No Arena - Where to ride?

[AmymBlue]

Hi,

In a couple of months I will be getting a new horse however I work 9-5 and the livery yard that im on doesn't have an arena it only has hacking on the road and a very small field to ride in. I was just wondering how do people ride in the winter if they have no arena as after work at 6ish it will be too dark to hack out.
There are also no floodlights in the yard
There is no option of moving to another livery yard as I have no where else local with an arena

Thanks

 

[dibbin]

I'd get a portable floodlight for when you're at the yard at night. We have this one - http://www.sealey.co.uk/PLPageBuild...rogroup=1346&analysiscode=&requiredresults=16 . I used to keep it in my car in case there was no power at the yard or the lights weren't working, and it came in handy on a few occasions!

I keep my horse at home and don't have an arena. In the winter we only ride at weekends because I work 9-5.30 and have a commute of 1hr+ each way so it's dark when I leave and dark when I get home! We're lucky with the roads though, because I'm a mile up a private road so there isn't much traffic until you get into our village itself - if all your hacking will be on-road then make sure you buy something that's proven with traffic.

Are you allowed to ride in the field? I don't allow riding in ours because that's all my turnout and I don't want it churned up.