What can I do on grass, that will help canter in an arena?

[maya2008]

I can appreciate it is different, moving on sand and other arena surfaces. It feels different to me too if I have to run with the kids. We need to compete on them though. So… what do I need to change in our canter work on grass, so that all the ponies can better cope with the changing demands of whatever arena surface the competition we next do is on?

We already do a lot of fitness work and cantering up hills. Turns seem mostly to be the issue, and mostly on surfaces where if I turn a corner I can feel it’s a little slippery underfoot. I can’t fix the issue with endless time in arenas because we haven’t got one at home and arena hire costs stack up.

Any ideas?

 

[Vodkagirly]

Do you have anywhere that you can school on grass? I have found if you school on grass especially canter, it is suddenly easier when your in arena.
In the winter when I can't school on grass and am using bridleways I make an effort to do lot of transitions, shallow loops and request a specific lead.

 

[Goldenstar]

Ride on it all the time .
I never go in the school in summer mine has been used once since March .

 

[J&S]

I am surprised by this. I have never in all my life had an arena of any kind at home or livery so have always schooled on grass or heather . I thought the whole point of sand or other school surfaces was to eliminate the problems of slipping? The only surface indoors that my NF mare slipped on was in the very old days when the surface was wood chippings in our local RS. It maybe, that as you do plenty of hacking, that your ponies are mainly used to riding in straight lines, so find clearings in the woods, corners of fields, bendy tracks where they can learn to get the inside hind under more securely.

 

[millitiger]

I assume it's more the tightness of the turns expected in an arena, rather than the surface itself being slippy?

If so, set up a space in your field so you have restricted space (as you do in an arena) and then practice your turns- you might find setting a defined area puts the pressure on your balance, the way an arena does.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Set up a grass arena at home. You can improvise for boards and markers.

For the first 25 years that we were here I only had a grass arena. I set it up every spring to autumn.

 

[maya2008]

Thanks, it was never a problem until everywhere started getting the golden sand and fibre surfaces. Those and the wax ones. None of the younger ponies will jump on wax - they carefully step over instead, and canter is reluctant for all of them. The less athletically built ones slip behind on the turns on the fibre/sand combinations. We’re fine on grey sand/rubber types and on the peat one of the local riding schools has.

I have an arena sized space set up at home, but my whole field is on a hill so you can canter along the bottom, turn up the side, turn again along the top … then you have to trot down the hill to start again.

 

[J&S]

deleted

 

[maya2008]

Borrowed my friend’s tiny arena today (15x30). No issues cantering at all, round corners, jumping. My pony felt amazing, kids’ ponies looked fab and jumped well. It’s sand and rubber - not at all slippery when walked on. And there I was hoping it was maybe a lack of practice cornering issue due to all the hacking…

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I used to school in a field just at the back of my house on a hacking route it was massive but just used corners of it to kind of mimic a show ring, it really helped my horse when we did showing as some shows are on grass obviously if its been raining its going to be a bit slippy but it does give them a bit of confidence if they are used to being ridden on different ground.

 

[SEL]

Borrowed my friend’s tiny arena today (15x30). No issues cantering at all, round corners, jumping. My pony felt amazing, kids’ ponies looked fab and jumped well. It’s sand and rubber - not at all slippery when walked on. And there I was hoping it was maybe a lack of practice cornering issue due to all the hacking…

Is it specific surfaces? My Appy hated one at a school I used to hire

 

[maya2008]

Is it specific surfaces? My Appy hated one at a school I used to hire

Seems to be sand and fibre that they all hate. That and wax. Sand and fibre only gives issues on corners. On wax, no one will jump. They sort of step over it. When I walk on both those, it feels solid to walk forwards, but if I twist my foot side to side it slides extremely easily.

