How are you dealing with this hard ground

Silver

Silver

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 June 2010
Messages
234
Visit site
No rain for ages and ground is now like concrete. Only have flat field to ride in. Need horse fit fo Polox season. I am going to take mine to coaches yard for the long weekend and use the indoor school. What do the rest of you do??
 
I also have only grass to work on, I grin and bear it. No manege's nearby for me to borrow unfortunately...

I don't go mad... no jumping which is highly boring but i still lunge and school.
 
Which club are you with?

I think Arden are looking into getting irrigation

In terms of polox - lots of trotting to get the fitness, which won't do any harm on hard ground.
 
We are still lucky enough for our riding field to be very rideable! still jumping etc. However give it another week or so with this sun and then we will have to stop, by then our menage should finally be built (rubber went down on Tues)
 
Thankfully I have an indoor.
If I only had greenery to school on, I would school slowly and controlled. No jumping or fast work. Hack up hills in walk to build up the fitness too :)
 
Thank god we have a sand outdoor, which is still nice and soft although dusty. Kelly who isn't being ridden yet is going out in the tiny paddock in EasyBoots to take the strain off her feet.
K x
 
Fortunately we have a school. As far as hacking is concerned, it's walking all the way.

Forget the BBQ summer lark, I'm hoping for a typically wet summer .... and lots of lovely hacking :D
 
You can all move to Ontario (or Wisconsin;))and moan about the snow and rain if you wish:(
088.jpg


My yard and most of my paddocks are bogs with lakes. My yard is a swamp, it looks fine but step on it and it is like quicksand.
I have sodding ducks and geese swimming in my paddocks! Spring may have arrived according to the calender but in reality it is STILL winter.

001.jpg

018.jpg


When I do have hard ground I am fortunate in that I have a 2 acre riding ring that is sand, we just till and harrow and it's good to go. Unfortunately (Catch 22) it is also in the middle of a forest so you can't use it from May-September because every mosquito and deerfly for 5 kms home in on you and suck you dry:(
 
Jen_Cots said:
- lots of trotting to get the fitness, which won't do any harm on hard ground.
Click to expand...


Eek, be a little bit carefull. If they are out 24/7 on hard ground and then you trot them on hard ground it may be too much.

I have two horses which have gone lame quite young in their careers - and the vet thinks the fact their first owner used to trot them endlessly on hard ground/roads was a contributory factor.
 
ah ha is Vale Impi on a surface? You guys are tentpegging on sunday!

Ref trotting - I don't even trot anywhere near as much as a hunter, but 20mins trotting round is good for polo ponies
 
Jen_Cots said:
lots of trotting to get the fitness, which won't do any harm on hard ground.
Click to expand...

Do you really believe trotting on hard ground does no harm at all? There is so much concussion to the joints if you trot on the road, especially if your horse is shod. My vet and farrier have regularly commented that trotting on the road is the worst thing you can do for a horse's joints...

To answer the OP, hacking, some schooling (though our arena is horrible ATM, sand/rubber and soo deep because of the lack of rain so am tending to do very short sessions after a hack or boxing up to use arenas with a different/better surface), lunging (20 mins max). Our canter/fitness fields are like concrete, just not worth bothering to ride on. I had planned to do a HT last weekend but walked the course the night before and it would have been like jumping on the roads so I withdrew. Just not worth risking jumping an arthritic horse on that ground - it can't stay like this forever, at some point it will rain and then I will go XC :)
 
I'm very lucky to have both an indoor and outdoor to school, but I wanted to do some more fast fitness work but I refuse to trot on this ground let alone canter. I went on a hack with a group the yard, we did quite alot of trotting to calm one particular horse down. The heat in his feet after was quite worrying! I think concussive laminitis is too much of risk.
 
I have found that Aldi, the Supermarket chain are doing a great range of hiking boots. I have found that if I put them onto my boys, I can cushion their feet and can tackle any sort of jumping or cross country riding :D
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top