Hi everyone! I’m fortunate enough to have moved my horse home with me a few months ago. Literally my childhood dream come true! So far, however, the only downside is that we don’t have an arena at home, and the local arenas near us (that we can haul to for a small fee) have deep, unstable footing more suited to reining/barrel racing type activities and not dressage. My question is - in terms of my horse’s soundness (he’s 7 and currently has no soundness issues, knock on wood), would it be better to do most of my schooling at home, in the field, or in the arenas in our neighborhood, despite the deep footing? What would you do? The field at home has some grass (the horses keep it mowed pretty short), and will become hard and dry during the summer (we’re in northern CA). It also is on a bit of a slope, and has some undulation/unevenness to the surface. Thanks in advance for your thoughts!
I would ride where you can trust the footing. It might not be in vogue to think this way, but I believe it is useful for horses to experience a riding surface that, to your words, has a slope and some undulation. I do a lot of my riding in my fields, although I have a lovely arena. I also do lots of warmup in a ‘riding paddock’ that has a good amount of slope, top to bottom and side to side. I walk across the slope in both directions as warm up for different muscle demands on either side of my horse.
ETA - I would ride in deep footing. That’s just me.
I would ride in your field as long as “uneven” doesn’t include holes or other safety risks. You may have to reevaluate in the summer if the ground gets too hard, but in the meantime it’ll be good for your horse to ride on varied terrain and when you do make it into an actual arena things will feel much easier by comparison! I’d also ask around at any local barns and see if you can work out a deal to use their rings occasionally. Even if they don’t advertise ring rentals they might be willing to accommodate you if you explain your situation.
Define unstable? Sounds very Dickie Osborne which can be very misleading.
Ride on both, just make sure you give your horse a proper warmup. Riding in deeper footing builds strength. Riding on undulating terrain encourages flexibility. Both are very important for longevity and soundness.
Before I had access to a dressage arena full-time, all I had were my fields to ride in and none of my horses suffered as a result. Even though I have access to a dressage arena every day, I still spend a day or two each week riding out in the field or on trails mostly made of decomposed granite but some rocky areas as well. I try to get some hill work in each week too. I think horses do best being worked even if just at a walk through all sorts of terrain but in terms of schooling dressage I would NOT ride in unstable footing, too much risk of soft tissue injury.
I live in one of the few places where roading horses is both possible and safe. But few riders take advantage of the opportunity, choosing instead to ride on our deep sand trails. Back when I first started eventing roading horses was more common as part of the exercise regimen and said to toughen tendons.
Have you ever gone distance running on a beach? I’ll bet you chose the harder packed sand below the high tide mark instead of the soft sand footing of the dunes.
Research indicates that working horses on different surfaces is good for their overall soundness. Riding on slopes, grass, roads, beaches anywhere is fine. It is also good for the horse’s mind to be in different environments. Personally, I would be cautious about riding dressage regularly in a deep surface suitable for reining but occasionally shouldn’t be a problem. Just be very observant about how your horse reacts to the different surfaces, warm up carefully and adjust the work you do to fit the circumstances.
Riding over a variety of terrains is good. All my dressage horses go cross-country, back country trails, and road work. My dressage training is not done on deep footing of any type. Training dressage movements on deep unstable sand is setting the horse up for soft tissue injuries. There is a reason why different disciplines use different depths and mixtures of footings.
There’s dressage, and then there’s DRESSAGE. First level and below I don’t think the footing matters much because you aren’t asking for real sit.
Footing absolutely matters regardless of level.
Hands down the field. Classical dressage originates in the field. The differing terrain and hills can be used to your advantage. I’ve done it for decades because the horses enjoy it so much more than drilling in an arena. Hills and inclines are a traditional tool used in classical dressage for building the horse’s ability to collect and sit.
If you do use an arena with deep footing, the horse needs to be exposed to the footing gradually and with care.
This.
Fellow NorCal-er here. My arena tends towards the deep side in the summer because of lack of water for irrigation. All of my horses are well acclimated to it, so I do jump (under 2’6) and do dressage (mostly third level and below but also occasionally schooling individual GP movements) in this footing, but I’m careful to do the hard stuff first thing in the morning after a good water and drag when the footing is optimal. I’m careful to get them quite fit in this footing before asking for harder things.
I also ride in the field on the uneven grass. Some of it is safe for trotting/cantering, some of it has gopher holes and is only safe for walking.
I also trail ride on varying forms of crushed asphalt, base rock, and decomposed granite, and I have a second arena with excellent irrigation and GGT/sand that they get ridden in occasionally.
My philosophy is that riding on different surfaces is best, but when you’re riding on something that requires extra effort (sand, steep hills, uneven footing) make extra sure you’re conditioning them to it before you go all out.
Wondering, how do you expose to footing gradually and with care if you are say, taking your horse to the beach for a fun day of riding in the waves?
The sand on the beach varies depending where you are riding. The area near the water is usually quite nice to ride compared to loose dry sand which is typically in an arena. I’m sure you’ve experienced the difficulty of walking through dry, deep sand versus sand that is continually exposed to water with the waves.
I’ll ride on hard footing before deep footing any day of the week.
But walking in deep footing is great exercise. So build up tolerance to both and used a bunch of varied surfaces.
This made me laugh… I see a lot of their posts on FB which lead a lot of people to believe they have to spend a TON of money…
And of course it cant be done right unless they consulted 
I would never, ever ride in an arena with deep footing. I would either work on the home space or maybe see if there are other places to haul into with better footing. One suspensory or ligament injury will forever change your perspective on footing forever. I would not risk it.
We recently moved the horses to our new farm in Ocala. No arena, but the fields are fairly smooth and flat. We’re planning an arena within one of the pastures and will not put in “arena footing”, except to smooth out some of the bumps and holes that do exist. My husband, a master trainer from Germany, did most of his training and riding over the years in pastures, trails and the like.
As Warmblood1 remarked, “Classical dressage originates in the field”. My hubby would concur 100%!
Deep sand, you’re flirting with soft tissue injuries.
I would be very circumspect about doing any significant work in the deep footing arena.
When you walk trot and canter in that arena, does the footing come up above the coronet band? If so, it would be a no for me. Obviously, the horses who are working in it are not all sustaining soft tissue injuries… But they are all conditioned for it, and the type of movement/sport they do will not be adversely affected.
For your horse to be safe in the arena, you would have to progressively condition your horse over three months with several times a week of careful slow work building tolerance for that type of footing. Then you have to also consider that deep and heavy footing will change your horses flight path and movement pattern.
Think about running on the beach. If you are running in deep loose sand, it’s a completely different experience than running on the damp sand closer to the water. Of course, you will get more tired quickly, but you will also change how you run.
I would initially personally vote for working in the field, but you’re right… When it gets super hot, that might be very hard and slippery. I live in southern Oregon which is essentially the same as California so I know what you’re talking about. I take it you don’t have irrigation?
At the beach you only walk on the dunes and where the sand is deep. The fun trotting and galloping is done at the water line where the sand is hard packed - just like the people who walk and run along the beach do so at the water line.
We work in the industry and I’ve had to “snooze” the page. I would unfollow it but I like to keep tabs on it because there is a lot of bad mouthing. The information is not wrong, but it’s delivered in a way that’s so complicated and condescending. People have budgets, too. Attacking people for not being able to spend 80k in material leaves a bad taste in my mouth. Thanks for coming to my TED talk lol
