Schooling on hard ground?

[NU ABO]

Grrr I hate this stupid country and it's stupid extreme's of weather. We've gone from having completely flooded sloppy crap fields, to two months of decent riding ground, to now this hard, cracked, slippy clay ground.

The only arena we have for use within hacking distance is extremely deep and my horse hates it, so the only place really we can school is our field.

My biggest problem is my boy needs to be kept schooled over jumps, because if i don't then he gets overly excited at competitions (especially at this time of the year), he also needs to be kept in constant work because if he doesn't then he puts on weight far too easily and starts stiffening up. So my current weekly plan is 2 days jump, 2 days flat, 1 day lunge and flat and 1 day hack with 1 day off.
However he's also slightly arthritic (on a good supplement), so I'm so cautious of hard-ground riding. My instructor seems okay with asking him to do cantering and jumping on the ground so long as i don't ask for tight circles?

Would putting studs in his shoes help at all (he is slipping on the ground a bit at the moment as well), or would that put too much pressure on his joints?

What would you do in this situation? Use the field and keep him as is and trust that the ground won't affect his joints too much?
Use the deeper arena if the ground continues as is?
Put studs in for faster canter/jump work?

Bottle of cider for your thoughts (as that's what I'm drowning my sorrows in!)

 

[enchantedunicorn]

Too much work on a hard surface can cause splints to develop down horse's legs. My friend's horse has studs to stop her horse from slipping while hacking out - I think she said she had to be extra careful about grids because it would be even easier to have an accident with studs over grids than without. It sounds awful - but would it be possible to move to another yard with better facilities that could help accommodate your horse's needs e.g - A school with a shallow, soft surface.
Good luck and hope you work things out.

 

[NU ABO]

Too much work on a hard surface can cause splints to develop down horse's legs. My friend's horse has studs to stop her horse from slipping while hacking out - I think she said she had to be extra careful about grids because it would be even easier to have an accident with studs over grids than without. It sounds awful - but would it be possible to move to another yard with better facilities that could help accommodate your horse's needs e.g - A school with a shallow, soft surface.
Good luck and hope you work things out.

I wish I could move to a better yard, but everywhere around me is full and because me and mum have our horses together it makes it virtually impossible to find somewhere with one vacancy, let alone two.

I suppose the only other option I haven't yet exhausted is finding an arena to rent that might take slightly longer to hack to. There's one in the village, but i don't know if the yard owner allows people not from the yard to use it. It's a bit of a hassle having to hack the distance for five evenings every week (if it's even free), but it would be worth it if it can help prevent any problems.

The most annoying thing is, there's an arena just down the track, not amazing surface but usable, but the yard is empty at the moment, just been sold and no one knows who or where the new owners are, or if they'll let other people use it! It's just waiting with baited breath until some news about it surfaces.

I might also see if the deepish arena feels any better now that it's not flooded, at least that'll be better than damaging his joints/legs.

 

[HighFive]

Come to O'straya, where it's hard all year round! Winter is hard underneath with a layer of grease on top. I think firstly, you can do it, but obviously don't over do it! You need to build up slowly, although if you've been hacking on a firm surface there should be a good degree of conditioning on the legs. Keep your sessions short is probably the main thing, and maybe warm up hacking if the grass cover is better. Definitely stud, tiny tiny points (think toad stud with a tip) in the back makes a massive amount of difference. I'd only put them in front if the ground is very sloped and you are jumping down hill. After care doesn't hurt, I always ice after jumping anyway then slather some poultice on. ��

 

[NU ABO]

Come to O'straya, where it's hard all year round! Winter is hard underneath with a layer of grease on top. I think firstly, you can do it, but obviously don't over do it! You need to build up slowly, although if you've been hacking on a firm surface there should be a good degree of conditioning on the legs. Keep your sessions short is probably the main thing, and maybe warm up hacking if the grass cover is better. Definitely stud, tiny tiny points (think toad stud with a tip) in the back makes a massive amount of difference. I'd only put them in front if the ground is very sloped and you are jumping down hill. After care doesn't hurt, I always ice after jumping anyway then slather some poultice on. ��

Thanks for the advice

He has pretty well conditioned legs, strong sturdy foot in each corner type! He only has shoes on the front anyway, so i might ask my farrier if he thinks studs would work for him.
I think I'll definitely start cooling his legs down after a session while the grounds hard, might help prevent further damage while I try to find a more permanent schooling solution.

My instructor seems to think he's think he's still looking well and sound on the hard ground (he certainly feels sound on it for the moment) and is quite content to give us a hard session once every two weeks, but i think for the schooling in between I might keep the hard schooling shorter and bulk it out with warm-up hacks around the farmers field and down the tracks (might help his fizziness when he sees what he thinks is a glorious gallop track)

Only a year and a half left and then me and the family can start looking to buy a house with land and it's own menage somewhere that isn't extortionately expensive!