I hope to have an outdoor arena someday, but in the meantime, I’m looking for inspiration from others on how they keep their horses in work when they don’t have an arena. Bonus if you live in the Northeast like me and experience cold, snow and mud!
I’m right there with ya - though it’s more mud than anything right now. Soupy, sloppy mud, and nowhere dead flat to ride 
Here’s a thread I started on a similar vein with some encouragement
FWIW, I’ve done nothing lately because it’s so wet the footing is dangerous to do more than handwalk - and that’s sketchy.
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I did this on our first property (SE Pennsylvania). The short answer for how I kept them in work during cold, snow, and mud was that I didn’t…I pulled shoes and they had time off December-March (ish). The footing was more of an issue than anything for me as the property was quite hilly.
If you have a truck and trailer there is always the option to haul out and rent an indoor or to trail ride.
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Im in panhandle of WV. During the summer, fall, and beginning of winter it’s not a big deal to not have a ring. My grass pasture is good enough provided no major rains.
During the end of Dec, Jan, and now February I barely get to ride anything more than a walk around the farm. It’s just to wet and frozen. Plus you ruin your grass area for the nice days.
I’m moving my horse to a place with an indoor until May and next year plan on moving him Dec-March unless I have a ring built.
Can it be done, absolutely and I’m sure more motivated people than me have done it. I’m just picky about what footing I ride in and I refuse to fall on frozen ground.
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I spent a couple years with that setup, and since winters here in NC are usually pretty wet, and we have red clay soil, there were many days where the pasture wasn’t suitable to work at the walk (which they were doing full time on turnout anyway). Fortunately our road is a dead end, quiet, and at the time wasn’t paved, so we could walk there, even if it was still a bit too slippery to trot, and never cantered. There were days we only walked on the frozen pasture, maybe just 20 minutes.
Walking is underrated for fitness, so don’t be afraid to walk and walk and walk, even if it’s just 20 mimutes. You can put a lot of foundational work into that time 
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I did it in the wet Pacific Northwest before we added an outdoor arena. It didn’t go that well for me as there was no where close at the time to haul out to, and our property is hilly so not fun going up and down slick trails. I did a lot of just riding up the road then but our neighborhood has changed so much over the years, it isn’t safe to do that anymore (between the speedy delivery drivers and the inattentive teens, I am wary even walking my dog out there anymore!).
I just am not motivated enough now to schlep horse and tack much of anywhere when the weather is miserable, but maybe if I was younger it would work. I did have a couple of years where I just boarded for the winter in order to ride, but I hated the drive and I won’t do it anymore. If there was a place close by, like 20 minutes or less, I’d consider that, as I think it is a good alternative for something like this last month where I’ve been on my horse perhaps 3x due to the bad weather. Of course, that’s also if there is room, as so many barns have closed here lately (developers scooping up land) that open stalls can be hard to find.
You really have to look at yourself and what you are willing to do – in my 20s or even 30s, sure, I’d ride in any weather, or spend 3 to 4 hours at night after work hauling to a barn to ride. Now? No way!
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I have horses at home with flat grass riding area, roundpen with 3/8” limestone footing (just base, no sand), and 20 ac of rolling fields. I’m lucky that we’re on pretty sandy soil so as long as the ground is thawed it dries quickly.
I’ve found between the three “riding areas” I can find at least one place to ride at the walk. The roundpen is 80’ in diameter and because I drag it before a freeze, the surface doesn’t have pockmarks through the winter.
I have boarded in the winter and sometimes I haul out, but my riding goals have changed, I don’t compete anymore and I find I can get a fair amount of training and fitness done at the walk…if I want to up my game I ride bareback.
Edited to add that I’m in WI. In more typical, snowy winters I ride in the grass/field. This winter it’s been unseasonably warm, no snow cover so only a little walking in the grass bc it’s muddy, but the roundpen footing has been perfect!
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I’m in Vermont and surrounded by dirt roads. In the winter, we’ll typically do a walk only ride about a mile down the road, turn around and come back. During the random melting spells, if there’s no ice we may trot a little where the footing is safe.
I will also ride around the fields until there are layers of ice mixed in the snow, and then I abandon the fields (right now we have about 18 inches of snow on the ground with three distinct ice layers in the middle). Depending on the year, even the roads may be too sketchy to walk on because the surface gets so slick with the plow going over it. I have studded Scoot boots but I give up at some point even with them.
With conditions as they are this year, I’ve ridden my mare five miles, total, in all of 2024. She’ll likely be off through a lot of Feb too and we’ll see how the roads melt and how bad the mud comes on. Last year was better, I rode ~35 miles total in Jan-Mar, which worked out to about 20 rides total, so it’s really not much. For all intents and purposes, she’s off through the winter and we spend a few weeks of walking rides as mud season arrives and we get back into condition.
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If it makes you feel any better, I have an outdoor ring that is sand and fiber. It was frozen for all but 3-4 days of January. Just too much rain and cold so it never had a chance to drain and thaw. One horse was ridden once the entire month.
I have warmed to the idea of giving horses time off in the winter.
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I ride on the road. It’s hilly, so it gives us lots of good hill work. If I don’t feel like riding (or brushing clean a space for a saddle on a horse with enough caked mud you could seed, water, and grow crops on him) then I hand walk on the road. Mine are barefoot or barefoot behind, which gives enough grip. Snow rim pads on front shoes are great for road traction. I mostly walk, do some leg yields. If they want to trot, we trot, and if the neighbors’ dogs are out barking we might hand-gallop a little bit. 
