If you were looking at boarding facilities, all other things being more or less equal, would you take a grass arena with a course of say 8 great jumps over a place with great footing and say, just 4 or 5 jumps?
And let’s assume your goals are primarily jumping/showing related 
Thanks much!
Personally, I’d opt for the better footing in an effort to keep my horse sound. Of course, that depends on whether the grass gets hard as a rock, etc. Also, I would consider the surface you will be showing on. I would want my horse to feel comfortable and familiar when he enters the ring. Perhaps you could get some of the other boarders to contribute to a fund to buy a few more jumps?
Depends on the grass and the base. If it’s a nice grass field on a sand base, I’d take that any day over all other rings. Thin grass on clay can quickly turn into concrete and be slippery when wet though.
I love mine but it can have drawbacks. Also it’s “mine” so I have nobody to complain to 
if it’s not perfect. If I was paying board, I might opt for the facility with the good footing.
It can get too hard for jumping if you don’t get enough rain. If you get too much rain, you don’t ride because it will tear up the turf. My ring doesn’t get a lot of use, maybe 3-5 rides a week max so it holds up very well.
I can get a lot done with 4 or 5 jumps…use your imagination.
I like riding on grass but it can be a pain in the ass. I won’t ride on it without caulks. Yeah, so I’m a chicken. Too much pounding and grass gets hard as a rock. Too much rain and it gets slicker than snot.
I’d go with the great footing, particularly if it’s the all-weather sort. Your options are greater.
You can always buy or make jumps and you can take them with you when you leave. 
I’d go for the all weather footing myself.
I board at a place with a grass ring that only has a few jumps. The problem with the grass is that it can be slick when it’s wet and then it gets hard when it’s dry, which limits the amount and height of jumping we can do. So you might end up not being able to use those nice jumps as much as you’d like anyway.
I board there for the wonderful pastures and hills and I like the fact that it’s largely a self-care place, but I have to trailer over to a trainer at least once a week to use his sand arena and course of jumps.
So all other things being equal I would choose the place with the good footing. I don’t think three or four jumps makes that much difference anyway, but I don’t jump a lot of courses either. The thing I really miss at the place I’m at are the elements for setting up good gymnastic exercises and I think eventually I’ll have to bite the bullet and invest in some of these myself.
A friend of mine has a small boarding facility; originally it had just a grass arena and fields to ride in. We weren’t allowed to ride all the time in the grass arena but there wee jumps in the fields and during drier weather and for lessons could ride in ring… So for most of her childhood and adult life she and us rode and schooled on grass fields/ring. Interestingly most if not all of her horses never had lameness issues and none needed to be put on joint supplements (of course during her youth they didn’t really have joint supplements) SO I guess what I’m saying is she managed for 40+ years to have sound horses which is I suppose is more about management (not over schooling over fences).
We have grass where I ride. It doesn’t really get torn up and except when it’s actually raining-- it’s never unuseable. Even 30 minutes after a rain, it’s pretty dry. It is built on an incline with some drainage properties… but I am surprised that others have such a negative opinion of grass. I really quite enjoy it as a base!
Properly managed turf is by FAR the best for the horses to work on.
I really enjoy riding on our grand prix field but if I had to choose great all weather footing or grass, I’d pick the all weather footing every time. The number of jumps wouldn’t bother me a bit… with some creative tracks I can’t think of any exercise you couldn’t build easily with 4 -5 jumps.
Even at our place where they work very hard to maintain the grass field in super condition, sometimes the weather just doesn’t cooperate. It drains just fine so rain’s not the issue, but in the summer it can get drier and harder than I find ideal for schooling.
Depends on the grass. my grass ring is grass/sand based and is FANTASTIC. he have 8 good jumps and the grass/sand is really good on their feet. it can get slippery right after rain, but it does drain off within an hr or 2, where footing may be preferred where you can ride right after it rains…but overall i would def go with grass footing!
