Do any of you ride in your horses grazing field?

Yep only have a field - no arena & he behaves the same as when we use a friends arena - good as gold no probs (unless bloke next door pops his head over fence unexpectedly :D) xx
 
When i used to work at a riding school, we were told not to ride the horses in their feild because that was their time off zone, a place where they should beable to chill from work.

Also if you did it often enough it could churn up the ground.
 
We don't have a school, so have to ride in the field. Our pony is as good as gold out there, but our horse does have the odd silly moment!
 
We've done it just about 4 days a week for the last 4yrs (only very busy road hacking round us so rarely go out) & field is still perfect! Even in winter it doesn't get churned up - have 3 acres for just 1 but I can't fence/section it off
 
i dont- i was always encouraged not to ride and turn out into same fields, to help mentally differenciate between work and play- as we dont have a proper school we just have a sectioned off 20x40 field that is kept purely to school in

:)
 
ellis9905 said:
i dont- i was always encouraged not to ride and turn out into same fields, to help mentally differenciate between work and play- as we dont have a proper school we just have a sectioned off 20x40 field that is kept purely to school in

:)
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I've heard this theory before, but surely the fact that the horse or pony is tacked up and has a rider on board is enough for them to realise it is work time, not playtime! (Actually, they don't even need to be tacked up as my daughter often rides the pony in the field bridleless and saddleless and she still realises that she has to work and listen to the rider!)

Unfortunately we don't have the luxury of enough grazing to spare to designate an area purely for schooling!
 
Yes! We have to hack through the turnout fields to get from the stable yard to the outdoor school and all the horses are perfectly behaved. Also, there are cross country jumps in the turnout fields so if cross country schooling have to ride in the fields! The horses certainly seem to understand the difference between worktime and playtime and behave themselves beautifully. I'd love to see whether they jump the fences for fun though ;).

P
 
I try, but my horse is a total pain in the field, everything is far too exciting for him :rolleyes: I think if I did it more it would be less exciting though. I will jump school in the field though, even if it means each grid ends with a buck and an attempt to peg off! :)
 
We do from time to time either to do some relaxed cantering or cool off... never had any problems and thats with a range of a 4yr old and a tb, we often canter together and it doesn't turn into a mad race or bucking.:)
 
We do it all the time. At the minute we school in the winter part of the field due to more ground coverage. We do have a little schooling area but it takes 5 mins to walk to so being lazy we just use the winter paddock which is at the back of the stables
 
All the time although we have more than one field they are all grazed in turn. I don't ride in a field that the horses are currently on but in one of the ones they are not. It's not torn up the ground and the horses behave fine, sometimes a little napping towards their friends but that would happen in a school.
 
we have a fenced off area that is used for schooling but also has to be used for grazing, no problems at all. I have been encouraging them to ride in the big field too and we have some cross country fences out there for schooling. During the summer we marked out a dressage arena which will be much more like she will have to ride in at competitions so good for practise. we dont work on any land once it starts to get wet though
 
Yes I do cos our XC jumps are in the grazing fields and the jumping paddock is often invaded by the 'little' pony gang (we have 3 'free range' ponies who can fit under the fences!! :rolleyes:) so unless I ride in the indoor there is usually horses wandering around while we ride. It doesn't bother my lad and it doesn't bother the horses in the fields, sometimes new one's get a bit giddy and join us over a jump or two but the excitement wears off and they get used to it eventually.
 
I was just thinking - I wonder if ours are fine riding in their turnout fields b/c a) they aren't always turned out in the same field; and b) we have a full-sized dressage arena and set of affiliated jumps set up in the field opposite the main house/yard with grazing fields on either side so they are used to working on grass/in a field with other horses grazing and/or playing nearby?

P
 
I ride in my field as I don't have an arena but I section off an area so I'm not riding where there are other loose ponies, although my mini shettie is rather good at nipping under the fence and following me round :rolleyes: :D
 
I once rode my lad bare back in his grazing field when the mare was in with him, he was actually very good considering, people on the yard did cringe and said I was pushing my luck lol, he was bit nappy to start with and threatened to buck a few times when I was asking him to leave the other horses (that were in the next field and the one in our field) but then I think he just realised it might just be easier to listen to his mum, it was a good mental test and he proved folk wrong, unfortunately people didn’t get a you’ve been framed moment.

Sometimes you just gotta have faith in your hairy friend. :D
 
I think that we should be able to ride our horses anywhere, and if that isn't the case it's a training issue. When I can ride my horses anywhere I'll probably announce it from the rooftops LOL! I often ride in their fields and it isn't a problem, so that's one "anywhere" I can tick on the list.
 
all the time, which area of paddock that gets used is dependent on which has the shortest grass at the time!

Mum likes to use white guttering to lay out a 20x40m I tend to prefer to find just a space, leaves us with more room to play about with the counter canter and baby half pass stuff.
 
Tinypony said:
I think that we should be able to ride our horses anywhere, and if that isn't the case it's a training issue.
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Exactly this.

I don't have a school, I ride the beasts anywhere I have space / opportunity, whether my others are in there or in a neighbouring field and regardless of whether the pony is turned out in that field or not. The yearling sometimes joins us for a canter if he's in the mood, but I still expect mine to respect the rules. Neither of the ridden horses behave very differently in the field to an arena - my 5 y/old rushes down the downhill short side sometimes, but that's a balance issue rather than a behaviour problem. The way I look at it, the more I ask of him in places he is confident, the more chance he has of being able to handle being worked in unfamiliar, spooky places. It's the approach I took with my old boy, who is now the sort you can school pretty well anywhere, regardless of surroundings, with as little or as much tack as you like :D
 
occasionally but she is a bit spooky as it has thick hedges with lots of noisy birds and things in! Also don't want to ruin it so usually ride in the other field if i can or hire a school up the road.
 
Have to confess to being horrified to see young field-sharer riding galloping her mare up our 3-acre field, accompanied by my 2-yr old and a sec a 4-yr old who were racing up either side, vying for position and bunched up so close they were all touching and there was squealing and heels all round..as she barely was able to pull up before the gate I took a deep breath and suggested she use the smaller fenced-off paddock if she wanted to school, or put the youngsters in there if she really couldn't find anywhere else for a thrash (we live near miles of forestry...). I probably sounded like the teacher from Charlie Brown droning on, but there again there has already been an airlifted incident with said FS and pony before I moved in so would prefer that didn't happen on my watch!
 
Have no option as we don't have a school. However, I don't school a lot at all (school on hacks) and if I really wanted a decent flatwork session i'd book the local livery yard's school. This is mainly because our field is not flat so it is hard to get any real rythym when schooling and maintaining a balanced canter. I do my jumping schooling in the field and my horse is a little bit stronger and more eager - I wish he'd do the same at a competition!!! However, I agree with whoever said we should be able to ride out horses anywhere - of course we should.

I jump mine in the field where the others are grazing and yes they do seem to have a tendency to get in the way (and last time my 2 yo decided to chase after me but hey, if he wants to follow me over poles then that's his choice!). My horse does as he's told and we just get on with it.
 
Yes because I'm now landlocked....busy A road on one side and woods on the other, which the gamekeeper has just banned me from riding in. There's a short track through the woods with access to bridleways and lanes. I've never gone faster than a walk along the woods track and it only takes a minute to get through it. Aaaargh I'm so peed off!!!! Reduced to riding in the field. Hate it.
 
I only have the turnout area to ride in,

He is very lazy, and often spooky in it
He doesn't always listen either

But when he is in a school or somewhere different he is completely different! He is brill!!
 
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