] ] I would agree with you entirely about the use of the word meadow in general. However, riding a horse in a hayfield isn't the best way to grow hay.

] Perhaps it wasn't growing season when Edmund teaches Mary to ride? Maybe it was after the harvest? (I don't recall, obviously!)

Webster:

The word is said to be applied in Great Britain to land somewhat watery, but covered with
grass.

Meadow means pasture or grass land, annually mown for hay; but more particularly, land too
moist for cattle to graze on in winter, without spoiling the sward.

And perhaps that's why Elinor would like better pasturage.