Is an all weather surface school, OK to use when it's -3?

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Cobcuddler

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Is it OK for me to use an all weather surface outdoor school when it's -3 and the surface appears to be frozen please?

The surface is well maintained, well drained and is made of bark chippings but I'm a bit worried about horsey slipping and falling over and I'm worried about my poor old bones hitting the frozen ground too!

So do you use your outdoor schools when they are frozen?

(Novice here, so please be kind! :o )
 
Personally I wouldn't. I don't use mine when its completely frozen and its silica sand & fibre topped with rubber crumb. I figure I couldn't do more than walk in it so theres no point. However if for instance I didnt have year round turnout and no other safe facility to exercise horse in, I probably would hop on and walk horse round on it, but walk round on it myself first to check it wasn't slippy. However thats just my opinion, and its not necessarily what other people think too and theres never any harm in asking peoples opinion :).
 
If its frozen & the going is hard, I'd treat it like any other hard ground, & be very careful what I did. For footing & safety my own scientific view would be to have a run round it myself & see if I slipped.
 
Is it possible to harrow it?

I used to have a wood chip school many years ago. It rarely froze deep down, just a little on the surface and harrowing fixed this.
 
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it isnt the termperature that matters but the moisture content and the type of surface.

It tends to be if it has rained recently surfaces are more likely to be damp and freeze.

When it is very cold, I would walk and run and jump on the surface myselft and decide if it is safe to ride on.

Frozen and unlevel is bad to ride on. Slippery is bad to ride on.
Frozen and level is okay to ride slowly on.

Sometimes half is frozen and half e.g the half the sun has been on is okay.
 
Thanks very much everyone.

I went for a little run round it and it seemed quite crumbly, rather than frozen solid, so we had a quick schooling session just at walk and trot. :p
 
We have a bark chipping school, sounds like yours. Just got harrowed today but underneath was frozen as well so it is not rideable. Bark is not really an all weather surface. I find that the bark absorbs excess water instead of draining it and then the water in the bark freezes hence the whole frozen arena if that makes sense?
 
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