My arena today...

[Chloe_GHE]

We knew it had an uphill and a downhill so looked at getting it leveled and the builder used a laser level and said there was a 4ft difference in height between A and C!!!!! We would have had to have dug out so much to make it level it wasn't worth it. On the bright side as a result it doesn't bother me if I turn up at an event where the dressage is on the side of a hill!!!

 

[prudunce]

ewwwwwwwwwwwwww,looks like my boys field,he's got his own lake and he seems to love standing in it eating the grass???Strange horse!!

 

[TableDancer]

Thanks for all the replies

TBF it's pretty good again this morning, just a smallish puddle taking up a 10m circle in the corner. And yes, you can ride in it, but can't really expect people to pay for lessons (unless they want to work specifically on water, would be perfect for Diggerbez - fancy a trip to Wales?

) as it does affect the way they go: when it is like it was yesterday it is about 6 inches deep which affects the rhythm.

It drains quite well so I'm not blaming the drainage or the surface (installed about 11 years ago by Jackson Brothers for Witham Vale). It is cut in but with good drains underneath and round the outside. The problem is all the water runs off the hill the other side of our lane, goes through a council drain under the road, then across our land to a lake at the bottom of our field. The arena is in the way of this process - all the drainage works well and so the water doesn't lie there permanently but with the volume of water we've had recently nothing could cope. You can see in the photo the puddle beyond the arena, and those carry on all the way down to the lake - it's just backed up (the lane above is flooded too, where there's too much water to fit down the council drain). It will clear in 48 hours - IF we don't have rain

Anyway, I wasn't really meaning to moan, just sharing the view

And to those who say I'm lucky to have an arena, I assume they aren't actually trying to pay the bills through their equestrian activities? Because if they are they have my sympathy

 

[Brandysnap]

[ QUOTE ]

Anyway, I wasn't really meaning to moan, just sharing the view

And to those who say I'm lucky to have an arena, I assume they aren't actually trying to pay the bills through their equestrian activities? Because if they are they have my sympathy

[/ QUOTE ]

Hi Tabledancer,
totally agree, friend. (But most users of our schools haven't a clue about costs involved, or labour, or safety.)
Eg - when we try + help youngsters at a cheap price, they get a great 60 x 30m school, jumps, etc, they just don't have a clue.

School cost £45K. Jumps another £2K. Insurance? Don't ask, but it was upped to £2.5K/yr, without a claim. So just think....how financially viable is all this????

Many clients + their mothers, leave jumps at daft distances, cups on floor, poo all over the place.

So now, we as school owners are answerable to H+S bunch.

I think it's time that we get back to the old Pony Club values of respecting + looking after our ponies, first + foremost, + after that, thanking + helping our event hosts, before we think to ourselves.

We don't do that.

That's why we're losing good training venues hand over fist. BS x