No arena in winter... How do people manage?

I school whilst hacking - I have got paddocks to ride in, but wont sacrifice the ground at this time of the year.

Plenty of leg yielding on wider tracks, bends & curves round trees, working on an outline in all 3 paces if off road.
Turns on forehand for gate opening etc too
Occasionally borrow schools or hire if I think we really need to.

Also check what your local riding club are doing, as flatwork sessions are good for body & soul at this time of the year, if you can get there :)
 
I ride on the roads mainly which are fairly quiet so we leg yeild, shorten/and lengthen strides, work collected or long and low etc. Sometimes dander down to the beach for a schooling session, the novelty soon wears off!
 
The Fuzzy Furry said:
I school whilst hacking - I have got paddocks to ride in, but wont sacrifice the ground at this time of the year.

Plenty of leg yielding on wider tracks, bends & curves round trees, working on an outline in all 3 paces if off road.
Turns on forehand for gate opening etc too
Occasionally borrow schools or hire if I think we really need to.

Also check what your local riding club are doing, as flatwork sessions are good for body & soul at this time of the year, if you can get there :)
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This. We have a sand school, but we only use it for jumping - everything else gets done out hacking!! Transitions within the pace, SI and flexion, super slow trot and canter work, leg yielding, jumping logs/bushes/ditches off road, long and low work, half-halting and engaging the walk rather than sloping along…

Riding club training nights are good to keep you motivated and generally sociable, so that every fortnight can be quite nice too, but honestly mainly hacking for us. My boss did 3* without a school, so you can do all the work required!!!
 
Spent 8 odd years without one, rode in the mornings just as it got light, lunged/rode in field when ground not horrendous, went for a lesson every couple of weeks, went to beach etc.

I've never really schooled out hacking though, for me hacking is for hacking. :p
 
Thanks for the replies. We've finally managed to secure the purchase of a field. Initially I don't think the finances will be there to install an arena. I have a five year old cob x warblood who is a sensible, fab to hack and a rising 4 year old section b of my daughter's presently being broken to ride. Not sure either of them will manage schooling on the road so I'm thinking perhaps a couple of months turned away for him then as you've suggested, hiring arenas and lessons out. Hopefully we'll have a dry spring!
 
I've never, ever had an arena! Am a happy hacker anyway, so not necessary for me to have one, but any "schooling" I do is done on the roads and/or groundwork (essential IMO in ANY situation).

There is an arena locally which can be hired......... so wonder OP if there are any arena's near you that you could hire??? Or if you have transport, even better - as there will no doubt be places within striking distance which you could hire?
 
I don't have an arena at all. I'm unable to school in our paddock as my horse grazes with our cattle, although I did this once without any problems but the cattle are far too inquisitive and I think its possibly asking for trouble! Nearly all my riding is hacking but we have got some over wintered stubble this year so I've been schooling on that. It's a bit heavy going after all the rain we've had but its nice and handy to ride on, especially if I'm short on time.
 
I have an arena now, but when I didn't I either hacked or rode in the schooling field in the dark. We both got to quite like schooling in the pitch black in the end! Obviously only on ground you know well ;-).
 
I have an arena but I rarely use it at any time and I never use it in the winter. We have tons of trails on our farm as we also own loads of woodland which is attached to a huge forest so literally miles of off-road riding available straight out the back door so to speak. I much prefer trail riding to arena work so although I have one it's really for other people to use as I would far rather be out with nature.
 
I just hack! My Appy hunts so I don't need a school for him anyway, I keep him fairly fit hacking over the summer, increase the canter work when we start Autumn Hunting and now the ground is very wet, we just do roadwork in between hunting for exercise. My ISH also mainly hacks, but I do have a local school I can use but probably only use it about once a month! We pop over ditches and small fences out hacking. He is looking fantastic and still has all the muscle he had when I used to keep him at a yard with a school. I took him Show Jumping on Sunday and we hadn't jumped properly round a course since October and he won his first class and came 5th in the other one. :) Just goes to show you don't need a school to be able to compete/enjoy your horse!
 
We struggle to be honest. We have a field to use but it just becomes too slippy and awkward to get any proper schooling or jumping done. We try schooling on a hack but it's the bending work my daughters pony needs. We do go out to an indoor arena for a lesson once a fortnight and indoor sj once a month or so.
 
We just turn them away. Does horses good to have a few months off. Carrying a weight is tough on the old joints and back and some time to do nothing but graze and sleep is bliss.

I know everyone likes stuff do all year round but is it good for the horse?

I've liveried in yards with little turnout and all the facilities God sends but it's not a healthy mental environment for a horse. Give me endless turnout and summer-only facilities anyday.
 
When I first bought my land I couldn't afford an arena but impossible to ride in the fields in winter as it's heavy clay. We used to ride out in the early mornings but needed a school as we're jumpers.

I scraped the money together for an 'Eco arena' which lasted about 10 years. We now have a sand and fibre school, luxury!
 
We just hack out. Just gentle at the weekends at the moment, but our training starts for the 2015 endurance season starts on 26th Dec, so we'll be out in all weather. Thankfully we have direct access to good off-road training on the local common. We do plenty of schooling out on hacks, we'll go to the beach a few times. Never had a school, competed up to FEI 1* so we've never been held back!
 
I have a flat field which I have optimistically titled "the schooling paddock" I don't need it for grazing, although get the horses on it to keep the grass down when needed. It's perfect in Spring, Summer and Autumn, winter I tend to just stick to walk and trot and lots of transitions, stride lengthening, etc as would be worried about upping the pace as it can get slippy.

I dream about an indoor, floodlit arena...
 
We have a grass schooling area which I can use if the ground isn't too wet, but I don't like to use it much as don't want to churn it up. Same goes for schooling in the field.

We are lucky that we have fantastic hacking. Both off road and quiet lanes. So some days I can just hack, other days like today we do plenty of schooling whilst out. Leg yielding/attempting shoulder in (he's still learning!)/varying paces within paces and working in an outline. He's still building muscle so I don't do too much but he's much more willing and forward when out hacking!

We also have a few hills perfect for hill work, and also access to part of a sponsored ride course so can practise a bit of XC when out! ;) Sometimes I will find a bit of field to work in but most of the fields around are arable so unless they're stubble they can't be used. I found a fab place where I can canter up the hill and there's a log up a bank at the top so will pop up it, and down it sometimes too. Also got some ace brush jumps along the side of a field too. So much fun!
 
tallyho! said:
We just turn them away. Does horses good to have a few months off. Carrying a weight is tough on the old joints and back and some time to do nothing but graze and sleep is bliss.

I know everyone likes stuff do all year round but is it good for the horse?

I've liveried in yards with little turnout and all the facilities God sends but it's not a healthy mental environment for a horse. Give me endless turnout and summer-only facilities anyday.
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Not always the best for the horse tho. Mine has (diagnosed with scan & treated) arthritic changes & needs to stay in constant work to keep him mobile. The worst thing I could do for him is 'turn him away'

I hack most mornings, school in grass fields that I'm fortunate enough to have access to on my hack routes & have a weekly lesson. I also try to compete a couple of times a month
 
I let mine have a couple of months of with the odd hack...........I don't get hung up about doing anything with them in the winter, they are there to be enjoyed not stressed over whether they are getting enough work. They are out 24/7 though on 5 acres so they must walk several miles a day.
 
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