Stubble fields and tendons?

webble

webble

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I read a lot of posts about cantering/ galloping on stubble fields and my friend said this morning she wait can't until the crops are gone. Are they not a bit deep, holey and stoney for fast work or am I just being a worrier?
 
I have done it in the past - with the permission of the farmer - but round my way it is very stony/flinty so I don't do it now. A friend of mine was riding a horse for someone else and unfortunately the horse sliced its tendon on a sharp stone cantering in a stubble field.
 
Very hard round our way too (essex) . Nowadays I always ride the line slowly first, checking going and for rabbit holes etc. Turn around and then up the speed if suitable to do so. I didnt do it as a kid, but to be honest, I think I was very lucky we never had anything bad happen. (Oh and I have permission from land owner, never go anywhere without permission now).
 
I used to gallop across stubble until a friend's beautiful warmblood hit a flint and practically severed a tendon.
 
I have seen a horse cut a tendon on a stone in a stubble field. So long as you go round in a walk/steady away first to check for stones, holes, boggy bits, overly hard bits etc. then kick on so long as you have the land owners permission and you take care of your horses legs.
 
This may sound like a silly question but what exactly are stubble fields? I hear of them all the time on here but never come across them in RL? Mustn't have any round here, but our hacking is rubbish. ...
 
Stubble fields are the fields left after the corn/wheat has been cut & taken off.

I use them (with permission obvs) if the ground is good then I'll have s blast up them, if not so good a good trot is usually enough to have a decent work out.
I boot all round with over reach boots so not that worried about flints. Actually the ones I use aren't flinty at all.
 
And always canter the same direction as the tramlines, not across them. We do out hunting but is rarely soft enough to blast on a normal hack, IMO.
 
Depends where you are. Ours tend to be pretty good. We follow the tramlines to avoid any sudden dips. Come August, thats our nightly hack doubled in length and halved in time :)
 
Well I used to gallop over stubble fields with gay abandon, not now though! Depends on how hard the ground is, and if there are ruts left in the field from work done in the spring if the ground was wet. If the ground is wet the going can be very, very deep. Also watch out for holes, digging creatures can make a hole in a suprisingly short space of time.

So, if the ground is a good consistency, not too hard and not too soft, I would walk UP the tramlines first, taking very careful note of any hazards that might be on the ground (including bits of machinery that might have dropped off!). Then having seen that there is nothing nasty lurking, then go back and start at the beginning.

Out hunting one would hope that the ground is a little softer, and someone else has been first.
 
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