Frozen arenas...

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MegaBeast

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I seem to be the only person who will ride on a frozen arena reading the posts on here. Surely if it's not frozen into ruts or has patches of ice then it's no worse than walking or trotting on the roads? I wouldn't do any fast work or jump on it but if it's just frozen then slow work is okay by my reckoning.

What are your thoughts?
 
Mine is too frozen to trot but I have been riding bareback and doing lateral work just to keep the horse entertained, we started a fittening programme which has now ground to a halt.
 
Yes I agree it can't be any different than on the roads provided the arena has recently been harrowed and is flat. I will walk and trot on my arena. Not sure what to do now its snowed though. I have just had a text from a girl i know to say that a horse on a yard where she works had been out on a snowy arena and the snow and rubber balled in its feet (didn't even have shoes on so god knows how) and they didn't realise and it fell and broke its leg. I am sure there must be more to the story than that, but its terrified me!!
 
Problem with mine is that it isn't perfectly flat (like to see an arena that was unless harrowed just prior to freezing!) and effectively is now like slippy concrete (sand arena) with a couple inches of snow on top! So lots of oppourtunity to trip twist, place uneven pressure on joint.

I used to do a lot of XC running when younger, runing on the road is fine, lovely and flat and though hard you absorb the concussion evenly. during summer runing across hard fields which were anything other than flat was a quick route to a twisted ankle if not worse! Riding on a frozen school will be the same. Think of it XC riding hard but flat is ok but hard and rutted is big no no! Schools are rutted so if solid with no give you are just going to be placing uneven strain on the joints.

If it was a rubber arena with some give I would consider it as there would still be give in the surface, but it would also be with several rugs on as I wouldn't be going out of walk and Fleur is clipped out which was only redone last week!
 
The arena at my yard was ok, fairly frozen underneath but a decent layer of level shredded rubber on top. Was fine to walk and trot and I did a little bit of canter on the longer side where to sun had got to (good chance to practise transitions!) but would not do anymore and was only in there for 15-20mins. In the past at my old yard ive just done walk work when frozen solid so at least we had done something. Think it depends on the individual arena, like santa said, if it froze when rutted and unharrowed then it probably wouldnt be the best idea.
 
not a problem for me as i rode tonight,and under 3 inches of snow, surface is perfect but i wouldnt ride on a frozen arena as i wouldnt want to be walking only for any length of time, and i wont trot (i dont trot on roads either).
 
Prince33Sp4rkle said:
but i wouldnt ride on a frozen arena as i wouldnt want to be walking only for any length of time
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Ditto this but I'm only allowed to walk for 20 minutes at a time until the end of the week! Fortunately our arena gets harrowed on a regular basis so unless very unlucky it's pretty level when it freezes. But strangely enough as the temperature has risen (ie from minus 8.5 to plus 0.5) it's got harder and is losing it's crumbliness (not really give as it's a sand/plastic mix) so I think I'll be heading indoors tomorrow.
 
Add some salt to the surface and it will stay unfrozen for most of the winter.

Must agree that riding on a frozen rutted surface is asking for leg injuries. Before everyone had arenas we would put down a straw exercise circle, dedious but it meant we were able to exercise on the lunge.

Salt sprinkled on icy concrete will de frost it fast. The best stuff is the granular salt.
 
would never add salt to a surface as it is a sure fire way to ensure it breaks down a lot faster!

our arena is ok to ride in if you stick to walk and trot.
 
well our arena has been locked! last year people went in when it had first snowed (and so was soft and fluffy) and lunged in there which meant that the bits in the middle (where you stand to lunge) compacted and went solid so the arena took weeks to thaw properly- so this time they've locked it! they are going to try and clear the snow today. if they do then i would ride in there as the've been harrowing like mad over the last week to keep it as level as possible- so at the weekend it was a bit crispy but you could still ride on it (though i wouldn't have jumped- not enough 'give' for that).
if the arena was rock hard (like the road) then i'd just walk and do a bit of lateral work- i don't trot on the roads so wouldn't trot on a hard arena...if it had 'give' in it then i'd trot and poss canter... but i have to say when its like this i really just go into can't be bothered meltdown and decide to give horse little holiday!
 
Would you happily trot in circles on the road? I think the strain on the joints is greatly increased on the turn and then there's the risk of slipping...

I don't ride on a frozen arena, the risk of injuring the horse outweighs the benefit of some light work in my opinion.
 
foxy1 said:
Would you happily trot in circles on the road? I think the strain on the joints is greatly increased on the turn and then there's the risk of slipping...

