Horse training/schooling with no school...how?!

SatansLittleHelper

SatansLittleHelper

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 December 2011
Messages
5,790
Location
Shropshire
Visit site
My young horse lives out 24/7 down the road from me and though we have a few acres and some lovely bridlepaths etc we dont have any kind of school facility. I don't have horsey transport at the moment and am working on this but will be realistically next year. So with a young horse how do you go about having lessons and schooling etc without a proper school?? I think I could mark out a small section of the field for this purpose (weather permitting). Is this achievable? ? I have no desire to move as I love where I am and it's just me and my friend with her horse.
Any advice/ideas/experiences would be most welcome :)
 
When I first had my horse, I had access to a school for backing, but after that just good hacking. If you can I would set out a small area for schooling, but other than that nice hacking means you can work on transitions, bend, and lateral work. I have done most of my work without a school, and my mare has been placed across a wide range of disciplines.
 
Mark out an area with whatever you have to hand. It helps to measure it (20m x 40m is the basic size) so you know what a 10m circle or a 20m circle looks and feels like. You can do a lot out hacking - transitions, leg yielding, even circles and serpentines if you have stubble fields eor other open spaces but it does make a difference if you have a proper measured space, your shapes don't evolve into oddness then. You can even buy markers fairly cheap these days to help even more, and they help with the accuracy of your transitions.
 
As someone has said above, measure and mark out an arena, I found that making some simple dressage boards with timber and white paint were really useful. A lot of the time I did schooling work out hacking and it's amazing how much they learn without going stale.

As for lessons, I am sure that my instructors will remember (mostly fondly I hope) giving me lessons with the other horses wandering in and out of the arena! We never had a problem in big classes or busy collecting rings though!

I managed to get one of my boys from having over 4 months off to getting placed at Royal Windsor with only a field in just over two weeks!

Now I'm at a yard I find that I hardly ever use the school.
 
Most of us over a certain age will not have had access to a school for much of our riding life. Years ago most schooling was done on hacks and even now its still a great way to get a youngster going forward and learning balance

In the summer yes do mark off a section of field but in the meantime just hack out and practice transitions etc
 
WelshD said:
Most of us over a certain age will not have had access to a school for much of our riding life. Years ago most schooling was done on hacks and even now its still a great way to get a youngster going forward and learning balance
Click to expand...

I'm certainly one of those of a certain age who had no regular access to a school until the mid-80s. All my eventing in the 70s and early 80s was done schooling in a field and on the local common........nowadays it comes as a shock to many when they have to ride a dressage test on grass and they struggle abysmally with balancing a horse on a less than perfect surface.
 
I evented with no arena, I just schooled in the field and whilst out hacking - though I did have jumping lessons on a surface - I personally think horses should be ridden on all types of surfaces.
 
gunnergundog said:
I'm certainly one of those of a certain age who had no regular access to a school until the mid-80s. All my eventing in the 70s and early 80s was done schooling in a field and on the local common........nowadays it comes as a shock to many when they have to ride a dressage test on grass and they struggle abysmally with balancing a horse on a less than perfect surface.
Click to expand...

Ditto. I also did some fitness work by cantering figures of 8 round a 2.5 acre field, with an egg timer round my neck!
 
I used to mark out an arena in the field before I had a school, it was quite good actually as with a few adjustments i could have a 20 x 40 or 20 x 60 :) many riding clubs or events do dressage on grass anyway so it's good practice. I still used it when the ground went hard but only kept it to short sessions of 20 mins and watered it a bit as the hosepipe was right next to the makeshift arena.
 
Ditto above. I have never had a school. When the ground is good you can school in the field. But otherwise I school out hacking. Lots of transitions, hill work, shoulder in etc. Get them working instead of ambling along. When I was out hacking if I came across a nice bit of land that I was allowed to ride about on, I would school on that too. Got a few horses eventing fit with hacking, and did quite well with dressage too on a youngster with no school.

