Outdoor Arena Construction

[NHtoCO]

I am new here but I am hoping somebody can help... I am looking to put in a 150 x 250 outdoor riding arena on my property here in northern Colorado. Money is tight so I am trying to keep expenses down and do the arena construction myself and in stages (rip up/level the area and install fencing this year, next year think about bringing in footing, etc.)

What equipment/attachments would be the best to use to rip up the area and level it? The ground is relatively flat already (but will probably have to be graded still) and luckily no trees or anything that I need to worry about. I am still hoping to use the arena temporarily this year and maintain it regularly with a harrow until I can afford the better footing next year.

Any ideas to get me started please? Thanks in advance!

 

[ITHINKICAN]

I used a box blade to clear a small section of my land. I was prepping for a pad site. I am not familiar with an outdoor arena but it sounds like something you might be able to do with a box blade too. Can you post some pics? What equipment do you all ready own? What size tractor are you going to use? Here is a quote that ustmd dropped on my metal building thread. The photos of the work I was talking about is on page 2 and 3 of the thread. I hope it helps. The people on TBN are extremely helpful. If this idea works - ustmd deserves the credit. If it doesn't work - blame it on me.

ITHINKICAN,
...I found the thread on a beginner's guide to using a box blade very helpful:
http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/122762-beginners-guide-using-box-blade.html
Also, the videos on everythingattachments.com were a big help.
A key, but counter intuitive point with the boxblade is to make the blade cut in, you need to shorten your top link. To smooth with it, you need to lengthen it.
I look forward to the pictures.

 

[WM75Guy]

My wife rides dressage. Our land is mostly sand. I used my tiller numerous times to get rid of the grass. I then had my dozer guy come in with a D5 Cat with duel lasers on the blade to level it with a 1 degree slope for drainage. I drag it with a Red Master II harrow. As money permits we are going to add rubber to firm it up till we get the footing she wants. We bought a set of pylons and rails (PVC) to outline the arena.

There are many books and websites that describe how to prepare a base and materials for proper footing for the different disciplines. It can get real expensive real fast and may not be worth it if you are not having competitions at your place and just need a practice arena.

 

[JMynes]

If you flood it in the winter it can double as a skating rink.

 

[tlbuser]

Riding disciplines vary but the basics are pretty close. IMO, constructing a good arena is more about base prep and proper drainage. Red clay works well for base material. Topcoat is more about dollars available and desire to spend it. If time isn't a motivator, a box blade and FEL will do the job. Strip back the topsoil and backfill with ~ 6 " of red clay adding a slope or crown for drainage. Then add 3-4" of topcoat (sand, mulch, rubber mulch or combination of). Having the arena slightly elevated form the surrounding terrain is not abad thing. Fencing, lighting and sprinklers come next.

 

[JohninCT]

First I'd rent or buy a laser and measure the grade around the area. You may be surprized at how much dirt you need to move around in an area that looks "relatively flat". Do you already have a tractor? What size is it? If you have a small compact or subcompact and depending your grade measurements you might be better off renting or hiring a dozer to establish the rough grade. Then use the tractor with box blade to help finish it and smooth it out.

 

[NHtoCO]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I should have clarified in my original post. Unfortunately I don't have a tractor or any type of equipment to do this job so I would need to rent it. That's why any information as to what to use to rip up and grade the arena would be helpful!

And, no, unfortunately I don't have any pictures to share of the area where I am planning to build the arena. We are getting buried here in snow today... I do realize that what may look flat may be surprisingly deceiving when we are talking about grading. I am hoping it won't be too bad but having the right equipment on hand to address it will help!

 

[QRTRHRS]

Dig around a little for arena footing construction and you should find plenty. Generally, some kind of stone base is recommended with some pitch from the center as suggested. I am posting some photos of a 150x250 that my wife and I had constructed at our last place.

It was scraped out of a hill by building up the lower side. Our contractor had to move a lot of dirt so he had some pretty good sized equipment along with a vibratory roller to compact it. We had a lot of sandstone and clay there which compacted really well and did not get to soft in the winter so we did not put down any stone.

Because the site was very windy at times, we chose to use stone dust rather than sand fearing it would blow away. The stone dust tended to compact to an almost concrete like hardness. I only had a ten foot discer to dress it up with marginal results but we got by.

We also had issues with the dust washing so I put treated 2x6's all the way around securing them to my fence posts.

Later I found out a source of what was called river sand that was dredged from a river not to far away. I would have gone with that material had I known earlier.

