How much arena work?

[Rosie B]

Hi Guys,

I've realized recently that Bliss does better with fewer days in the arena in general. I used to aim for 4-5 days of ringwork a week, but he does much better with 3 days a week in the ring, and another day or two doing other things (like working on the trail or up and down our hill).

So I'm curious how often you guys ride in the arena and how often you're somewhere else. Please elaborate, I want to hear all about it.

TIA!

[Imperini]

We typically do three or four days in the arena and a day out. Personally I do not like riding out of the arena, I'm a wimpy nervous rider and being in the arena is my comfort zone. However Pal needs variety and she is a good girl so I don't actually need to be worried and am learning to enjoy it. We also have two different arenas to ride in so I switch them up and often times will finish a ride with a walk through the field. I also try to make sure I never ride more than three days in a row.

[musical comedy]

I ride exclusively in the indoor. I don't like hacking out. My horse has 24/7 freedom to roam fields or stall and I don't find anything wrong with asking a horse to work for 1 hour in a ring. That said, my ring is 200x80m, so not too confining. None of the dressage trainers I've ridden with work outside a ring and most don't even turn their horses out.

[Srhorselady]

I have a conditioning trail with good footing following the natural contours of my property (it takes about 10 min at a walk to do it and the footing is good enough to gallop) and spend 60% of my time on this trail with maybe 20% in the arena and 20% out in the desert. Not sure how to put that in your survey?

[Rosie B]

MC - 200 x 80 METERS?? I can't even imagine what that would be like. Want to post some pics for us? How many days a week do you ride usually? Do you work all over the arena or in certain parts of it?

SrHorseLady - your conditioning trail sounds awesome. Why do you work mostly on this rather than in the arena?

Imperini - I hear you on being a wimp. I'm definitely a bit of a wimp too. How do you know that Pal needs variety?

[Srhorselady]

Wow MC that is huge! Is this an indoor?

Rosie my arena is an all purpose 130 x 150 feet so not really set up for dressage. I could expand to a regulation size dressage arena but it would cut up my property unless I take out trees which I don't want to do. Most of my horses are much more forward out on the trail than they are in the arena so both I and my trainer prefer it. One of my neighbor's has a 16 yr old daughter who is an eventer. She leaves a couple of jumps next to the trail and comes over to work on her cross country. It's fun to watch her gallop. I mostly trot. Most of my cantering is in the arena.

[Flight]

I rode mostly in my arena, but often finish by going for a ride down the road (I live semi-rural and quiet streets). For my little black horse, he gets bored in the arena after too many days in a row, so if I get to ride several days straight, the third will be a road/paddock/outing ride.

[Kyra's Mom]

I would like to ride outside the arena more but I am usually out there by myself and my mare can be highly reactive...i.e. spook and spin. Due to my health issues, I have never gotten her outside the arena much and she isn't terribly comfortable out there and there is seldom anyone to ride with when I am there. I have made her into an arena flower but she is VERY brave in the arena .

That said, I do ride her around the property the barn is on. There is a long driveway and a trotting track over by the owner's house and I do try to cruise around those. Even though she has a area on the track that harbors horse eating velociraptor sparrows in a bush, It is somewhat contained and I am pretty confident to push her through her spookies over there. I aim for some outside the arena work every time I ride, even if it is just riding around the driveway that goes around the indoor building.

I would love to get her out on some hills. I think it would be great for her puny stifles and really put on some butt muscle. I have to haul out to get there and again until my butt allows me to be in the saddle for more than 30 minutes, this isn't going to happen either.

If I can get my butt back into riding shape, I will look for some calm riding buddies and get her out more but currently, it is what it is. I try to vary my arena work by adding poles once and a while or doing some jumping (on the lunge). She seems to work happily with what I do.

Susan

[StraightForward]

When I had Maya, I was shooting for riding six days a week, but it was more often five. One of those days would be jumping, and one would be a conditioning trail ride. I don't think she cared one way or the other, but needed the fitness and "oomph" that galloping out provided. I would also trailer to a different arena at times to change things up and get access to a larger arena.

[Tsavo]

I ride usually 5 days a week (the other two I go to the gym). Not all weeks but most weeks.

I start every ride, arena or not, doing LARGE bounding walk on the trails and hills. I will do about 2 pure arena days a week. Other days I do the walk and trot work in the ring and then canter some hills. Other days I do hills. Occasionally I will do the large walk on contact the whole ride on the trails and hills. One day a week on average I will do the cross country figure eight hill set in trot which is a work out. I only ask him to do the entire thing three times at most in trot. It is too up and down to do in canter.