Of course, most comp venues and course hire now have sand and fibre…

 

[tda]

Sounds like it is the surface they dont like. You can check your canter balance out in the field, just a couple of traffic cones, figure of 8 in canter, large loops to begin with, then make them smaller

 

[Boulty]

From what you’ve said if it’s feasible to avoid the waxed surfaces in particular / if there’s alternative venues with a surface the horses prefer then I probably would do. If it’s absolutely essential that they learn to tolerate them even if they never like them then you’re probably going to have to do a lot of arena hires on that surface. If it’s the specific surface that’s the issue then I don’t think anything you do at home on grass will make any difference.

 

[maya2008]

My current brainwave is to canter on the slightly slippier area of the path, so they can practice cantering on a less than ideal surface.

 

[RachelFerd]

This thread is mind boggling to me - the "problem" with most wax surfaces is that they are too grippy - they are not ever slippy?! It's very possible that your horses don't like the additional grip. But riding on slippy bits of grass is absolutely not going to help in the slightest with sand/fibre or wax surfaces.

 

[Goldenstar]

I often think horses that struggle on wax are carrying an underlying issue.

 

[maya2008]

I often think horses that struggle on wax are carrying an underlying issue.

Well I might think that too… but all 5 of them, of varying ages?

Arena 1) sand and fibre with wax (supposedly at least). Two biggest ones slipped visibly round the corners. Smaller one we were sharing there at the time struggled to maintain canter in the arena (was fine out hacking). Other horses also slipped in there - you could see the skid marks. Ended up with my mare slipping a lot, then broncing in disgust at the ground. Didn’t take our ponies back there.

Arena 2) Wax only. Most will w/t/c ok in here (canter is more effort than on grass, but willing to do so). Asked two of the smaller ones to hop over a cross pole and witnessed the weirdest jumping technique ever…trot up to it, stop and climb over it, trot away. Raised it, and when they got to the point they couldn’t climb over, they just knocked it down first. Went out SJ two days later - jumped clear beautifully and happily. Both of those ponies jump bushes/water troughs etc for fun in the field.

Arena 3) newish sand and fibre (no wax). Most will go forwards. All will jump. Bigger ones slip slightly round corners in wet weather, so engagement isn’t perfect as they don’t totally trust the ground.

On all the above, I don’t slip running forwards, but if you twist your foot in the sand, it moves much more easily than it would on grass/sand and rubber. My hunch is that they’re used to being able to pivot on a foot slightly round corners, given most are young, ridden by kids and schooling is in progress. So they try to do that in the arena, it feels unstable and they then do not trust the ground. I have spent all this time teaching them to choose the right ground and be safe out hacking no matter the conditions - my hunch is that it’s come back to bite me on these kinds of surfaces. They are treating it as unstable ground and moving accordingly. Hence choosing the wetter track this morning and working on showing my mare that really, if your strides are shorter and bouncier, it makes you more stable and less likely to slip, so it’s ok. Worth a try - even on a grippy surface you would have to go ‘up’ more to escape the grip.

 

[sbloom]

I too find wax surfaces often have too much grip, deeper surfaces do have that movement, it's not slipping as such but it is different.

I think all you can work on is balance, slow everything down, do lots of walk work moving the shoulders etc, careful slow canter work etc.

 

[j1ffy]

The waxed surface at my yard goes very slippy when it's wet (I suspect the drainage isn't right as it can get quite water-logged) - I've noticed it with both my barefoot horses and my shod loan horse previously. When wet my horses have all been a bit tighter and more cautious than when dry - on the shod horse, I didn't dare to canter him in there on very wet days. When dry I've not experienced any slipping at all. Were arenas 1 and 2 wet or dry when you used them?

 

[maya2008]

Arena 1) is always wet as they water it.

Arena 2) is an indoor so dry.

 

[j1ffy]

Arena 1) is always wet as they water it.

Arena 2) is an indoor so dry.

One of the main reasons why people put in wax is to remove the need for watering, so I'd wager a guess that there's no wax left on there!