After it was all said and done, I had chosen the wrong contractor. The upper side should have been cut down more and more topsoil should have been left to regrade with as you can see by the somewhat barren hill side.

 

[3nickles]

like the man says ,depends on what you need in the end.you're snowed under right now so get the best tractor you can afford,watch the local auctions and get any of the above box blade,or cultivator or disks and a drag harrow and get busy.and of coarse a blower or blade for snow.
If your really stuck a box blade will double for leveling the ring and pulling snow around

 

[JohninCT]

Yes having the right equipment to do the job is key. In our backyard arena (its about 80 x 200 ft), I had to cut down a hillside and build up the low side by a few feet. Having only real small machines at the time (Magnatrac loader/BH and Kubota B1750) I rented a Bobcat. It dug OK, but progress was going too slow, so I rented a small JD 450 dozer and that did a great job and was fun to operate. I rented a Bobcat with a rockhound power rake for a couple of days to get all the rocks picked up and get things smoothed out. Then I had 10 triaxles of sand dumped and I pushed it out with the dozer. The Kubota helped with final sand smoothing with the york rake and drag mat.

 

[Johndeere3720]

For creating an arena, Start with a good level cleared area, would be easy with the common box blade and FEL. For arena maintenance, there is the Jake Rake. It is my personal invention specifically designed to cultivate, level, and groom horse arenas. There is virtually no maintenance to do with this product, no grease zerks or bearings. It is easy to adjust and the rake bar is fully adjustable. It is imatch compatible and available in 4', 5', and 6' models and in most any color you desire. Send me a PM if your interested and I can personally give you a quote. These can be used in a lot of different ground conditions including sand, dirt, wood chips, and many more footings. I have had a lot of people comment on how well my product grooms the arenas at my grandpa's horse stables which has 3 arenas and a large round pen. Check out my website for additional information as well
Jakes Implements - Home

 

[Verticaltrx]

If you have to rent equipment to do the job, (and have the skill to run it) go straight for a small dozer. It will probably cost 600-800 a day, but for an area the size you are talking it will be needed. 150x250 is over 3/4 acre and even with a very slight slope you will be moving a lot of dirt. I've done some arenas and round pens and can tell you doing it right is both expensive and time consuming.

I can give you more details if you want, but the basics are as follows:

1. Layout the area and determine your current grade, I'm kinda old school and prefer using a transit for this. Drive grade stakes around the area to be excavated/leveled.

2. Scrape off the topsoil from the entire arena and pile it for later use.

3. Start moving dirt and compacting as you go, unless your soil is really sandy most likely your subsoil will be a suitable base. Even though you will be adding more material on top of this, you need to go ahead and grade this to the final grade. Some people like to crown the arena in the middle, I prefer to make the entire thing flat but slope it to one side. A 2% slope is generally what is recommended, a laser level system the best way to get a nice even grade.

4. Put down a gravel base, I like crusher run because it packs well and it easy to get a good grade on. Depending on how much you want to spend anywhere from 2-4" can be used. Level and lightly compact.

5. Put down your top layer(s). For an arena where you want firm footing (such as for driving horses) I put down about 4" of 3/8 dust gravel and compact it. This is also acceptable for a light use arena. For a deeper and softer footing I put down a couple inches of dust gravel then put 4-6" of masons sand on top of that. The cost for these materials is huge, so you will have to determine how good of a footing you want. Again, level as you go to maintain the proper grade.

 

[Ken45101]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I should have clarified in my original post. Unfortunately I don't have a tractor or any type of equipment to do this job so I would need to rent it. That's why any information as to what to use to rip up and grade the arena would be helpful!

If you don't have a tractor, then do not rent equipment. Hire someone with a bulldozer to do the work, it will be less expensive. They will have the right equipment and the experience and will do it in 1/4th the time (or less) it will take you with the wrong equipment and no experience.

A decent dozer operator can probably do what you need in a day, two at most. If you rent equipment, you will be renting it for a week or more.

I've done a round pen with my tractor and box blade. Many, many hours of work. I've done a bigger area for a barn using a mini ex and a skid steer. (This is all equipment I already had.) Again, a lot more hours than a small dozer would have taken.

