I’m very excited to say that I do have the opportunity to have my gelding at home from here on out!! I have a good facility with a barn, round pen, and adequate pasture. However, I have no where to ride… being that I show my gelding I want to have some way to work with him in the most efficient way possible with good footing so he can move how he is cued to. I show western Pleasure, trail, horsemanship, and sometimes western riding. So there is a good deal of technicality. Do any of you ride at home or without an arena? Do you just ride in your pasture? I’m not sure if I could do that because the ground here is very mushy at times… asking because an arena is not in my budget. Thank you!
Can you haul somewhere to ride? You might be ok by keeping a part of the pasture mowed down and ride on that.
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Your horse will do best to train where he can perform like he will be asked at the show.
Try to find a place that will permit that, it would be the best to be competitive with those that will have that advantage.
You can train any you want where you want, don’t need that specific footing and situation to train in the basics.
For refinement, you really will do best practicing in the best approximation to how you will ask your horse to perform.
I have just been thru that, the improvement in riders and horses and how they performed and won after practicing regularly in a proper arena with ideal footing, was remarkable.
Could you board for a few weeks before show season and during it haul to the trainer for that?
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I probably could, thank you!
You don’t need an arena for general practice and it will benefit the horse not depending on tne rail so much, actually having to steer is good, gets them broke…
But you will need to polish that up as well as practice with other horses in an arena. It also helps you with the sizing and placing you’ll find in your WR patterns and using the arena to your advantage in that and your Trail classes. Believe it or not these things ride easier out in the open, trying to repeat that in the confines of the show ring with all its distractions can trip you up. You need to practice in an arena too.
Think the idea of establishing a relationship as a regular haul in lesson client plus boarding at the trainers for a few weeks before shipping to major shows like Congress or a even a big circuit is a very good one. Wise use of your money while being competitive in your classes.
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I for one do not like to ask horses to work in their own home. I realize that sometimes it is unavoidable. Are there trails or other open spaces you can ride in besides the pasture that your horse lives in? Or even a second pasture?
Well, you can designate a particular, relatively flat and clear area as a schooling area and Do. Not. Turn. The. Horse. Out. or play around in the space. I kept privately for years with no at home arena. Used a part of a big field, trail rode. Met trainer at shows, sometimes boarded for a good tune up before major competitions. Ironically, did WP, WR and Trail. Did quite well considering the quality of the completion and what I paid for those horses.
IIRC OP here is a younger person and might have to make some things work with what she has available. But I don’t see a problem if she uses a specific area for serious practice only and then seriously practices. Motivation and getting a set routine going are more problematic then not having an arena, Least they were for me.
Dont think it works so well in disciplines that have a jump component and/or require a ground person to tell if you are schooling correctly unless you are quite an advanced rider with extensive experience.
I’ve kept my horses at home for about 20 years and it can be done, although a lot depends on your horse’s temperament and exactly where you’re located. We live on a back road in the middle of cornfields, so not a lot of traffic to worry about, which is nice because I ride in a grassy area by the road (not part of the horse’s turn-out area, all I use it for is riding). However, we do get lots of bicyclists, an occasional motorcycle, joggers, occasionally another horse & rider coming down the road, sometimes the neighbor shooting off a gun - lots of distractions for them to look at. I’m in Northern Illinois, so I also have to deal with the weather. This means my horses typically sit from about October through April and aren’t worked at all. This year, I haven’t been able to get on them at all yet due to all the cold and rain and they still look like disgusting yaks as I don’t bother to blanket any more. If you’re in a somewhat cold climate and plan to be showing in April, it may be difficult to be ready in time.
My 13 year old is nicknamed “The Saint” and he’s been a snap to maintain at home. Basically broke from the first time he was saddled, doesn’t spook, is agreeable about pretty much anything I ask him to do. My 8 yr old, not so much. I brought him home as a three year old in the summer and rode him for a couple of months with no issue. He sat that winter, and my second or third ride of the next spring he dumped me while spooking at who knows what and broke my leg. He’s been on and off ridden since then - this year I sent him to the trainer’s on April 1st because I’ve finally accepted the fact that I can’t ride him at home. Put him in a program where he’s ridden consistently in an arena, no problem. At home where I’m at the mercy of the weather, wind, rain, bad footing (I’d had times I couldn’t ride because the grass was too slick and I worried about him ripping a stifle), gnats, mosquitoes, etc. and it just doesn’t work for him. He’ll stay at the trainer until our World show in October and then he’ll probably come home for the winter and I’ll either board him or send him back to the trainer in spring.
Sometimes I miss having other people to ride with and it can be hard to motivate yourself to go out and ride alone. I also find myself giving up ride time to clean stalls, feed, clean up the barn, fix things, etc. It’s helpful that my horses are easy keepers and don’t have a problem with not being fed at a specific time every day. If I get home from work at 6:00 and don’t get out into the barn until 6:30 or 7:00, I’ve only got a certain amount of daylight left to work with, so horses get ridden first, then they’re brought in for the night and fed so sometimes they may not get dinner until 9:00 pm (they do have either grass pasture or a round bale, so it’s not like they’re starving). They’ve learned to deal with it.
It’s been a learning process of what works and what doesn’t, especially with the younger horse. There’s definitely things I miss about boarding but I’ve got four horses and there’s no way I could afford to keep them all if I couldn’t have them at home so I make do.
And I should add - I’m single, so I don’t have another person to worry about who may want dinner made or be upset because I’m at work and then in the barn and not spending time with them. If there’s a SO to consider, it would make it that much harder to prioritize your time (again, you have to ride when the weather and daylight permits, etc.).
I rent a small barn/large pasture down the road from my house where my husband’s horse and my ponies live. I do some limited local (schooling shows) showing and hope to do more in the future when I finish grad school. I do ride in both the paddock off the barn and the pasture which is connected to the paddock/barn area. The paddock footing is usually ok even with quite a bit of rain, so although it is small at least I can do some basic flat work in there. The pasture is mostly hilly, so I tend to wander from flatish spot to flatish spot and do work where it is flat for a bit then move to another place so as to try not to tear up any one place in particular. So that means I do ride in my horses’ living area quite a bit. I haven’t had any problems at all with riding them in their “home”. They seem to understand that work time is work time. I also do quite a bit of hacking down the quiet roads nearby when the footing in the field is too wet.
I also foxhunt and after hunt season have a group of local friends I trail ride with. Both of these activities are hugely helpful in motivating me to keep my horses fit and civilized, especially when things get busy and it would be easy to let things slide and not ride them.
I also haul over to my trainer’s or another local barn with an indoor (can pay a fee for daily use per horse) for lessons or just to ride when the weather is bad. In the spring/summer I will also haul over to ride in my trainer’s outdoor especially as practice before shows. It can be a struggle for me to get enough arena time in on my horses - they definitely don’t progress as quickly as the horses that live at my trainer’s all the time and get worked in the arena everyday. However, all the hacking has made my guys very reliable about traffic, wildlife, varied footing, etc. so it isn’t all bad.
Find a safe flat area at home and school away!! Your horse will be fine. You certainly do not need an arena.
I would agree with hauling to an arena from time to time to practice, but you can do 90% of your training at home.