Thanks much for the input!! I remember loving to ride the “outside” courses over grass in my junior day - it was a real treat. And Mr. Horse luuuuvs a hunter pace, even when it’s slicker than ol’ nervous nellie me likes. I think where you run into problems with grass is when it gets worn down too thin - too little cushion and too little absorption. But, as a practical matter, you can remember things wrong when it comes to making such a choice. I’ve been doing the “how many patterns can you make out of 2-5 jumps” for about three years now, and I think it’s good for you…but. BUT. I know you feel me. Good to hear from folks who have grass as their riding situation!
Also - grass vs all weather - look at the event horses out there - rarely, if ever, do they have the luxury of competing in good rings - not only do you have xcountry on grass but more often than not the dressage and show jumping are also on grass fields - doesn’t seem to bother those event horses too much. I think you have to weigh in also which facility fits your needs the most - if the deciding factor is arena footing that’s a good place to be…
I, too, wouldn’t care if there were 8, 16, or 4 jumps in the ring -for me the type of arena would be less important than - care/barn management, if training requirements fit it my parameters, commute…
It’s just fine as long as I catch the farrier in time to get the horses feet tapped. Horsey cleats helps a lot!
I would say it depends on many other things you haven’t mentioned.
Rings can get pretty stale if that’s the only place you have to ride.
Doesn’t matter how many jumps you have if the person who is responsible for setting them doesn’t know how to to it.
A gymnastic can be more constructive than 8 pretty jumps set for inside/outside/outside/inside etc.
Good footing is good footing–whether it’s in a ring or on grass. Rings can be deep or hard, and need to be maintained regularly to avoid having a rut around the rim and holes on either side of the jumps. Grass needs to be mowed, and ideally, provided with nutrients and topdressed with some sort of loam/sand.
Grass can be delicate in wet weather–there are times of year when you really can’t use it much without damaging it. And if you are doing a lot of riding (lots of horses), it will not stand up to it without regularly shifting where your work area is located.
We don’t have a ring. Hasn’t stopped us from being to accomplish what we want to. We can and do ride on our grass, or ride out, and there are rings nearby we can use if we need to.
I think it’s more largely a matter of preference and the quality of the maintenance involved than anything else.
I think it’s more largely a matter of preference and the quality of the maintenance involved than anything else.
The quality of the maintenance and the properties of the arena. I have a grass ring. Unfortunately, it’s set at the bottom of a hill so if it rains too much, I find somewhere else to ride. It can get muddy and nasty and you can’t exactly just drag it if that happens. Holes are harder to fill. But you can still accomplish a lot on it just fine. If it’s set up with proper drainage and well-maintained, it’s probably quite usable through much of theyear.
Thus, if everything else was equal, I’d rather have the great footing. But our place just isn’t set up in an ideal way (it was never intended to be the sort of place where you were working horses in training). If we owned the property, a lot of things would probably be moved around.
arena! that is what you will be in at most horse shows anyways. the grass is so much fun to ride on but maybe you could find somewhere to take your horse to that has a grass field w/ jumps every now and then?
I’ve got 2 grass arenas.
One for jumping and one for carriage driving.
Providing the footing is good and you’re not jumping on something that’s rock hard then if you want to concentrate on jumping that’s the one I’d go for.
I’d go for the place with great footing. First of all, you can get a lot done with 4-5 jumps, and if you had to you could easily get a few of those PVC blocks and some extra rails to supplement.
I have nothing against turf! We have several arenas with footing, but we also ride a lot out on the grass, probably 50% of the time. But when I am on a training schedule with horses that need to be worked or prepped for a show or prepped to show to a customer, the all weather footing is much more reliable. It doesn’t matter if the weather has been disgusting or super hot and dry, I can jump whatever I need to to get ready. I consider having that flexibility to keep training momentum more essential than number of jumps.
My other point would be that turf works best when you have a LOT of it. We work in several different large areas, so grass is always thick and lovely and keeps the soil moist and springy. If you have to work in the same area over and over, I don’t see how you could keep a turf area nice, especially if you rode in all kinds of weather.
Time of day that you like to ride is also a factor…I find the turf to sometimes be quite slick in dry weather when the grass is wet with dew in the mornings.
Local soil type, weather, and number of horses are huge factors. If you are in an area that gets very dry in the summer, that will be a problem time because of hardness.
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