Ken

 

[grsthegreat]

we toyed with the same questions about 2 years ago. we built a 80 x 220 outdoor arena for driving horses. i was going to do the work myself, but after checking on equipment rental costs, etc. i found out i could hire someone with a huge front end loader who can do the work in 1 day, as opposed to my renting smaller dozer for 3 days. I had trees, so hired a logger to cut and haul trees (money made from logs paid for his time). then the loader operator pulled all roots from ground and reshaped the arena in 1 day. he dug pit to bury roots in a few swipes. Next year well import a sand/wood chip base to add to it. i wanted to give it a few years to self compact/level off. one side was 4' lower than the other when we started. now its all level. I also added 4 light posts and a speaker system.

 

[mojoinco]

Verticaltrx has a pretty good start here.

But reading between the lines, I presume you want to go cheap for fair weather training.

Weather -- it is almost too late for working until late April. Why? Spring snows will be hitting (we hope) soon. Normally the muddiest season of the year is March-April. The ground defrosts and we get wet snow.

Ground -- presumably you either have clay or sand (or layers of each), though some have the misfortune of rocks. Drainage is critical. Since you are getting buried in snow today, I figure you must be in the foothills, so maybe a lot of rock. The flat part of Eastern CO is mostly clay or sand.

Hire someone. Maybe save some $$$ by setting a lenient schedule (building is still slow, though diesel has risen a lot).

Some folks put drainage pipes under the field. Your neighbors ought to be able to point out good designs (or maybe the poor designs) for your local conditions. And maybe even the better contractors. I would not put a fence around it until you know it works -- then be careful about creating 'crash' dangers by using the wrong kind of fence to land on (one of the very few times I like plastic rail fences -- pops apart when hit).

I use a blade, a box scraper (with scarifiers), a set of disks, a toolbar mounted with spring harrows (and limiting wheels), and a chain harrow. I like the Jake Rake idea. Combines two tools in one. If you had the arena built, then used the Jake Rake, you could hold off on other implements (like a blade or box scraper) until later. Mostly what you will be doing is breaking the soil up for an even surface (even too soft is better if it is even). The next thing you will be doing is some surface evening up as you get wash off or soil spreading around the edges.

You can do a passable job with a box scraper and scarifiers if that is all you have. The question is time versus money. I watch Craigslist (in your case, Denver and Ft Collins) for dirt and the news for local construction projects. Freeway rebuilds are great for getting ground up concrete cheaper (wished I had been ready for a lot of that when I-25 was widened a couple of years ago in Denver).

 

[NHtoCO]

Verticaltrx has a pretty good start here.

But reading between the lines, I presume you want to go cheap for fair weather training.

Weather -- it is almost too late for working until late April. Why? Spring snows will be hitting (we hope) soon. Normally the muddiest season of the year is March-April. The ground defrosts and we get wet snow.

Ground -- presumably you either have clay or sand (or layers of each), though some have the misfortune of rocks. Drainage is critical. Since you are getting buried in snow today, I figure you must be in the foothills, so maybe a lot of rock. The flat part of Eastern CO is mostly clay or sand.

Hire someone. Maybe save some $$$ by setting a lenient schedule (building is still slow, though diesel has risen a lot).

Some folks put drainage pipes under the field. Your neighbors ought to be able to point out good designs (or maybe the poor designs) for your local conditions. And maybe even the better contractors. I would not put a fence around it until you know it works -- then be careful about creating 'crash' dangers by using the wrong kind of fence to land on (one of the very few times I like plastic rail fences -- pops apart when hit).

I use a blade, a box scraper (with scarifiers), a set of disks, a toolbar mounted with spring harrows (and limiting wheels), and a chain harrow. I like the Jake Rake idea. Combines two tools in one. If you had the arena built, then used the Jake Rake, you could hold off on other implements (like a blade or box scraper) until later. Mostly what you will be doing is breaking the soil up for an even surface (even too soft is better if it is even). The next thing you will be doing is some surface evening up as you get wash off or soil spreading around the edges.

You can do a passable job with a box scraper and scarifiers if that is all you have. The question is time versus money. I watch Craigslist (in your case, Denver and Ft Collins) for dirt and the news for local construction projects. Freeway rebuilds are great for getting ground up concrete cheaper (wished I had been ready for a lot of that when I-25 was widened a couple of years ago in Denver).

I can't thank everybody enough for all the replies. The pictures are great too - some really nice looking arenas there!

Verticaltrx - thank you for the overview. That was really helpful.

Mojoinco - Yes, I live in north Fort Collins, near the foothills. I am not planning on immediately starting the arena - just trying to get some questions answered and some ideas before I dive into the project. This forum has been great that way! So I probably would start the project sometime in April (or whenever the ground is dry).