I wear a fluorescent vest and only go out when traffic is light, like early on the weekends or late morning sometimes during the week.
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I’m in this situation in IL and honestly have ridden the least I’ve ever ridden since bringing them home and I 100% believe it’s due to not having a safe designated place to ride 70%+ of the time. I do have 2 grassy sections, one flat and the size of a round pen and one that is a slope the size of a small dressage arena. Our property is half wooded and all hills except the flat grass spot/ barn/ house. I’ve had a truck and trailer all but the last 6 months and have access to arenas within 30-90 min (1 way) but find that very hard to do any time other than the weekends even though I work from home. There are no trails except 40+ min away. I have 2 well broke older horses who both load and unload well and can be ridden alone when I take them out to ride so those are not barriers. During the summer I can ride somewhat more consistently but it easily gets too wet to ride on the grass at all (I won’t tear it up as we have limited space and I despise mud). There is no fenced in space which is fine most of the time but when I have a very fresh horse, I appreciate some “walls” to keep their mind focused and provide a safety net for them if I have to bail/ fall off. I can and have ridden them up and down our steep gravel drive for some fitness and out on the roads but find both so very dull, and having to pony one while riding the other can be a bit much. I’m hoping to get them in shape enough to get leased out/ part leased out so I can go back to boarding simply so I can ride more.
I think it CAN work at home but it is hugely dependent on your setup. I am in my 20s and still don’t have the time/ energy/ drive to haul out more than the weekends (and usually only one weekend day since it takes 4+ hours of the day and I don’t want to sacrifice both my weekend days when other things need done) or ride on the roads endlessly (which our roads are much more high traffic than I’d like TBH).
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When I kept mine at home, I tended to board one in the winter so I could ride. In the summer, I had miles of dirt roads and trails, but in the winter the roads were icy, snowpacked and treacherous, and the trails under far too much snow to be accessible. We did build a very tiny “arena” which let me at least do some ring work, but not in the winter, and some winters I just rode up and down the driveway if I could get it clear enough to be safe. Now, we did have some more extreme conditions than many, being up in the mountains and in an undeveloped area.
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My arena is currently covered with six inches of snow. I’m taking one horse to my trainer’s place, 2 hours away, on Monday. She has a lovely indoor and I will leave him there four months. Hopefully by May the snow will have melted!
I’m in the northeast have a basic “ring” - scraped the topsoil and chucked down a mix of stone dust and sand. Works ok most of the year, unless it rains after the ground has frozen - aka this winter. Besides one small area that drains ok-ish it’s a giant mush puddle. I am on a main road with no trail access 
I am fortunate to have a friend’s facility with an indoor just a 10 minute haul away. We are going there 2-3 times a week and then ship out to a lesson about 30 minutes away once a week. When that one spot in the ring is reasonably firm I’ll do a short lunge on one of my non-riding days. With my current work schedule it would be a challenge to keep more than one horse in work. Where there’s a will there’s a way! Good luck!
Adding an edit - I work from home so no commute to worry about - but even then am not eating dinner until around 9pm the weekdays I ship out 
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Not OP but what I’m learning is that an arena - even if neglected and needs new footing or grading - is HIGHLY valuable when shopping for horse property.
When I was in south GA/almost north FL, the grass rings were totally useable 99% of the time. The other 1% was hurricanes anyway, so it worked. Even the northern side of GA has been unrideable without footing this winter, and NC is basically under water where I am
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Well, we don’t…I can use part of the pasture to lounge and ride but usually it’s a muddy mess until March. Today I’m going on a small hack along the river, finger crossed he’ll not be too fresh
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Although I do have 2 marked riding arenas, small dressage, large dressage, this time of year the footing is poor (frozen) in both so I make arenas in my mind. When there is snow on the ground, I ride a path to mark a perimeter. If no snow, I use my mind and image an arena --and just ride in my fields pretending I have an arena. Of course O/F work is limited --but we can do anything on the flat!
I used a flat spot in the farm field behind me until the farm got sold and the unused, neglected pasture got turned into soybean and corn fields.
Then, I used the graded flat “ring” around my barn. It’s probably a 15x20 meter oval around my 34’x48’ barn. Sometimes I’d use a slanted part of my pasture, but it was difficult with a horse who always sped up with terrain changes. I had a small jumping area along and at the end of my driveway. Enough for tight course of about 6 jumps.
I have a gravel road and would use that when the footing was bad.
Eventually, I made friends with my neighbor and now have access to her two rings and indoor.
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I’d see if there’s somewhere nearby you can trailer to with an arena. One of my neighbors will let anyone trailer in, for free. Another I had used to charge $20 for unlimited ride time per month.
One of my friends used to ride on the road and would even jump cavelletti to keep her competition horse in shape.
Another option is lots of trail riding.
Never had an actual arena (with footing and all) and have done the majority of my riding in the pastures.
In most cases the highest level spot, with good grass cover has suited my needs of riding or longe work, year round if I desire. I do not work them or ride if conditions are slippery with ice, thawing or mud and usually give them Jan-mid Feb off.
We do have a real long drive and several gravel roads through our property if I get desperate but I haven’t!
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