[mari]

Usually about 4 days in the arenas (at least one of those in the jumping arena, actually jumping), and 3 doing dressage training.

He's on a walker every day, and we try to go out for a hack once a week. I don't like hacking by myself, because there is quite a bit of busy road before we get to open space. The property where we board is also not big enough to hack around on it, sadly.

[Kathy Johnson]

I could really use an arena. I have a small rectangle pen that is too small to do much so I spend 99% of my rides in the field. It really slows down training, but on the other hand, I'm supposed to go slowly. The upsides is that the horse is trail safe.

[musical comedy]

MC - 200 x 80 METERS?? I can't even imagine what that would be like. Want to post some pics for us? How many days a week do you ride usually? Do you work all over the arena or in certain parts of it?

Well, duh...that was obviously a mistake. I meant feet. It was sized so that I could put up a standard court and still have a place to ride around the outside of it, like a show.

My riding schedule right now isn't relevant because I am in the process of slowly bringing an old horse (and rider) back into shape. I am riding him pretty much every day, but lots of walk and easy work.

I've varied my riding schedule a lot over the years. I used to try to ride 6 days a week and one day off. I think I did a little too much then. For the last few years, I rode 3 or 4 days in a row, with one day off. I vary it according to what I'm working on. If I schooled things that were hard, then a day off afterwards. My thinking is that horses need some kind of exercise every day, just like people. It only makes sense.

I tried to post pics of my indoor and it says "file too large". Everytime I try to post a pic here, it says that. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

[Josette]

I always rode on trails at local parks until the bikers took over. It was no longer safe with them coming up behind you - years ago I barely avoided a head on collision. My horse then was totally sane and side stepped the fallen biker at our feet. (He had slammed on his brakes and flipped the bike.) Staying in a ring all the time made me bored.

Now I stay at home and walk/trot the small trail loops on my property before and after any ring work. Some days I just ride the trails to relax and day off from the ring. I like to mix up the routine for both of us.

[demi]

I had a 15.3hh APHA gelding that was built like a TB. He was green when I got him and hadn't learned to canter under saddle. I started him dressage right off and he had a lot of trouble taking the left lead in both the small (20X40m) and the large arena(20X60). I took him to a clinic with a well known trainer/USDF judge and was drilled unfairly hard on that left lead, which he still didn't get. I took Apache home that day even though I had paid top dollar for two days. SO...I spent a year trail riding him and didn't even go near an arena. I have nice trails on our property that are good enough to gallop on, plus I often took him to a friend's several hundred acre ranch with great varied terrain. I did a lot of trotting and cantering with him. My friend was a barrel racer so we would pick trees and then gallop around them like barrels. We did lots of hills, some steep. We never did more that walk on the way down, but would sometimes trot or canter on the way up. When I finally tried him in the arena again he not only had both his leads easily, but he had an adjustable trot and canter, I would guess close to second level collection and lengthenings.

I have another horse that I can only ride in an arena 3 days a week at most. She is not bred for dressage and maybe that has something to do with it, but she seems to get frustrated if I work her too often in the arena. By frustrated, I mean, she can get a little prancy, she will duck behind the bit, and she will get behind my leg. What I've found to work with her is to take her on my trails 2-3 times a week. I don't gallop her on the trails and rarely trot. She loves to run and trotting or cantering just gets her too excited. Instead, we work gates, we walk up and down hills through the trees, so that means she has to watch her step carefully. We ride to the house and around the yard, and we ride over some rocky terrain where she has to watch her step. I dont do all of this every trail ride, but myabe rocks one day, trees the next, etc. The result is that she gets calm and attentive and it carries over into the arena.

[kande50]

I have a ring horse and a trail mule. They're both wimpy, and I think the mule would have been happier just being a ring horse too, but I was much younger when I started riding him and wanted to go out on trail so we went out on trail. He calmed down eventually, but it took a long time.

My horses seem to really like the ring, which I think is both because I do a lot of clicker training in there so they associate treats with working in the ring, it's not as scary as what they have to face out on the trails, and I don't work them hard so they have no reason to dislike ring work.

[kande50]

I tried to post pics of my indoor and it says "file too large". Everytime I try to post a pic here, it says that. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

They have to be edited down to a smaller file, so either open them in a photo editor and make them lower resolution, or smaller, or both. I think someone else said you could upload photos to facebook and facebook will automatically resize them. and then somehow get them from there and attach them to you ddbb post.

Here's what demi posted: I got this from Flight: post pic on Facebook. Open in FB and right click on it. Select copy image address. Go back to DDBB and open full editor. Select images. Paste between the two image things.

