Preparing for hard ground

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frankieduck

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I am entered into a show to jump on grass this weekend. It’s only UA showjumping and I’m only jumping one 80cm round so I’m not too concerned about the ground as I would be if we were running XC.

But is there anything I can do, either as a preventative, or afterwards to help protect my horses legs from the hard ground at the moment?

Will icing help?
 
frankieduck said:
I am entered into a show to jump on grass this weekend. It’s only UA showjumping and I’m only jumping one 80cm round so I’m not too concerned about the ground as I would be if we were running XC.

But is there anything I can do, either as a preventative, or afterwards to help protect my horses legs from the hard ground at the moment?

Will icing help?
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Just judge how the horse is in the warm up and if not your normal horse just pull the plug. You can ice after but tbh it tends to be jarring which is issue and not much you can do.
 
I would say cold hosing would be a good thing to do - I always do this after I ride anyway, but I pay even more attention to it in the warmer months where the ground can be hard and unforgiving.

The main thing to bear in mind is that jarring more than anything else, which is something you can't really do much about - I'd say judge how your horse is taking things in the warm up, and if your gut says something isn't right, pull the plug and save for another day x
 
Thank you! He’s generally quite a tough cookie and also doesn’t need much of a warm up, so I’m hoping up just pop a couple in the warm up and then go in to do our round. I’d originally entered 2 classes but just going to pop him round the 80 now due to the ground, I’ll also see how much grass cover there is in the ring and how forgiving the ground is before deciding whether we jump. Wasn’t sure if I was being overly cautious!
 
I don't know where you are geographically but we've had some heavy rain the start of this week & that's helped soften the ground, for a week at least!

In the summer generally though I'm really fussy about the ground - I wouldnt have cantered much on a lot of our routes last weekend. Generally, I up the frequency of my pony's sports massage therapist to help counteract any jarring, which really seems to help. I use hoof boots with gel pads to try to help with concussion too. I cold hose & then use NAF ice gel after rides. I've just bought some cool gel boots for legs so will start using those after rides too.

I'm probably (definitely) OTT but I feel better for it.
 
I know of someone whose horse took over 3 months to come right after running (grassroots level ODE) on firm ground a year or two ago, causing severe bruising from the jarring. So, it's positive to see people being considered about the decision to ride on the very hard ground most places have at present. I wouldn't do anything more than trot on any non-managed (watered) ground near me at the moment but it seems like you're being conscious of grass cover etc and listening to your horse. 😊
 
Tendons and ligaments don’t mind hard ground so much, but the concussive forces in the feet and up through the joints increase. What can you do? Nothing much really….. be conservative in your warm up so you don’t jump too many fences. I wouldn’t jump on proper hard ground.
 
OP - are you doing much on hard ground now? Mine are out 24.7 and my hacking is like concrete so they have built up some resilience but I'm careful. I got some advice a while back that if there's any risk you've overdone it then get an anti inflammatory in quickly. I have devil's relief & bozmeriz in the feed room and will pop a dose in evening feed if I'm concerned.

Supposed to be x-country training bank hol Monday but there's zero rain on local forecast.
 
barefootbeginner said:
I know of someone whose horse took over 3 months to come right after running (grassroots level ODE) on firm ground a year or two ago, causing severe bruising from the jarring. So, it's positive to see people being considered about the decision to ride on the very hard ground most places have at present. I wouldn't do anything more than trot on any non-managed (watered) ground near me at the moment but it seems like you're being conscious of grass cover etc and listening to your horse. 😊
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This is supposed to be my horses first season eventing but I’ve shelved it for now as everywhere is just so hard, I’ve not even got any XC schooling in yet and I won’t run him on this ground. I do keep seeing people out and about as normal though so some people seem pretty unconcerned 🙈
 
SEL said:
OP - are you doing much on hard ground now? Mine are out 24.7 and my hacking is like concrete so they have built up some resilience but I'm careful. I got some advice a while back that if there's any risk you've overdone it then get an anti inflammatory in quickly. I have devil's relief & bozmeriz in the feed room and will pop a dose in evening feed if I'm concerned.

Supposed to be x-country training bank hol Monday but there's zero rain on local forecast.
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Our fields are like concrete and they’re out overnight for 16 hours, we hack a lot and have been cantering gently uphill only while the ground is so hard.
 
frankieduck said:
Thanks all, I decided to save him for another day. I was debating it too much and probably wouldn’t have rode the best round anyway if I was worrying.

We are forecast rain next week so for the sake of an entry fee we’ll wait!
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Sounds a really sensible decision if your ground is anything like it is here.
 
frankieduck said:
Thanks all, I decided to save him for another day. I was debating it too much and probably wouldn’t have rode the best round anyway if I was worrying.

We are forecast rain next week so for the sake of an entry fee we’ll wait!
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Lovely to see someone considering the ground! A few friends have posted videos on fb this morning showing them xc schooling on rock hard ground. We haven't had rain for weeks and weeks.
 
Flowerofthefen said:
Lovely to see someone considering the ground! A few friends have posted videos on fb this morning showing them xc schooling on rock hard ground. We haven't had rain for weeks and weeks.
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We travelled to Somerford last weekend to ride round their surfaced farm ride and there were lots out XC schooling on the grass XC schooling fields… our ground round here has been like concrete for weeks 😳
 
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