Practicing long arena tests in a short arena?

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PartlyPickled

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Hi, the yard i'm on only has a short arena and no fields to ride in. I cant just go and hire somewhere every week as well as entering the shows and pretty much all the local venues are long arena. I'm sure lots of people do it, but how do you?
 
I just practice individual movements using an area the same size as the movement requires. Only thing you cant do is change of rein on the long diagonal but that shouldn't really need much practice. I've never really practiced a full test before doing it in a comp, only the elements. The critical part is moving from one element to another and this can be practiced in a 20x40.
 
Two options - either, like miss_c, just squeeze it all in. Or don't ride through a full test - ride sections at a time - will mean you can ride everything at proper size, only thing you can't do is long diagonals.

I very rarely ride through a complete test anyway - my mare is far too good at anticipation as it is, without practicing an actual test we are doing!
 
I used to squash it up in order to ride through the tests once or twice, so I could reassure myself that I knew them ;) Like Miss_c says, it does feel a lot easier on the day then.
Very very lucky to have 20x60 at home now. Absolute luxury and can't stand riding in small arenas now!
 
I tend to practice my movements off markers - so I plot out the arena with all the markers and dimensions on a piece of paper, and draw each movement based on dimensions step-by-step. I can then transfer that to my shorter arena when practicing in-saddle (as long as you have all the markers in your arena) as I can say to myself 'halfway between B and F I need to turn, then reach the 3/4 line and incline back to track'.

This way you're not worrying about the dimensions themselves, but rather where in the arena you need to be at each movement to ensure it's accurate. The only thing I do like to have the correct sized arena for is corners as I find they come up a bit quick on you if you work in a bigger arena. But that shouldn't be a problem for you :)
 
miss_c said:
I'd just like to have an arena at home! ;) Work was supposed to start on it today and the contractor hasn't turned up..........
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Booo :( it's amazing. After 20-odd years at livery, this is just heaven. Of course, damn horse is on sick leave now...
 
I tend to squish it together too, the only thing that means is that I don't practice the right angles for half pass etc.
 
Thank you all, i will get my entries in if i can get my head around it all, i dont know why i'm finding this all so confusing

PS. my horse is registered with old owners, do i need to bother changing it? or can i just wait till her membership is up is october
 
milliepops said:
Booo :( it's amazing. After 20-odd years at livery, this is just heaven. Of course, damn horse is on sick leave now...
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Oh no! Sick leave was not in the plans! Our contractors arrived today so in the next two weeks we should have an arena at the yard! I cannot wait! x
 
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