Field Dressage

One of my favorite things about my barn (other than the eurocizer, which I think is my favorite thing ever) is that there are several fields to ride in. Barn owner is an upper level eventer and so the fields are full of jumps, a water complex, a bank complex, a sunken road, and a ditch complex.

It's cool to watch people jump around out there, and TC had to quickly get used to people using the field for more than just wandering around like we do. And it's only going to get more busy as summer is on its way and they are putting in tracks.

Nice wide galloping tracks! 

Sunken road (we go through it this way)

California ground gets really hard in the summer due to the lack of rain, so the tracks mean that I can actually do more than just walk out there! I'm really careful about doing too much work on hard ground with TC because of his potential future side bone issue. We do a lot of walking on hard ground though, which I'm a big fan of for tendon health, so we've been walking out there basically since we moved there.

So tracks will be really great to get him fit and also working in slightly deeper footing (since it seems like all the show facilities have deeper footing than my barn, which makes me nervous). In addition to doing field dressage, I'm also going to use some of the terrain that my barn owner put in for the event horses to help condition him as well.

Water complex

TC is going to walk up this mound a lot, and the one he's on

I live in a really flat area, so having some mounds is really great. I want to at the very least climb them a bunch, but eventually I want to use some of the less steep parts to rein him back up, since that's good for his stifles, and way down the line, we'll do some half steps while going down them.

There's also a water complex, which is great. I'm excited to do some short bursts of trotting through them and also have half a mind to have him jump out of the water onto the banks since that seems like a good way to get him to do more of the explosive squats that I want. He needs to do some jump squats! Which I did the other night and feel like death because of them.

On top of the bank complex

We walk up this little step a lot

I feel like I'm not utilizing this facility for all its worth being a dressage rider, so hopefully we'll be using the fields for more than just trail riding soon! I'm really excited to see what this kind of conditioning plan can do for him, both mentally and physically.