To outline what I was thinking more specifically... I was hoping to build the arena in stages. I would love to be able to just build it all at once but I just cannot afford it - I have gotten some quotes on the materials alone and it is pricey. So my tentative plan was to rip up and grade the arena this year and install railroad ties to frame in the arena and act as a border to hold the eventual footing (it gets windy here on occasion so I want to create a little buffer to help contain the footing). Then next year get the base footing and install the vinyl fencing. The year after that, get the top layer. My hope is that I can still continue riding on the arena in the interim, knowing that I will be limited to fair weather riding and flatwork until the arena is completely finished.

My neighbor actually ripped up a section of her property for a small dressage arena with a box scraper and did the tedious task of picking up rocks. She keeps it harrowed regularly. Is it ideal? No, but it is usable in the interim which is what I am hoping I can do similarly with mine until I can afford doing the rest. I *do* want a high quality arena at the end - I have 3 horses that I ride and compete with regularly. But, again, I have to be practical with my finances so I am hoping the above plan will help me achieve that - just will take a lot longer than I would like!

If I could find a local contractor who was reputable, honest, and fair, I would by all means do it vs. rent the equipment and add another DIY project. But with me being fairly new to the area, I really have no idea where to start...

 

[mojoinco]

Oh, meant to add this in my previous post: There will be a Horse Expo in March at the Stock Show grounds (I-70, just East of I-25). There should be some interesting products on display, maybe some arena builders, and local horse organizations (that can suggest local tradesmen).

DIY is fun, but takes some time. Run a search in craigslist for 'fill dirt'. You might find someone needing to dump (or offer a good enough price). There is always someone wanting to get rid of some dirt or gravel from there yard, but that is usually more work then it's worth.

 

[zimbo]

Have a look at these sights, some good info here.
http://pubs.cas.psu.edu/freepubs/pdfs/ub038.pdf
Arenas and Footing

As others have said, the most important thing is to get the base done properly. There is nothing worse than having to move all the sand off to recompact it!
Drainage is also very important, make sure your not going to have little springs coming up from under ground, they create soft patches, and destroy the base, they will cost a fortune to fix if its not done properly the first time.
Good luck

Ryan

 

[JohninCT]

Look in your local newspaper, farm/feed store, or local eatery bulletin boards for folks that do excavation and get some quotes. I've started every project this way, but unfortunately most often find prices too high (way too high in some). The result was the wife and I deciding that we could make tool purchases and/or machine rentals and do it ourselves for less money. If you're a DIY type person you can do it yourself. It might take you a little longer, but you'll end up with some new knowledge and maybe some new tools that you can do other jobs with.

I'd suggest talking to your neighbor some more. It sounds like she's been there and done what you are looking to do. She can probably offer the best advice on how to approach your project. She may even be able to recommend some local contractors if you don't want to try doing it yourself.

 

[tlbuser]

If you have to rent equipment to do the job, (and have the skill to run it) go straight for a small dozer. It will probably cost 600-800 a day, but for an area the size you are talking it will be needed. 150x250 is over 3/4 acre and even with a very slight slope you will be moving a lot of dirt. I've done some arenas and round pens and can tell you doing it right is both expensive and time consuming.

I can give you more details if you want, but the basics are as follows:

1. Layout the area and determine your current grade, I'm kinda old school and prefer using a transit for this. Drive grade stakes around the area to be excavated/leveled.

2. Scrape off the topsoil from the entire arena and pile it for later use.

3. Start moving dirt and compacting as you go, unless your soil is really sandy most likely your subsoil will be a suitable base. Even though you will be adding more material on top of this, you need to go ahead and grade this to the final grade. Some people like to crown the arena in the middle, I prefer to make the entire thing flat but slope it to one side. A 2% slope is generally what is recommended, a laser level system the best way to get a nice even grade.

4. Put down a gravel base, I like crusher run because it packs well and it easy to get a good grade on. Depending on how much you want to spend anywhere from 2-4" can be used. Level and lightly compact.

5. Put down your top layer(s). For an arena where you want firm footing (such as for driving horses) I put down about 4" of 3/8 dust gravel and compact it. This is also acceptable for a light use arena. For a deeper and softer footing I put down a couple inches of dust gravel then put 4-6" of masons sand on top of that. The cost for these materials is huge, so you will have to determine how good of a footing you want. Again, level as you go to maintain the proper grade.

Right, a good example of how different folks get it done. You prefer gravel, we prefer red clay. We think the red clay top coated with sand has more give for the horse's joints. Whoever can get their horse to talk and tell us what they really like.............my SO would buy it