How to approach YO?

wellsat

wellsat

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I love my yard, it has excellent, well maintained facilities, good grazing, good storage, an indoor lunging pen, ample hay storage, brilliant hacking and is only a 5 min drive across the village from home.

Only problem is the school surface is incredibly deep in this dry weather. G is recovering from injury and can't be ridden on it for fear of making things worse. I can ride him in the jumping paddock but that is solid like concrete so I'm definitely not cantering him in there and tbh I don't really like doing too much trot for what the impact might do to his legs.

I don't know how to explain to YO that the surface in the school needs better maintenance and that its injuring our horses. I watched my friend ride in their tonight and literally her horse's entire hoof was disappearing into the sand as she trotted round. He does harrow it but it just seems to make it deeper.

I could move yards for a better surface but I really don't want to. On the other hand there's no point having a horse and not being able to ride them...

*Small evil kitten for all helpful suggestions :D*
 
He can remove the top ten inches and add rubber. Sand tends to dry out, that is why people do not always use sand. Also it wears away the hooves [like sandpaper] and will lead to farrier problems.
I don't think you need to move yards, the surface needs maintenance, and he may not be aware of the problem.
There is no point in having all weather surfaces if they are not suited to all year round conditions.
If the jumping area is rock hard, he needs to look at this too.
I suspect that you don't feel confident enough to approach YO on your own, so if you can find a confident ally who is happy to approach YO on your behalf, I would do so, you can tag along and nod at appropriate places!
 
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Its got to the stage where I actually dreamt about watering the surface last night! I swear we have had less rain here than the sahara desert. I know that the yard is on a water meter so I doubt that they'd be willing to water the surface on a regular basis. I'd actually pay more for my livery if it made a difference but I don't know if everyone else on the yard would agree...
 
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Hopefully we're getting a lot of rain in the next couple of days. I know it isn't a long term solution but at least it might let you ride for a couple of weeks.
 
So many people on the forums have been complaining about deep surfaces for the past few months so you're not alone. We had that problem in our first year here when we just had a grader for the school. A harrow and a roller later and it's now good in the summer.

As YO's wife, the best thing is usually to approach the YO over a cup of coffee in a non-confrontational manner and explain the problem you're having and why, and ask whether there is anything they can do. Perhaps go armed with a few suggestions of your own to see whether they are workable for their set up. (I would hope that) Most yards want to keep their clients happy.
 
I don't know how to explain to YO that the surface in the school needs better maintenance and that its injuring our horses.
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Is it injuring horses or stopping you from riding in it? Big difference.
 
Are you any where near a farm??? Sucking up water from a river into a slurry tanker and using that is a cheaper way to water the arena when on metered water! Def talk to them and ask about possibly watering the arena. Be non confrontational and explain your worries.
 
Does the YO ride in it? the problem with manually watering in this weather is that it is only a temporary measure. Its rained here overnight for the last few evenings, and the ground is so dry, that by mid day, its back to bone dry. Its the surface that is the problem. Is your YO going to make the investment to replace the surface with a higher quality one?

If the answer is probably not, you might have to like it or lump it.
 
wellsat said:
I love my yard, it has excellent, well maintained facilities, good grazing, good storage, an indoor lunging pen, ample hay storage, brilliant hacking and is only a 5 min drive across the village from home.

Only problem is the school surface is incredibly deep in this dry weather. G is recovering from injury and can't be ridden on it for fear of making things worse. I can ride him in the jumping paddock but that is solid like concrete so I'm definitely not cantering him in there and tbh I don't really like doing too much trot for what the impact might do to his legs.

I don't know how to explain to YO that the surface in the school needs better maintenance and that its injuring our horses. I watched my friend ride in their tonight and literally her horse's entire hoof was disappearing into the sand as she trotted round. He does harrow it but it just seems to make it deeper.

I could move yards for a better surface but I really don't want to. On the other hand there's no point having a horse and not being able to ride them...

*Small evil kitten for all helpful suggestions :D*
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Our arena cost £60 k to construct some eight years ago and it still rides deep in very dry weather. It is sand and rubber. We topped up the rubber a couple of months ago and it hasn't made as much difference as I would have liked. The only option would be watering, but we are on a meter and so that is not a viable option. I level it every day and that certainly helps, but only until a couple of horses have ridden on it. After that it is deep again. It Rides beautifully throughout winter and never freezes though so I'm happy overall. I have noticed that every sand or sand and rubber menage I have been on round here is riding deep too. We just avoid jumping and cantering when it's really bad. It's raining right now so I will go out and level it and hope for a good downpour.
 
Our indoor is bad :(
Its a sand/sawdust surface and the YO has recently sold his tractor. Which he used to harrow and water the arena.
It hasn't been watered or levelled off since March. We just don't ride in there any more. They loose out on the lighting fee as far as I am concerned.
Thankfully I have quite a decent outdoor there too that doesn't sufficate me with dust when I ride!
 
amymay said:
Is it injuring horses or stopping you from riding in it? Big difference.
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Technically both. Both my vet and my physio have told me that it is too deep to ride in and if I do I'm putting my horse at risk of soft tissue damage to tendons or ligaments.
 
This year has been exceptionally dry and grass and school surfaces have suffered because of this. When the dry, hot weather breaks, the problem of having somewhere to ride won't be so bad. It would be a shame to leave a yard you like, when in a few weeks we get rain and lower temperatures.
So many yards have schooling areas with such poor surfaces that it effectively limits or even stops liveries from using them fully.
 
At a time of very low water availability, do you really think it's a good use of a precious resource to be watering your sand school???
 
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