I have access to a school now but don't like using it, think I have been in it once since October last year!
 
It's good to 'school' in an uhneven field/ out hacking as chances are your initial shows aren't going to have a perfect area!
You can achieve a lot while out hacking, plus your dealing with even more distractions so even better once you get in show ring! ,
 
LOL very few people in NZ have a "school" or arena at home. I school in an open paddock and have done so for 30 years. I do have access to an arena, but it is a 40 minute drive away so weekends only. Things get a bit tricky in the winter, but you learn to cope with what you have.
 
SatansLittleHelper said:
My young horse lives out 24/7 down the road from me and though we have a few acres and some lovely bridlepaths etc we dont have any kind of school facility. I don't have horsey transport at the moment and am working on this but will be realistically next year. So with a young horse how do you go about having lessons and schooling etc without a proper school?? I think I could mark out a small section of the field for this purpose (weather permitting). Is this achievable? ? I have no desire to move as I love where I am and it's just me and my friend with her horse.
Any advice/ideas/experiences would be most welcome :)
Click to expand...

Do what we did before schools were invented! Mark out an area on the grass and use that. I make an arena from electric fence standards and tape or just put out the letters in the right place - I managed to school my horse to Open Medium level without an arena.
 
Can I hijack a bit ? All those who school in a field and mark out schools can you still do.it if you school is on a bit of a slope ? I don't have any flat bits !
 
JLD said:
Can I hijack a bit ? All those who school in a field and mark out schools can you still do.it if you school is on a bit of a slope ? I don't have any flat bits !
Click to expand...

None of the dressage arenas at BE Holdenby House were ever on the flat and the warm-up was often more like skiing! Holdenby wasn't the only one I hasten to add. :D
 
Every time you do anything with your horse you're training it. Why folk might think that doesn't apply on a hack is beyond me. So long as you are RIDING the horse, as opposed to just sitting on it, you will improve him riding across varied terrain out hacking, probably more than going round and round a patch of flat sand.
 
JLD said:
Can I hijack a bit ? All those who school in a field and mark out schools can you still do.it if you school is on a bit of a slope ? I don't have any flat bits !
Click to expand...
Yes. I used to mark out a grass arena with boards and markers every summer, in one of the paddocks. I 'thought' it was fairly level. When we eventually got a proper arena installed in the same place, I found that there had been a 3 feet fall in height along the 40m side :).
 
I don't have a school & manage to school & keep my event horse fit

I am also breaking 1 of my 3 year olds & will be breaking the other come autumn

I also broke a 4 year old for a girl that was the worst horse I have had to break due to his previous experience, without a school. It is fine if you know how to work things :)

if you have a paddock use that, if not buy some electric fencing & posts & corden yourself an area off, you might feel better with that :)
 
The world is my school!
I haven't had a school for years (horses at home) but I'm lucky that I have accommodating farmer neighbours with lots of flattish grass fields ☺
I do have use of a couple of local schools that I use for lessons or if the ground is unrideable but in the past have had lessons on grass.
 
You can do a good lot of stuff out hacking, but also need a school/area of field.

If your horse is sharp, trying to school out hacking whilst it's spooking along isn't going to be that productive!
 
This is all very well if you don't work! There is no way I could cope without a floodlit arena. I leave the house 6 am and get home 7 pm.
 
Thank you for all of the replies...some fab ideas :)
I figured that a school wouldn't be absolutely necessary but a few people asked how I would manage :/
I can't wait to start with him but doing everything in hand at the moment to build his and my confidence in each other :)
 
Surely there's a school within hacking distance?
I have to hack 35-40 mins walk or 20 mins trot to my nearest school for my lessons and I think it's great. Your horse gets chillout hacking time before and after, plus you don't have to warm up/cool down because the hack there and back does it for you!
And I have to hack down 60mph roads, ok usually they aren't that busy, but still. If you don't have transport you either have to hack to a school or use your field, and the field I rent is too small and muddy in winter to school in.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top