My horse moves so much better on grass compared to on sand mix or ggt footing. His least favorite is slightly deep, although well leveled and dragged, sand mix, large outdoor ring. He doesn’t mind the indoor ggt mix too much but the indoor is small so it is clear he finds that less enjoyable. He is like a whole different horse riding out in a big field. It doesn’t really matter if the grass is on the softer side from recent rain or harder when it’s super dry. This field is not a leveled ring at all, has some decent changes in gradient and there are definitely naturally dips and unevenness that he navigates with ease. To me, it seems like this field would be more work for him but he goes with so much more impulsion and responsiveness. He is super calm and not spooky outside the ring in general, so it’s not that he’s getting revved up and this is causing his change in movement. We will school dressage out there and often work in an area of the field that is a similar size to our ring so it’s not as though he’s not needing to bend, do lateral work, do circles etc. I’ve assumed that for whatever reason he is just happier out there but I wonder if there could be anything about the footing- grass versus somewhat deeper sand mix that makes him more comfortable? Could this be an indication of some minor soreness happening for him in the ring that he isn’t experiencing on the grass? Or am I overthinking this?
It is a keen observation on your part. Think of it as cross training, maybe. Soft tissues and bones need some amount of stress to keep them healthy. As in, not too much, not too little stress. Not pounding on hard surfaces, and not slipping in deep footing.
Whether there is pain involved somewhere, that might be a good topic to discuss with your vet.
Ring footing gives. It has less staying power when a foot is pushing off from it, or moving into it.
Grass, unless sloppy wet and muddy, does not, not even fairly recent rain when it’s more spongy as opposed to suck-y.
Hopefully that’s just how his persona preference is. But, softer tissues work harder on softer surfaces, like a ring vs a field, so that’s something to consider. Muscles would be in this category of soft tissue
Try to video the same routine in vs out of the ring - just something short, think a really mini dressage test, so you can compare apples to apples. Look for short striding, or a slight unevenness.
My horse is the same. Prefers grass big time over a sand ring. Grass has more for them to dig into so to speak. They have to work harder to stay engaged in a sand ring sine the sand displaces. It’s just harder work for them, that’s all.
I boarded a horse once who could trot around perfectly sound on grass. Then you could walk into the sand arena and it would be off slightly at trot. The best the vet could surmise was that the sand caused more pressure on her sole.
How old is your horse? There is wear and tear on joints on horses that are working…all those circles. But my horse goes way nicer on hog fuel that is somewhat springy than harder or softer footings. Deep footing makes me nervous
for schooling.
It could also be a sign there’s an issue with a ligament or tendon, or even muscle. Issues with soft tissue will show up more noticeably on softer surfaces, and hard tissue issues more noticeably on harder surfaces.
My horse loves to work on grass. Unfortunately, that’s not an option where he lives at the moment. He’s a real turf horse lol. Most often with the horses I’ve had there hasn’t been a clear preference, but I had one TB who was super ouchy on grass (even with very special shoeing), unless there was a sandy base under. Anything else was too springy for him and seemed to sting. Back then we didn’t have these fancy felt mixes, so I don’t know if that would have had too much spring for his liking either. Current horse feels like we are floating on air when on grass or GGT type footing. He feels fine on other surfaces just not quite so much wow to his trot. Unless you are seeing signs of lameness on other footing, I wouldn’t worry too much. The horse may also like where the grass is located (hacking out) versus being in an arena as well, and some of that free moving feeling may just be him enjoying being out of the ring.
Could it also be that your horse doesn’t enjoy the turns in the area, and the grass gives more room for turns?
