Hard ground and riding

Cob Life said:
Is anyone riding outside of an arena with the ground being this hard?
if so what are you doing?
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If I was still riding then the only thing that would change would be less (if any) fast work. Roads will always be hard, as will forestry tracks.
 
I was at camp at Somerford in April and only did half a XC lesson the 1st day and hardly any at all the second. Then, back home hacking, walk work with just a little trot on tracks for months. I have hired arenas to do some meaningful canter/jump work.

Happily, I was at RC camp last week and it rained every day for days beforehand and overnight each day I was doing XC. We actually got some done - we even needed studs! It was on a BE course though, and the ground had been maintained/slit. Felt relatively springy underfoot, no ring to the footfall.

I think this will be a longer term issue with hotter/drier spells. I have paid for XC lessons at home where it was too hard on the day, and have booked for a beach camp as I'm presuming the beach will be always good for a play.

I have another camp booked for Somerford in September and hope it will be softer. If it isn't we will plod round the farm ride (which has been resurfaced, I'm told) and have lessons on a surface.
 
Walking everywhere & we still managed to stumble to knees in the stubble field (hit a divot I think)

I have some lovely stubble fields around here too. Perfect for a gallop ?
 
I've had to limit work in the school as it's getting deep, and we are only walk hacking despite having plenty of off road options. (both have arthritis so don't trot on roads anyway)
Have written August off, so no need to keep fit as such. I am hiring the odd external arena hire, and surfaced gallops to do the odd bit of canter work just to mix it up.
 
Walking in straight lines on old grass lanes up and down the North Downs. Half to three quarters of an hour, around about 1900hrs. Ten minutes in hand grazing if either of us get a bit hot/tired.
School's far too deep. Fields too slippy. Horse is barefoot and seems able, at the moment, to have sufficient brain cells engaged so as not to kill either or both of us.
 
We only ever do road work at this time of the year. Hunters coming back into work -. They're walking for hours and miles. We don't trot on the roads but use later in the season fun rides for faster work and jumping - we have ones that go on into October so some good opportunities then. Or hire some gallops, or go up on the Long Mynd.

I hardly ever take our guys in an arena at any time of the year, and would only lunge them for a vet workup.
 
Hacking walk & a few trots where there is a little grass cover . Hunt rides starting tomorrow but I'll leave it til we've had some rain although in the south east it looks like it could be a while.
 
Fern007 said:
Friend has just posted on fb that she's been cantering round stubble fields!! They are like concrete, we havnt had rain for months!!
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Saw a vid on instagram of somone jumping a horse with known leg issues on some scorched dust bowl the other day...

ets: not very far from me and the ground's like concrete
 
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Walking and trotting out hacking (roads and forestry tracks)
Walking in the fields.
School is so deep I’d prefer not to ride in/on it but do as requested so only walking and trotting in there.
This has been the case for at least the last month I’d say, quite probably longer.

Boxed over to a friend of my instructors yesterday, omg her school (and the whole yard in fact) was the stuff of dreams. Finally did some canter work!
 
I think it very much depends on where in the country you are and what the ground you're on *at the time* is like. We did 16 miles today, mostly walk, but had a couple of canters - one on a long grass track by a wood (the ground is almost always good there) and one up a lovely just-cut stubble field that the farmer actually offered us a ride on (this has never happened before! Give the man a medal). But we rode on other stubble fields that were so cracked you could hurt yourself on them, so we just picked our way across in walk. Then we were out yesterday in a slightly different area, and had plenty of cantering on grassy sheep fields that were very good going. This is in North Yorkshire where we have actually had rain - I can't imagine what it's like down South, I have family in Surrey who say it literally hasn't rained properly for a couple of months.
 
Like others in the south, ground like concrete, so am walking on the common, occasionally trotting on a level track, but trotting a bit on the lanes. Fitness is ok at present but not comp prep.

Have emailed RC to explain why I'm not entering anything now, (despite them now going to use surface that's ok for this month) as I can't prep for stressage or jumping.

The only canter work B will get will be when I get a short session on an arena polo surface which I've blagged end next week.

V envious of those further up country who have had rain!
 
chaps89 said:
School is so deep I’d prefer not to ride in/on it but do as requested so only walking and trotting in there. This has been the case for at least the last month I’d say, quite probably longer.
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Same here, we have a lovely school, never freezes in winter and it's usually very good going. But the last couple of months it's been riding deeper than usual (even with the rain we've had) and my horse has iffy hocks, so I've been avoiding it. I need to get my brave pants on and get happier going out by myself, then I can use our 1km of dead straight, flat, surfaced farm lane for schooling!
 
I’ve got a lot of choice. Home 20x40 grass arena that has good grass coverage, is totally flat and has a lot of poo spread a time ago so has some fibre / top soil feel to it.

Outdoor large school I use is too deep / dusty.

Indoor 15 x 35 is cool and good surface.

Downs there are some areas of turf / good grass cover / old turf that are still okay for fast work if you look carefully. You can listen to the sounds feet make for how soft is soft enough. You can both feel and hear jar imo.

But I am fed up of the lack of rain!!
 
When I rode in Spain we cantered up stony tracks and the horses still lived to a rip old age. Not sure hard ground is as much as a problem as we make it out to be.
 
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