[Imperini]

Imperini - I hear you on being a wimp. I'm definitely a bit of a wimp too. How do you know that Pal needs variety?

I was told when I was originally looking at her that she will get bored easily, which she does or at least you can definitely tell the difference in attitude when she gets more variety versus when she doesn't (winter). She never gets naughty about it though it's really all about the oomph factor. If we do the same arena thing all the time she eventually doesn't put in any effort and just plods around but if there's variety and challenge then she will put in the effort.

[demi]

Just like everything else, it seems, trail work is so dependent on the individual horse, rider, and circumstances. I have tried Emma on trails but she is not safe for me to ride "on the buckle". And it is counter productive to trail ride her on a short rein. I have been able to ride her in the pasture on the buckle, but only after arena work on days when she seems particularly mellow.

It's great if you have a horse that is safe on trails, but caution is always advisable, especially in the beginning.

[Tsavo]

I tried to post pics of my indoor and it says "file too large". Everytime I try to post a pic here, it says that. Anyone know what I'm doing wrong?

Well that's because your indoor is probably at least 60,000 square feet! It is too large. LOL

In addition to the other comments, make sure it is saved as a .jpg and not some other format. Those are usually smaller and load more readily in my experience.

[Ryeissa]

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[Chisamba]

We hunter pace, beach ride and trail ride. We both enjoy it or I do and believe she does

[piedmontfields]

I am a bit seasonal, as in winter I ride under lights after work and stay in the arena more (but try to work outside and hack at least some on the two weekend days). But in summer, I have many more options! I board at a 200 acre farm with a huge outdoor (125 x 300), cross country course (which we ride around, not over) and lots of fields, hills and woods.

In summer, I aim for 3 arena heavy rides (but I might hack before or afterwards, too), plus 2 field rides (which often include hills or "miles" of trot and canter). My mare is fairly hot and reactive, but also very willing to listen to management (me), so I do feel quite safe on her out by myself.

I find that Emi appreciates it if I alternate what we are doing from ride to ride. I suspect I tend to work different muscles in her when we do this.

p.s. I voted 50% although maybe 60% is more accurate!

[musical comedy]

I know bad stuff can happen in an enclosed area, but this is the kind of thing I fear most about riding out. When horses get scared, they lose their minds.

http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/mic ... eal-622682

[Rosie B]

MC what a nightmare!!! Having something like that happen is definitely a fear for me and I would also suspect for most people that ride out.

I definitely feel much safer staying in the arena, but riding out seriously revitalizes the ring work for us, and makes it fun for Bliss, and much easier for me. So it's a risk I'm willing to take. Also, the riding out is making both of us MUCH braver, and is building our trust on each other the way that ring work never could.

I totally get it though. If Bliss was the kind of horse that would go right to work in the arena and be happy doing that 5-6 days a week, I'd probably just do that. But he's not that horse.

Interestingly, I have a friend who DOES have that kind of horse, and ring work is all she does with him. She doesn't even do cavaletti or jump. And now at 10, he's still super spooky and can lose his marbles over very minor things. I can't help but wonder if getting outside the arena regularly would help that?

I also wonder if all those horses that are Pi pose bred for dressage but passed off as "just not mentally suited for dressage" would actually make fantastic dressage horses if they were given more variety and allowed to do other things.

Sorry for the ramblings.

[kande50]

I definitely feel much safer staying in the arena, but riding out seriously revitalizes the ring work for us, and makes it fun for Bliss, and much easier for me. So it's a risk I'm willing to take. Also, the riding out is making both of us MUCH braver, and is building our trust on each other the way that ring work never could.

Agree that riding out is both a risk and a challenge, but I do wonder if we misinterpret horses' fear based anxiety as fun for them, when in reality they'd be much happier being "bored" (feeling safer?) in a more familiar environment?

One of the reasons I question how much fun it might be for them is because we have a 5 acre pasture that's eaten down short on the near end and barely touched on the other end. The horses all rotate through that pasture but they very seldom go down and eat at the other end unless there's almost no grass left at the near end, which makes me question just how much fun it is for them to expand their horizons.

Interestingly, I have a friend who DOES have that kind of horse, and ring work is all she does with him. She doesn't even do cavaletti or jump. And now at 10, he's still super spooky and can lose his marbles over very minor things. I can't help but wonder if getting outside the arena regularly would help that?

In time it helps (because I did it with my very spooky mule), but the process was also very traumatic for him, and if I had it to over again I would have put a lot more time into it and done it a lot more gradually, and listened to what he didn't want to do more often.

I also wonder if all those horses that are Pi pose bred for dressage but passed off as "just not mentally suited for dressage" would actually make fantastic dressage horses if they were given more variety and allowed to do other things.

