horse arena grooming/ soil pulverizer

[geethag]

I'm looking for a somewhat cheaper alternative than the upscale arena groomers (Kiser, 4n1, riata rake etc.) Do any of you guys have an opinion about a soil pulverizer for this use? I've seen pictures of the Befco soil pulverizer and it LOOKS like it could do the job. Thanks

 

[roxynoodle]

Is your arena sand or dirt? Or does it have grass in it? At this time I have to double my large pasture as an arena (with grass) and have my neighbor pull his medium size disk harrow through it a couple of times. It levels the ground enough for riding. Once my old barn is down I would like to turn that land into a sand arena and am hoping I could get away with using my box blade in it if the sacrificers are all the way up, or mostly up. Landscape rakes can be had cheaply (King Kutter anyways) and that might work well also.

 

[geethag]

This will be a new arena. I've leveled a site for 125 x 125 pen. The base is naturally sandy on the hill site, although we have mostly clay base elsewhere around here.

 

[roxynoodle]

That's the way mine will end up too. Think a King Kutter landscape rake would cost you about $350. My neighbor has one so the one time I needed one, I used his. If you have a box blade already you might want to give it a try to break up the big stuff, then you could get away with a chain drag (or make your own just by dragging a section of wire fencing, chain link, etc) to smooth it out and make the clumps really small. I'll be curious to see how you do it because I will be in the same boat in about a year, maybe sooner.

 

[Soundguy]

I use a flexible drag harrow for mine..

Soundguy

 

[DOUBLEG]

The main tool I use for our outdoor riding ring is a modified s-tine cultivator. See the attached pictures. It does not pulverize the soil but it does break up the soil for better footing, at least my wife and her friends like it. The balde helps to level the ring as well as acting as a gauge. It is set 2" above the tip of the tine so I don't go too deep. The soil is sandy on top and the wind does blow it around if it is broke up too much.

Once a year I do roto-till the ring. After that I drag it with diamond harrows which seem to help to pack it a bit. I do pray for rain after I tiller it.

We are just finishing a two day clinic and the ring is holding up very well.

 

[roxynoodle]

That s-tine cultivator looks like just the thing. I'm sure it works better than a box blade.

 

[Jordanbear]

We use a piece of chain link fence with a phone pole chained to it for weight. The arena is sand, so it doesn't need tilling, and we don't want to touch the base, just level out the tracks & divots.

Not as much fun as buying a new implement, but pretty cheap.

 

[donais]

here is the one i made the most expensive part was the s tines. works great, i even made the wheel in the back...jon

 

[geethag]

Back to my original question, what do you think about the soil pulverizer fpr arena grooming?

http://befco.com/products/groundengage/pulverizer.html