Five-star event rider Nick Lucey has a Flexiride surface at his Oxfordshire base. The Equestrian Direct team visited Nick and his father, renowned equine vet Mark Lucey, at home to see the surface in action and made the most of the time to find out the vet’s view on all-weather riding surfaces
In it for the long haul
Mark says It is getting on for 20 years now. My son, Nick, events full time and so it is used mainly for his event horses. School liveries use it, too, but usually you can see the competition horses or youngsters being brought on on it in our arena.
Top choice
Mark says We wanted a true all-weather surface and one that was easy to maintain and didn’t need to have a lot of water put on it every day. There is no water access here as we are on the top of a hill and so it had to be something that was truly all-weather and didn’t have to be maintained every day. Flexiride is definitely that surface.
Weather considerations
Mark says It does get a fraction dry in the summer, but it is always the same consistency and it never gets unworkable or deep. In the winter, as long as we harrow it every few days to keep the fibre on top, it doesn’t freeze. If we get lots of snowfall then we don’t use it, but no school works in heavy snow. If the snowfall is light and we harrow it then the horses can still work on it — and it doesn’t ball up in their feet. It really is a surface for 365 days of the year.
Let’s talk welfare
Mark says It is very important; after all, Nick is working his horses on the surface five days out of seven. It has t