I don't ride on a frozen arena, the risk of injuring the horse outweighs the benefit of some light work in my opinion.
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No but I do trot around corners ;)

I don't think the problem with trotting on hard surfaces is strain on joints, more concussion isn't it?
and i'm not sure trotting on a circle will cause more concussion than on a straight line (perhaps even less as the horse tends to be more off the forehand and better connected when circling?)

if the arena was slippy then clearly I wouldn't ride in there but ours at least, isn't slippy.
 
Mine has been frozen solid since last Thursday, and now it's completely covered in snow, so horses have not been able to be worked in the school for a week now, and completely stable bound yesterday and today! argh boring! :(
 
Millitiger - why would salt break down an arena? I am just concerned as I have been adding salt the last few days to sand/rubber arena. It had been working well by the way - just salting the track rather than the whole arena - but don't want to do any damage! Thanks
 
millitiger said:
No but I do trot around corners ;)

I don't think the problem with trotting on hard surfaces is strain on joints, more concussion isn't it?
and i'm not sure trotting on a circle will cause more concussion than on a straight line (perhaps even less as the horse tends to be more off the forehand and better connected when circling)
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On the turn the limb is more loaded to one side hence why lots of people prefer to long rein youngsters rather than lunge, and why lunging on concrete (for vetting or lameness work ups) will show up lameness.
 
bluespace said:
Millitiger - why would salt break down an arena? I am just concerned as I have been adding salt the last few days to sand/rubber arena. It had been working well by the way - just salting the track rather than the whole arena - but don't want to do any damage! Thanks
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She probebly has a wood chip arena. It certainly won't cause any problem with a rubber & sand arena.
 
not sure on the scientific reasons behind it, just that my stepdad who builds arenas had 2 x schools he had to resurface for people as they had put salt down and ruined them- they had sand + rubber.
can check with him what the exact problem was but it put me off trying! :)

regarding circles/straight lines- i am not so sure it matters whether it is hard underfoot or soft as the leg is always under more pressure on circles regardless of surface.
 
Nope, will not ride in a frozen arena. Not this frozen, anyway.

I will ride in a half frozen arena, but flatwork only.

Honestly, fresh 4 year old + frozen arena like concrete = not a chance of riding!

Horse has had feed cut down and is turned out everyday. We can't even hire an indoor - no vehicle can get in or out of the yard due to the amount of shear ice and snow!!
 
i will do light walk and trot work on a level-ish none slippy firm one.(!)
but if its really frozen hard i wont ride on it even if its level-ish.
not worth risking the horse slipping or bruising its feet just for doing a bit of trot/canter, when in a few days/ weeks it will probably be perfectly ridable again.......
i did do some walk work with working on bend and flexions with the mares on part frozen surface with exercise sheets on.
 
I'd rathermy horses had a holiday than risked an injury. If it is frozen then I can often not get them to it anyway as I have a very steep hill down to my school, walker and fields! :(
 
millitiger said:
regarding circles/straight lines- i am not so sure it matters whether it is hard underfoot or soft as the leg is always under more pressure on circles regardless of surface.
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Yes it does matter what's underfoot which is why during a vetting or lameness work up a vet will lunge a horse on concrete rather than on a school surface.
 
My first year without a school, and I'm riding more than I have ever been able to. Whereas our school was always rutted when it froze, the schooling area of my field isn't, so is fine to walk on. With the snow now, it's possible to trot (carefully) on most of it as it's soft underneath, and there's a little defrosted patch under a tree (about 20mx10m) that we can go in to do a tiny bit of schooling as it's still soft there. I can't ride the shod horses as they're slipping in the snow, but the only one that can't have a holiday isn't shod, so that's ok!
 
Our arena is under about 2 foot of snow and wasn't harrowed before in snowed as the quad had broke. A few of us rode on it when it was a bit frozen and now there are ruts and a track in it so I'd be a little reluctant to do much in it but at the same time the best way to clear the snow is to churn it up a bit so I may try and lunge pony in it at the weekend and maybe do a bit of walk and lateral work just to see if I can clear it a bit but I've given up any hopes of proper riding until the new year :(
 
foxy1 said:
Yes it does matter what's underfoot which is why during a vetting or lameness work up a vet will lunge a horse on concrete rather than on a school surface.
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Actually a horse should be lunged on both hard and soft in a vetting/work up - on hard ground lameness is bone related whereas lameness on soft is muscle/soft tissue related :)

Sorry, off topic :)
 
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