Mine all love the ring, but that's because they feel safer there (which is huge for some horses). It's also where I do most of my clicker training so they get many, many rewards in there, and I'm committed to avoid working them so hard that they feel punished by the work itself. I have plenty of horses hanging around here doing very little work though, so there's no reason to work any one or two of them too hard just because I prefer riding some more than others.

Sting and my mule, who are the ones who have done the most clicker training and the most work in the ring, will run in there every chance they get and start offering the behaviors we've been working on, because apparently, they're willing to do the work for the treats. It's why I believe that it doesn't take much to motivate horses to work, as long as we don't make that work so unpleasant for them that it becomes punishing.

[musical comedy]

I definitely feel much safer staying in the arena, but riding out seriously revitalizes the ring work for us, and makes it fun for Bliss, and much easier for me. So it's a risk I'm willing to take. Also, the riding out is making both of us MUCH braver, and is building our trust on each other the way that ring work never could.

Agree that riding out is both a risk and a challenge, but I do wonder if we misinterpret horses' fear based anxiety as fun for them, when in reality they'd be much happier being "bored" (feeling safer?) in a more familiar environment?

Whatever the subject, people are going to find support for their choices. Quite a few times I have heard riders (in eventing) claim their horses hate dressage but 'love' the jumping. If the horse gets jazzed up about the jumping and clears the fence, that is how they determine the horse loves it, when in fact the horse could just be excited and nervous about doing it.

Regarding trust, it can be lost quickly once the rider makes a mistake and the horse gets scared or hurt because of it. Horses tend not to forget bad experiences. I had this older ottb once many years ago when I was not much more than and advanced beginner. I allowed some young rider to take the horse in the big x-country field and jump it. She blew the horse's mind. After that, I could not get this horse to walk in that field. The minute I turned toward that direction, I was met with opposition.

If a horse never sees anything but 4 walls, then it makes sense that going outdoors or to a new place could be frightening. However, if the horse is outdoors in pasture, and/or taken to shows and clinics, it gets exposure to the outdoors. I have taken all my young horses off the property for a first time, mostly to the vet clinic. They were all pretty good about it, and it was a scary place. You don't have to ride outside to build trust. I evented for years and rode a lot of x-country and gymnastic jumping. It never helped my dressage.

[Rosie B]

Whatever the subject, people are going to find support for their choices.

This is definitely true.

Obviously it's an anthropomorphism to say anything is "fun" for Bliss, as is any discussion of a horse's happiness as there's no objective way to evaluate that.

The objective things that I notice when I intersperse ring work with trail riding and other stuff is that IN the ring, Bliss is more alert, he's more responsive to the aids, he's more naturally forward, and it's easier for me to get him honestly connected. So that makes it worth my while.

Prussia on the other hand, was quite happy to stay in the arena all the time and was always forward and attentive. Bliss is just different.

[piedmontfields]

Well, I ride out because I like it and my horse does well with it. If my horse were awful to ride outside the ring, I wouldn't do it (nor would she remain my horse!! I have ridden horses like this before and I just don't enjoy it as much as with ones who will handle a mix of activities.).

In general, the work we do outside the ring is a lot easier than the work in the arena---so that may affect Emi's view of arena vs field work. I interpret my horse "enjoying" our hacks from: floppy, relaxed ears; relaxed snorting; and relaxed observation of other various sights. That said, we have certainly had our share of "cattle-induced" excitement! Emi can still get pretty amped if the cattle start moving quickly near a fence line. If I were riding a 17.3 tank of a horse who got nervous about cattle and didn't respect the aids, I probably wouldn't enjoy our adventures as much :-0

[Srhorselady]

I may have to try Kande's method of working in the arena for treats! Maybe my horses would like arena work more. My horses ALL like treats and all prefer to work outside the arena. I am defining this preference by their movement and attitude. All are more forward, usually relaxed, ears pricked, and more responsive to the aids outside the arena in an area they know. Now if we go to new area that they haven't been before there may be some tension, especially the first time and if without a companion. BTW I got the best Piaf and passage I've ever gotten (although it was rather tense) when Mariano first noticed the neighbor's cows. They were just lying there swishing their tails. I think if one of them had gotten up he would have either bolted or had a heart attack. He is 16.3+ and close to 1400lbs so ill admitt we now cross the street and don't walk next to the cow turnout (However, Cowboy, a much smaller quarter horse, LOVES cows! He wants to chase them).

[musical comedy]

It only makes sense that horses are more forward and alert outside. What natural inclination would they have to go forward inside, only to meet a wall. That is where training comes in. They learn to respect the aids and go forward (or back) when requested.

