Keeping horses at home with no arena

[ElbowRockFarm]

We are also in New England and did not have a ring for about our first 10 years here. Our paddocks on the property are not great for riding. We do have access to trails.

During the better weather we did a combination of trail work, using a neighbor’s large field, and for about 2 years hacking through the woods to another ring. (Unfortunately, that property was sold, so we lost that option.) We would truck out regularly for lessons during this time. Even now with our own ring, we still use the trails and the field for fitness and to mix it up.

Now winter, another story. The trails get super icy, especially in years with a lot of rain, like this year. Our ring was even covered in ice for the past 3-4 weeks until yesterday. In addition, the limited daylight is so challenging. I know people ride in the dark, but to me dark, ice, 20 degrees, and wild horses is not worth it.

I sometimes plan to trailer out to an indoor a few days a week, but even that with cold, dark, work, and other life, the motivation wanes. This week looks a little better. Maybe we will start back to work, maybe not. I’ve finally learned to be okay with what winter is and not stress.

We have often boarded out or sent out for training 1-2 horses during the worst months. I have one young one out for training now. This helps to be down a horse in the worst weather and to keep fitness or brains engaged.

So, yes, you can absolutely keep them at home with no ring. As others have said, you may need to adjust your winter goals, but the other three seasons are great!

[ATXmom]

We had this situation when we lived in the NE. We were lucky enough to have a large, mostly flat grass area to ride during the late spring, summer and fall. We would board my daughters show horse at a barn with an indoor from December - March and would give the others the winter off.

[ABookworm]

I currently am lucky enough to have an outdoor area but my previous property did not have one.

I would ride approximately 1 mile to use a community “arena” and then 2 miles to use a friends arena. The ride allowed us to warmup slowly and get exposure to the fun things that happen when trail riding through neighborhoods. Having access to shared arenas was nice and did provide a flat surface, but my big takeaway was that you can’t always rely on spaces that you don’t maintain to be safe. The community arena quickly went from iffy to downright dangerous due to improper maintenance.

When we would work at home, I would just pick the flattest paddock to ride around in and actually felt like my ability to ride terrain improved as both my paddocks had mild to moderate hills. At the end of the day, I had to be hypervigilant with how the footing was in the paddocks and if I was trying to rehab the grass or if the ground was damp and would get torn up from riding. You’ll quickly learn to read your footing conditions and evaluate the risks vs benefits of riding that day.

Currently, I only have an outdoor arena and access to drive or hack 3 miles to the local indoor. At this time, despite being in the Midwest, I have no plans to enclose my arena or add an indoor arena. The arena is lovely, but the downside of it is that I find myself using it as a giant dry lot when we have snow/mud/ice or conditions that lead me to believe my horses will tear up the paddocks. For reference, my horses are out for 15 hours typically. This does result in minor drainage issues and sections becoming “mucky” but it beats them tearing up the paddocks due to mud.

Even with the arena, I find that my activities are similar to what they were without the arena. I do a lot of ground work when conditions are nasty, and I’ve taken advantage of teaching my horses to ground drive so that we can work without adding a rider for them to balance against. I also have access to miles of trails which has resulted in plenty of time spent walking around and exploring our area.

Truthfully, I wouldn’t change our setup as I’ve found spending a winter of rest, and “rehab” does all of us good. The snow becomes your best friend for active walking, with the deep snow I had for a bit, I spent a good amount of time working on a forward walk which really seemed to do all of us good for muscle building and endurance. With the ground driving, I’m able to get down and see how the horses are moving in order to truly condition to what they need.

At the end of the day, I would love to have a dedicated indoor arena or at minimum covered, but not having one is not as big of a disadvantage as I would have expected. You learn to work with your land and modify your plan to best suit the footing.

[OzarksRider]

I’m in rural southern Missouri and I often think I hit the jackpot for the kind of riding I like to do. I just saddle up and off we go. I have miles of unpaved county roads, and I can often ride 1-2 hours and not encounter a single car. If I’m more ambitious the Ozark Trail (https://ozarktrail.com/trail-directory/ ) is only about 1 1/4 miles from my house. I can ride from my house to the trail and then off through the woods to forest roads in the Mark Twain National forest. One of my favorite rides is a big loop from my house to the trail to a forest road to county roads and back home. The hills and varied terrain keep my horse in good condition, and there are long stretches on the county roads for extended trotting and a little cantering. Best times of the year to ride are early spring, fall, and winter because there are no bugs (ticks and flies) and the weather is usually not extreme (except for a few weeks in winter). I ride less in summer because the flies, heat, and humidity are just awful. I sometimes wish I had a covered outdoor arena so I would have a shady place to ride in the summer (I don’t go in the woods in the summer).