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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
   
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | I was scanning through the November BHN yesterday and the part where Ed wright talked about loping and working up to making a "moderate run" on grass jumped out at me. How is this possible? Would a certain type of dirt actually allow this, because it sounds like a good way to get hurt at my house. We have Hebert (A-bear) and Rilla silt loams. |
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 Own It and Move On
Location: The edge of no where | If anyone wants to paste the article here, I'd dearly love to read it. I do think you can teach a lot of horses to handle different types of ground. Martha's horses can handle 'iffy' ground so well, I'd love to know any tips he's got....I've watched her for years on lots of horses smoke runs where everyone else is having heck. |
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 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | i lope my horse on grassy side hills in the summer (its not steep just a slopey hill)...i think anything you can do to prepare them for different types of ground is beneficial.......especially if your rodeoing..rodeo ground can be a challenge..lol.......................and horses run and buck and fart around in grassy pastures and they handle that......
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 Veteran
Posts: 253
Location: EDGE OF INSANITY | I don't have an arena at home, so my horses have all learned the pattern on grass out in the pasture. I get them up to a slow lope, and then Once they are ready for speed, i will go to a local arena and work them some. The horse i'm running now, clocks better on trashy ground than pretty manicured arenas-i've often wondered if him learning how to handle turning on the grass contributed to this |
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 Water Weight Barbie
Posts: 6829
Location: Oz, Kansas | Back in the old days we made due with what we had. We used to practice barrels & poles in the pasture & my horses were as sure footed as a goat. |
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  Fact Checker
Posts: 16575
Location: Displaced Iowegian | lookout hill - 2014-10-28 9:35 AM Back in the old days we made due with what we had. We used to practice barrels & poles in the pasture & my horses were as sure footed as a goat.
Yep....pretty much......I can remember making runs in grass arenas........ |
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 Jr. Detective
Location: Beggs, OK | I was just having this conversation with PJ about her mares. I would love to see the article. I trained my old mare on metal barrels set up in a pasture. We never made a run out there, but I loped her around them plenty. She was tough at rodeos no matter what ground because she stood up in her turns so well and kept moving forward. If you watch her videos even when she was in her 20's with PJ she has a very straight up style with no wasted "slide".
PJ set up some barrels way out in the back pasture and has been working her mares at a trot, but she babies them a lot more than I ever did mine! lol She asks for money or Back On Track products for her birthday and Christmas. I took good care of my mares legs...wrapping, hosing, etc.., but I used her a lot harder than I see horses get used now. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 554
| We sure don't have much grass out here in AZ, what is that stuff?   |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Don't get me wrong--I lope circles on grass and have barrels set up on grass. And this is where I ride when it's wet because it's sloped so the water drains off. But I wouldn't dream of running or even loping the pattern there because the dirt under the grass is like concrete unless it's wet, and then it's slicker than snot. My horses don't turn hard in the pasture either because they will fall down. They will all but stop and roll back when they want to turn around. I've never lived anywhere else with horses, so I had no idea these other things were possible. LOL |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | rachellyn80 - 2014-10-28 10:00 AM I was just having this conversation with PJ about her mares. I would love to see the article. I trained my old mare on metal barrels set up in a pasture. We never made a run out there, but I loped her around them plenty. She was tough at rodeos no matter what ground because she stood up in her turns so well and kept moving forward. If you watch her videos even when she was in her 20's with PJ she has a very straight up style with no wasted "slide".
PJ set up some barrels way out in the back pasture and has been working her mares at a trot, but she babies them a lot more than I ever did mine! lol She asks for money or Back On Track products for her birthday and Christmas. I took good care of my mares legs...wrapping, hosing, etc.., but I used her a lot harder than I see horses get used now.
Nothing from the November issue is up on their website that I could find. This one had several interesting things in it that would make it worth buying tho. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1028
| My arena is actually all grass right now, except around the barrels (I took a hoe and dug it up a bit for some traction). Our grass was growing so well out there, I couldn't bring myself to till it all under.
