compromises of course and for me, on clay which is either bog or baked I have to be inventive as my potential competing/ambitions just couldn't justify the cost or permanent change to our land.

 

[SO1]

I think as people end up working longer hours with longer commutes having a floodlight arena to ride in in the winter becomes more important if you need to keep a horse fit over the winter. There is just not enough daylight hours to fit in riding around work in the winter without a floodlit arena.

 

[I don’t like mondays]

Thanks everyone for all of these replies (too many to reply individually, but I’ve read each one and will probably have another read). So many different experiences- positives I hadn’t thought of but also negatives I hadn’t considered. Thanks again

 

[scats]

I’m fortunate in that I’ve always been on yards with decent arenas. Could I cope without one? Personally, no. I probably only use it once or twice a week as I hack the rest of the time, but I find it invaluable for accuracy.

 

[palo1]

I must say that in the past when I have been nearer an accessible arena I have been glad of it. Now I either need to hack for 30mins uphill to a neighbour (which I have never done in spite of the kind offer) or box up to one I can hire. At the moment I use an arena once a week and make the most of it and it would take years and years of that to equate to the cost of an arena at home!! I am not especially comfortable with the land damage aspect of an arena for private use (personally speaking) but that is a different conversation. My OH has said a number of times that I would need to be doing some really 'watchable' stuff (jumping or dressage) to make it palatable for our neighbours and I have sort of taken that to heart lol!! Quite a few people locally have arenas that are not so well used - they become a pain to maintain and I frequently get told that I am welcome to use so and so's dire surface; no thanks! IF I had access to a good arena that was 5-10 mins away I would love it but I wouldn't put one in at home - even if I could afford it which I can't!

 

[Tiddlypom]

There's a lot more work involved in maintaining a good grass arena than a proper surfaced arena. The grass arena needs regular mowing, and maybe the boards need shifting regularly to give access to fresh ground.

It took easily 2 or 3 hours a week to keep my grass arena good to go, but I was very fussy about the footing.

My sand and rubber arena is much easier to care for. It's in the same place as the old grass arena.

 

[AUB]

I think as people end up working longer hours with longer commutes having a floodlight arena to ride in in the winter becomes more important if you need to keep a horse fit over the winter. There is just not enough daylight hours to fit in riding around work in the winter without a floodlit arena.

This exactly. Someone asked if people didn’t feel safe without an arena. Errrhm, no, I wouldn’t really feel safe riding around in a dark field or in the forrest after 8 pm in the middle of winter…

 

[I'm Dun]

Im lucky because my soil is not chalk, but is light and free draining. I have pet sheep who mow it for me. Arena marked out in the middle and jumping course around the outside. It works out really well. I'd like my own all weather arena, but I cant justify the cost. I do have flexi hours at work so can ride in daylight which makes a difference I guess.

 

[I don’t like mondays]

Im lucky because my soil is not chalk, but is light and free draining. I have pet sheep who mow it for me. Arena marked out in the middle and jumping course around the outside. It works out really well. I'd like my own all weather arena, but I cant justify the cost. I do have flexi hours at work so can ride in daylight which makes a difference I guess.

How much of the year can you ride in your grass arena? The yard I’m looking at has free draining soil and never really gets mud

 

[I don’t like mondays]

Those of you who have/had a grass arena to work in (1 flat area marked out) how many months of the year (on a typical year) was it useable to walk/trot/canter?

The place I’m looking at has a flat arena (they don’t get much mud) that’s rolled and mowed, free draining peat soil and only used by 1 other rider (maybe twice a week by them). I can ride during the day so light isn’t an issue (but I imagine hard or soft ground will be). Thanks ?

 

[Tiddlypom]

Earliest month able to ride on it would be April, then if lucky through to October. Keep off altogether November - March.

No guarantees that it would be safe or suitable to ride on a particular day even in summer though - you need to be very flexible.

 

[I don’t like mondays]

Earliest month able to ride on it would be April, then if lucky through to October. Keep off altogether November - March.

No guarantees that it would be safe or suitable to ride on a particular day even in summer though - you need to be very flexible.

Thanks Tiddlypom. Ok, that makes sense (so I’d need to hire an arena for winter schooling and lessons)