A lot of times people that school outdoors in big rings run into trouble once they enter the show ring. All of a sudden the ring is small and the horse backs off.

[Fatcat]

As soon as our wet weather ended I got my green mare out of the arena. She was really sick of it after our long wet winter, and so was I. Every ride I spend some time on trails, some in arena, and some in a level field where I have two 20m circles mowed into a figure 8. I usually start out with ten minutes of longing in arena, then hop on and leave for a hack on some trails for 20-30 min at walk, then I go to mowed 20m circles and do some trot work and transitions. She's much better out of the arena than in, she sours on the arena at about the 30 minute mark, but will go for an hour on the trails.

[Josette]

Fatcat - it sounds like you are in a lovely location for trail access. I miss not having safe trails because of unsafe "people" issues. I had driven over to meet friends at a semi-local farm but discovered their trails were destroyed by ATVs. I mean as in NO FLAT surface almost all moguls. It was horrible footing and thank goodness we did not meet any ATVs that day. Recently one of my friends was bucked off after her horse spooked from ATVs. Plus the nearby gun club didn't help which sounded like constant rocket fire. So I stay home now.

[kande50]

Fatcat - it sounds like you are in a lovely location for trail access. I miss not having safe trails because of unsafe "people" issues. I had driven over to meet friends at a semi-local farm but discovered their trails were destroyed by ATVs. I mean as in NO FLAT surface almost all moguls. It was horrible footing and thank goodness we did not meet any ATVs that day. Recently one of my friends was bucked off after her horse spooked from ATVs. Plus the nearby gun club didn't help which sounded like constant rocket fire. So I stay home now.

We're fortunate that the neighbors (family) ride their ATV's and dirt bikes near our horses, so that's one less thing the horses need to get used to out on trail.

Ours also hear gunfire often (same neighbors) so our big issue is getting them used to scary things they might see on the side of the highway, because so many drivers are morons that we can't depend on them to at least try to avoid a horse that shies out into the road because most of them don't even notice.

Fortunately, we only have to go about a quarter mile on the highway, and it has a breakdown lane, but the speed limit is 55 so the cars are moving. And for every aware driver there are probably 10 unaware ones, so it can be a hair raising experience.

We do try very hard to trail ride every week though, which I think helps because the horses are familiar with most of the sights and sounds.

The new trail horse we got last month is old and experienced enough that he seems to get used to things much faster than the younger, greener one we had before, so I'm very hopeful that he'll work out.

[heddylamar]

I have a rather anxious mare, but she's great working anywhere with a clear line of sight -- fields, or outdoor arenas. Even after nearly 18 years of work, enclosed spaces like wooded trails and indoor arenas blow her mind, and not in a good way.

It's my job to introduce her to spooky things like dirt bikes, ATVs, bicycles, umbrellas, strollers, motorcycles, etc. and I take every available opportunity to expose her to something scary.

[HafDressage]

So, I grew up an arena baby and literally never rode outside. Then moving to the south, all of the rings were outside, so that changed that. Now that i have a "minimalist" haflinger, I ride both outside (of course) and prefer to ride outside of the ring as well. I never trail ride really, but prefer to do dressage work out of the ring. He is definitely best/easiest to ride doing dressage out in a field.

At my old barn where there was a massive field, I schooled all movements outside and probably rode in the ring 2x per month. Now, I'm at a barn without a big outdoor riding space and so I'm forced to ride in the ring most of the time and he's definitely lazier. So, my strategy has been to incorporate jumping. He seems to think that is quite fun and so that helps with the ring boredom.

In general, I think it's a case by case. If your horse is a nut and needs more stability, the ring obviously offers it. If your horse is more of a minimalist or is bored easily, then outside the ring is much better.

Also - voted for 75% because of where we are, but would prefer 25%.

[Boudicea]

I ride about 50:50. I don't think my horse cares but *I* certainly get ring sour. And actually I have the opposite with my horse. On the trail he is slower and I'm the ring he has more go. Maybe just because of his background, I don't know.

He was terrified of being out of a ring he I first got him as a youngster. I mean shaking and tense. But like I said I really like to trail ride so I just made him do it little at a time before or after my work in the ring. So now he is a pro at it. But it took some work. But it was worth it to me because I get bored in the ring.

[ElaPe]

My training schedule is as follows:
- Monday off
- Tuesday lunge day with trot poles
- Wednesday - on trail
- Thursday - dressage work in the ring
- Friday - dressage work in the ring
- Saturday - on trail
- Sunday - dressage work in the ring
I have no indoor. So when it is really hot I go on trail more often.