Training on uneven surface

[eightpondfarm]

My coach came out to my place over the weekend and we put-through three horses undersaddle and two of my mustangs on a bit of ground work with a stranger exposure.

We used a 45x90 foot steel panel enclosure (because mustangs) for all of them that has a variety of footing and levels. There is a long hump with slow rise which is about 60 feet long and also another decline to straightaway. Coach observed that decline worked horses’ hind ends beneath them. So, i’m guessing incline made them forward? There is also a big pecan tree in the middle and we found interesting ways to make use of it Coach also observed that she has had entrants complain that the footing on some tests she’s judged was not good footing. She told them that grass is good footing…And that i should continue to use what i have available and not worry about hauling into a training facility with sand, rails etc. So, i’m like: OK! Because anywhere i go is at least a 3hr r/t. I have enough info to change our process and now i can work my mare at home, (she’s given me homework) and have her out once a month instead of having to haul somewhere every week. I’m happy.

Problem for me is things are very calm here. So, eventually, if i do decide on entering a ring, i’ll have to do something to familiarize my (perhaps) competition horse to people-y stuff (traffic, other horses being ridden, and lots of human beings wandering about).

[Willesdon]

Sounds like a sensible coach and a useful insight for you.

You can always make your own arena more buzzy with flags and playing music.

[GraceLikeRain]

That seems like a nice space for initial breaking but really really small for further training. Down the road, I’d look at mapping out a small dressage court (ideally bigger) somewhere on property so around 70x130. Soft changes in terrain on grass doesn’t bother me if the base is quality and not prone to getting boggy or slick. I’ve found that horses chronically ridden in small spaces rarely develop true balance and do a lot of compensation for the smaller circles that leads to uneven limb loading.

[Scribbler]

You have mustangs. If they were born on the range, they have devoped an ability to balance on varied terrain that many show or track horses never get.

Horses naturally extend up a hill, and they fall forward downhill unless they use their hind ends and collect. So you can use uphill to ask for a lengthened stride.

When you start to do lateral work, you can choose a level stretch.

As far as familiarizing the horses to things, first things first. The smaller pen is fine until you know that you can hack out in open spaces and trail ride safely. That might come sooner than you think with some of the horses. But until it does, don’t even worry about the next steps.

Your progression is: safe and under cintrol in the training pen walk trot canter. Safe and under control w t c on fields on property. Safe w t c on trails adjacent to property. Safe calm trailer loading and unloading. Safe trailer trip to ride at nearby facilities that have the same level of challenge as your property (ride on a new field, ride on new quiet trails). Safe trailer ride to visit a stables with facilities. If there is no riding arena or indoor within an hour drive why not make it a trip, take two horses somewhere for a week, work them in an indoor ( stsrt with groundwork from scratch, build up to riding) and camp in your trailer or get an Air BnB.

Eventually you can take them to a very small scale schooling show, and enter them in the in hand class and maybe a walk trot rail class, just to get access to the show grounds and spend a lot of time habdwalking and longeing. Repeat until they are calm at shows.

Then you can start looking for a dressage schooling show.

How horses respond to these challenges is very individual. You may find your mustangs to be bold about trail riding because they are used to the great outdoors. You may find your ground work was an excellent foundation for trailering, or conversley that their early experiences left them with baggage about trailering.

However many many fully domestic purpose bred show horses are unsafe on trails, get frantic at shows, and develop phobias about the trailer and all this needs working through. They spook and bolt in the warmup ring and the dressage court. You might find that once your mustangs get some education that they are more level headed naturally than some hotter horses.

Anyhow it’s one step after another. You will figure out that next step as you need it.

[eightpondfarm]

i mapped and marked a 20x60 meters on a flat grass plane in a nearby pasture, but we opted to put everyone through in this same mustang space, *(to save time tacking and switching horses).
Had to go out and pull the step-in posts (because cows lol), but still have the big orange Xs spraypainted on the ground. I have a measure wheel and four pastures close by with plenty of large enough grassy flats that i can keep moving. If i keep at this some day i’ll build an arena

[Heinz_57]

Uneven surfaces in a training atmosphere (where you choose the terrain and how you work over it) vs uneven surfaces in a show situation (where you get what you get and do the test or else you scratch) are a bit different. Even a sure-footed horse isn’t going to perform it’s best test if it’s tensing up because it’s trying not to slip through the big mud hole the other previous 50 riders created in the corner BTDT, wished I’d put studs in because that was one of the worst tests I’ve ever ridden!

Training over uneven terrain is a great exercise, but it’s also nice to have a flat space where you can focus on developing a singular feeling or learn a new one without the added task of considering the terrain. It makes the learning to faster

[eightpondfarm]

i have black trashbags tied up into trees around the corrals, and a couple of big flapping mylar space blankets that i tie up around the corrals or place on ground by waterer…LOL (i’m so mean!). I like!! your music idea. Don Giovanni and Cajun CDs pulled to torture them with this afternoon. lol
What i need are peeeple. They (mustangs) are pretty immune to everything i can come up with… I put big empty boxes in their corrals, metal trash cans…park a vehicle or tractor in there and leave engine running for an hour or so. And they’ve all come to enjoy eating alfalfa hay in a trailer. I just need more people but…you know…covid and all…

[AnastasiaBeaverhousen]

Take an umbrella open and over your head next time you go out to the pasture.

And then start recording.

[eightpondfarm]

lololol…will do!