Does it damage a sandschool to ride on it when frozen?

[Oriel]

Folk at the yard don't use the sandschool when it's frozen but a newcomer does. It's up to her of course (I certainly wouldn't want to risk it) but I'm wondering if it's likely to cause damage to the membrane? The school is sand and rubber

 

[mrogers]

probably do more damage to her horse than the school I would imagine

 

[Queenbee]

probably do more damage to her horse than the school I would imagine

This^^

 

[Wagtail]

What an idiot! No, it won't damage the school, just her horse.

 

[Luci07]

Agree with Wagtail. Frozen sand school would be like working on a road. Might do it for walking around if the horse needed a leg stretch but frozen sand tends to be rutted..

 

[Abacus]

I have been riding in our sand/rubber school on frozen mornings but as others said - I am doing lots of walk work at the moment! Actually it is proving very good for our walk/halt tranisitons and walk lateral work. After about half an hour of this the surface does loosen a little. I put in a little gentle trot at the end for variety and can feel that although more solid that normal, the surface does have some give - it's not as bad as working on concrete. I am being very careful though.

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

What about riding on a CLOPF surface? Only asking as got saddler coming at 9.30 a.m tomorrow so will be riding at about 10 on it. How badly does that freeze?

 

[FfionWinnie]

No it won't damage the school. Just use common sense. If its rock solid frozen then obviously it's akin to concrete. If its just a bit crunchy it will break up with the horse working on it.

 

[Goldenstar]

In cold weather I level my school late each afternoon we then can use it daily even of its just walking to keep the horses ticking over its never harmed the school or the horses .
Turning horses out in the school is however not good for the school and we supervise them when we do this.

 

[Rob Lakeside]

You can harrow salt in to the surface, the night before a hard frost and no you will not damage the school.

 

[igglepop]

My two don't like to stand in the school when its frozen even for a few mins, so there is no way i would ride.

 

[maggiesmum]

I ride in the school when it's frozen but only in walk, there's lots of good work you can do in walk but lots of people don't feel they're doing anything productive unless they're going faster.

 

[el_Snowflakes]

Crazy to school on a forzen school. Just do some walking/trotting on the road thats what I do

 

[Goldenstar]

Crazy to school on a forzen school. Just do some walking/trotting on the road thats what I do

That says the roads are not frozen all the drives away from here are ice rinks .
My school is fibre , sand and rubber and as long as you keep it level it's very good in frozen weather much safer than the roads.

 

[el_Snowflakes]

That says the roads are not frozen all the drives away from here are ice rinks .
My school is fibre , sand and rubber and as long as you keep it level it's very good in frozen weather much safer than the roads.

Our roads are fine (were yesterday when I rode out anyway!) The school is really uneven and rutted when frozen. Where we are its much safer to stick to the roads

 

[Goldenstar]

Our roads are fine (were yesterday when I rode out anyway!) The school is really uneven and rutted when frozen. Where we are its much safer to stick to the roads

Your school is not receiving enough care then they need daily care this time of year.

 

[el_Snowflakes]

Your school is not receiving enough care then they need daily care this time of year.

Im a livery not a YO so Its up to the yard how they take care of it

 

[Goldenstar]

Im a livery not a YO so Its up to the yard how they take care of it

It's a problem on DIY yards because people tend to want to ride late and you can understand the YO or YM not wanting to have to set to and do the school at 7pm we use the school late morning onwards then about 2 I level it then it's ready for the next day and this time of year that's done daily.