Hard ground and eventing - What to do?

Was just going to say the same thing about tendons!! Personally in USA and Australia they see these conditions all the time and it does not stop them. I think it depends totally on your horse and their build.
 
My older horse is a 14 year old arab, and he definately runs better on the harder ground. I've eased off the fast work inbetween and am not jumping between events but tbh don't very often anyway. He is plenty fit enough already so can keep the levels up by doing trot work up hills etc.
My younger one is a bigger chunkier type and I am struggling more with him. Our school has got very deep and dusty recently so we aren't doing much in there, and not cantering out on hacks either. He's 3 weeks into a month off now so keeping fingers crossed for some rain soon!
 
thanks for clearing that one up wishful ;) another thing for me to worry about :)

I was more refering to the ground type condition at cleobury (the reason it was canceled i mean) where it was hard and rutty, i dont fancy horses legs landing in a rut after jumping on hard ground.
 
We have a few on the 'young' side and need to xc school before entering any events, so with the ground a it is we havent entered anything as the risk to school them is too high.

The local vets have said they have been never been called out to as many lame horses as they have this year and reckon ground conditions has alot to do with it.
 
My lot are thinking they'll WD from GW2 next weekend if there's no significant rain between now and then. Not an easy decision, entries + stabling for 2 of them but ......
 
I have been very pleasantly suprised with the ground at BE events this year. I haven't had to withdraw once and i am picky with ground conditions. In terms of fitness i have two at PN that do not really need canter work, schooling work, long slow hacks and the competitions themselves keep them plenty fit enough. One is moving upto Novice soon though and he does carry abit too much weight for my liking so he will be heading off to some gallops to do abit of interval work soon, also i have 2 coming back into work after a break that will be running Inter and Advanced so need that bit more canter work so again they will be heading to the gallops, i won't canter on hacks while the gorund is like this even if the horse likes the harder ground. I also won't enter anything unaffiliated unless it's on a surface as they do not prepare the ground here at all and it's just not worth it.
 
The second half of our eventing season starts next Sat (17th) over here, then one event every Sat until the second week in September.

They will aerovate if needed (according to last committee meeting), but I will still be reluctant to run either of mine until there has been considerable rain - one is a MW type IDx who is 12 now and I am not prepared to put miles on her legs and have her retired in a field in a year or so (she is too good for that - we want to keep her going for years yet), and the other is a TB with v thin soles.

In saying all that - there is an inch of rain forecast here for tomorrow, so we may well be out next Saturday (though the other prob is that they would need an XC schooling session and some SJ before we go to the event as it is so long (mid May) since they were out jumping anywhere.

Fiona
 
You can't win can you! Two years ago practically all the events I'd entered in July/Aug were cancelled due to heavy rain and our horses had mud rash in summer!
 
I have just been to Stonar and shipton (first events of the year) and was very impressed with the ground. I havent entered anything else and will not until the grounds better - my horse is only 5 so want to preserve him for the future!

He is next entered for BYEH which i am happier for him to do if we have had no rain.
 
My 5yr old dropped down to 90 for a run 2weeks ago due to ground and being warmblood, 3days later half way through a hack he suddenly went crippled. We are lucky that mainly common land alot is sandy tracks but I had walked off a road on to the track and keen he jogged - broken pony. Vets/ farrier/ physio can find nothing wrong and the only conclusion is concussion.

All three have said a huge number of lameness cases at the moment. I have w/d all my rides for this weekend from a be event. I have no doubt the xc will be good going as sandy, but the dressage and sj are still on the hard ground. We are due to go Little Matt with couple of youngs and Im desperate to go as last running but I will withdraw if no decent rain. Having said that, I would be willing to contribute a small amount more to start fee if they pulled out all the stops with watering etc

We have a fab arena to ride in so business as usual with schooling and they are doing a fair bit of sj and dressage at mo. But only on a surface. Hacking we are quite fussy on ground anyway. The youngsters are having a break with light slow hacks so doing them no harm

I do agree horses need to be able to run on all grounds and you need to know what works best. But I don't want to find out after the event that they couldn't cope
 
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