I started a colt on barrels out there this spring, and I will say that he's already handling bad ground better than some finished horses I've ran. Of course, I've never made full out runs at home, just loping, but all of my horses seem to handle themselves well on it. |
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Regular
Posts: 96
| I live on red clay. Everything I own runs and slides on it. We never have problems on trashy ground because they know how to handle it. My one mare prefers mud up to her ears... |
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The Resident Destroyer of Liberal Logic
Location: PNW | Here on the coast in Oregon, I live and ride in mud roughly 8 months out of the year. I haven't ever loped the whole pattern in our fields though. I'll set the barrels up, lope to my rate points and the trot the actual turns. Our ground has a lot of clay content though, if you genuinely tried to run on it - you'd get hurt. BUT my horses get turned out in the slippy slop all the time, and I contribute that to their sure-footedness. They run and buck and slide and make me close my eyes on a regular basis. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1162
Location: White Mountains of AZ | I always ride my young/older horses out in pasture... find bushes or trees to lope around. I think it really does help their footing. You see so many horses who are run and worked only on prepped arena ground, that when you get them out anywhere other than that arena, they are tripping and stumbling around. I want my horses sure footed wherever I go. You don't always have awesome ground for your horse to run on at rodeos/barrel races, and you and your horse should be able to handle whatever ground is thrown your way :) Obviously still being safe of course!!! |
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 Cute Little Imp
Posts: 2747
Location: N Texas | horsepoor1 - 2014-10-28 9:30 AM
I don't have an arena at home, so my horses have all learned the pattern on grass out in the pasture. I get them up to a slow lope, and then Once they are ready for speed, i will go to a local arena and work them some. The horse i'm running now, clocks better on trashy ground than pretty manicured arenas-i've often wondered if him learning how to handle turning on the grass contributed to this
I'm the exact same way! I like that my horses learn how to handle themselves on bad ground instead of getting used to nice, manicured dirt. The spot where I have barrels set up is mostly weeds with a little grass, so as long as I keep it mowed down, it's not slick. I live on hard, black dirt, so I really like it after it rains--the ground is soft enough that they can keep their footing, but not so soft that they can really dig in, so I don't go faster than a slow/medium lope. |
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Veteran
Posts: 253
Location: EDGE OF INSANITY | Gunner11 - 2014-10-28 1:08 PM
horsepoor1 - 2014-10-28 9:30 AM
I don't have an arena at home, so my horses have all learned the pattern on grass out in the pasture. I get them up to a slow lope, and then Once they are ready for speed, i will go to a local arena and work them some. The horse i'm running now, clocks better on trashy ground than pretty manicured arenas-i've often wondered if him learning how to handle turning on the grass contributed to this
I'm the exact same way! I like that my horses learn how to handle themselves on bad ground instead of getting used to nice, manicured dirt. The spot where I have barrels set up is mostly weeds with a little grass, so as long as I keep it mowed down, it's not slick. I live on hard, black dirt, so I really like it after it rains--the ground is soft enough that they can keep their footing, but not so soft that they can really dig in, so I don't go faster than a slow/medium lope.
This is kind of off topic, but I don't have problems with my horses running past barrels, which i think goes back to them learning the pattern out in the open. It doesnt matter how far from the fence the barrels are, my horse is going to find them and turn |
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Cute Little Imp
Posts: 2747
Location: N Texas | horsepoor1 - 2014-10-28 12:20 PM
Gunner11 - 2014-10-28 1:08 PM
horsepoor1 - 2014-10-28 9:30 AM
I don't have an arena at home, so my horses have all learned the pattern on grass out in the pasture. I get them up to a slow lope, and then Once they are ready for speed, i will go to a local arena and work them some. The horse i'm running now, clocks better on trashy ground than pretty manicured arenas-i've often wondered if him learning how to handle turning on the grass contributed to this
I'm the exact same way! I like that my horses learn how to handle themselves on bad ground instead of getting used to nice, manicured dirt. The spot where I have barrels set up is mostly weeds with a little grass, so as long as I keep it mowed down, it's not slick. I live on hard, black dirt, so I really like it after it rains--the ground is soft enough that they can keep their footing, but not so soft that they can really dig in, so I don't go faster than a slow/medium lope.
This is kind of off topic, but I don't have problems with my horses running past barrels, which i think goes back to them learning the pattern out in the open. It doesnt matter how far from the fence the barrels are, my horse is going to find them and turn
I actually agree with that--they learn to listen to me and not rely on a fence. I've always practiced poles and barrels out in the wide open, with only a little work in an arena. For the most part, the only time my horses see an arena is at a race. |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| The area I ride in is hard clay. It powders up if it's dry enough, but we don't have a tractor, so there is no digging it up, just a loose powder on top from horses going over it.
I won't make a hard run on it, but will lope through it. My horses handle hard, lousy ground well. They just don't handle deep ground the best. Good manicured arenas are fine as long as they aren't deep, deep sand. |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | http://youtu.be/X7DwNPDb2xA
This looks grassy, but it's worked up dirt that got rained on and grass grew over it. It's packed, but they can get a foot-hold in it and it's not a big deal to work them on it. Not what I was thinking of when I read the article and it said "lope and run the pattern on grass".  |
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Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | Gunner11 - 2014-10-28 12:27 PM horsepoor1 - 2014-10-28 12:20 PM Gunner11 - 2014-10-28 1:08 PM horsepoor1 - 2014-10-28 9:30 AM I don't have an arena at home, so my horses have all learned the pattern on grass out in the pasture. I get them up to a slow lope, and then Once they are ready for speed, i will go to a local arena and work them some. The horse i'm running now, clocks better on trashy ground than pretty manicured arenas-i've often wondered if him learning how to handle turning on the grass contributed to this I'm the exact same way! I like that my horses learn how to handle themselves on bad ground instead of getting used to nice, manicured dirt. The spot where I have barrels set up is mostly weeds with a little grass, so as long as I keep it mowed down, it's not slick. I live on hard, black dirt, so I really like it after it rains--the ground is soft enough that they can keep their footing, but not so soft that they can really dig in, so I don't go faster than a slow/medium lope. This is kind of off topic, but I don't have problems with my horses running past barrels, which i think goes back to them learning the pattern out in the open. It doesnt matter how far from the fence the barrels are, my horse is going to find them and turn I actually agree with that--they learn to listen to me and not rely on a fence. I've always practiced poles and barrels out in the wide open, with only a little work in an arena. For the most part, the only time my horses see an arena is at a race.
I set my barrels up in a 40 acre corn field a couple of days ago and made a hard run. That chit was deeeeep. The bad part of not having an arena right now is my horses work great with no fences or huge pens where the barrels are out in the middle of nowhere, but they have a hard time running to a fence in a little pen, especially when it's inside. |
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