I personally don't understand why people just blow off ABS like they do. When it works properly, and you drive properly, it should never kick on, but should YOU not hold up your end of the bargain and lock up your wheels, then the ABS saves your ***. Not to mention I live in an area that gets a ridiculous amount of snow so ABS has saved me more than once, and I've seen a lack of ABS demolish quite a few cars as well....

ideally I think it would be cool to install a toggle switch so if you wanted to off road without ABS you just flip the switch and go, then flip it back on when you hit the tarmac...

ANYWAY

If your light came on the first thing I would ask you is "when was the last time you repacked your bearings?

Mechanical elements are more likely to fail before electrical elements, and the more complex they are the more prone they are to failure... the most complex mechanical element, and the one subjected to the harshest conditions is the wheel sensors... dirt and crap can get caught in there, the sensors can get damaged and the indexing wheel can get chipped.

if you do a lot of beach driving then I would suspect that sand would be particularly nasty to these things... so I would take the opportunity to repack your bearings and check over the wheels sensors while you're in there.