Arena Project
- Thread starter Casimir
- Start date
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By the way, the grey one is the real Casimir -- I just borrowed his name when I was trying come up with a screen name for TBN /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif. Casimir means "peaceful" in Slavic -- at least that's what I have been told.
Hope you enjoyed the photos. And Alex, thanks for pushing me into another "project" organizing the photos.
Kip
Hope you enjoyed the photos. And Alex, thanks for pushing me into another "project" organizing the photos.
Kip
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Golfgar4
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Kip,
Thanks for the photos. They were great!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
It's fun to see a project go from start to finish like that. And it's especially fun to see a tractor being used to do almost all of it. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I was wondewring why you didn't get a PHD and do the fence (or at the very least the post holes!) yourself. Wouldn't that have been less expensive? I realize that you would have had to erect the fence yourself, but you did have that hard working nephew? Of course, I'm sure it was much faster hiring it out, and that's always an important consideration too.
You sure did get a lot of seat time. How long was it from start to finish?
Thanks for the photos. They were great!! /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
It's fun to see a project go from start to finish like that. And it's especially fun to see a tractor being used to do almost all of it. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif
I was wondewring why you didn't get a PHD and do the fence (or at the very least the post holes!) yourself. Wouldn't that have been less expensive? I realize that you would have had to erect the fence yourself, but you did have that hard working nephew? Of course, I'm sure it was much faster hiring it out, and that's always an important consideration too.
You sure did get a lot of seat time. How long was it from start to finish?
GaryM
Veteran Member
Thanks for the great pictures. Looks like a nice arena. But you need a new implement! One of those rotary rake things to fluff up the surface.
Thanks, Garry and Gary /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif
I thought about tackling the fence myself, but I was still working 5 days a week when we started the project(s) and don't have any help I can count on except Sharon, who also works 5 days a week. The nephew was only visiting for a couple of weeks - got all I could out of him then /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif. Also, we wanted a rather special fence - with 48" diamond mesh wire and a 1"X6" sight board on top. That wire is really tough to work with -- I knew from past experience, and the crew really didn't like it. However, it makes a very strong, safe fence for horses. Time was, of course, the other factor. It would have taken me a year of weekends to do what the crew did in two weeks - 2100 feet of fence all together. They did a very professional job.
As far as overall time from start to finish -- probably 8 months. However, that is because the guy doing the clearing was giving us a special price if we allowed him to work it in between his other jobs, and he did not complete clearing the arena area until he was nearly done with the other 6 acres for the pasture and barn area. It probably took us about 3 months, once we started on the arena. I "retired" in May, but still work 3 days a week as a contractor -- that, combined with weather delays (Why is it, that it always rains on weekends or Thursday or Friday, so it is too wet to work on the weekend? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif) is why it took so long.
Gary - I have a rotary harrow, but that is one of the reasons that I wish I had laid down a layer of stone dust between the sand and the gravel base. The rotary harrow digs too deep and brings up gravel into the sand, just like sharp hooves do. I may yet end up scraping off all the sand, screening it, and putting down a layer of stone dust before respreading the sand /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif More seat time /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif.
Thanks again for the kind words.
Kip
I thought about tackling the fence myself, but I was still working 5 days a week when we started the project(s) and don't have any help I can count on except Sharon, who also works 5 days a week. The nephew was only visiting for a couple of weeks - got all I could out of him then /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif. Also, we wanted a rather special fence - with 48" diamond mesh wire and a 1"X6" sight board on top. That wire is really tough to work with -- I knew from past experience, and the crew really didn't like it. However, it makes a very strong, safe fence for horses. Time was, of course, the other factor. It would have taken me a year of weekends to do what the crew did in two weeks - 2100 feet of fence all together. They did a very professional job.
As far as overall time from start to finish -- probably 8 months. However, that is because the guy doing the clearing was giving us a special price if we allowed him to work it in between his other jobs, and he did not complete clearing the arena area until he was nearly done with the other 6 acres for the pasture and barn area. It probably took us about 3 months, once we started on the arena. I "retired" in May, but still work 3 days a week as a contractor -- that, combined with weather delays (Why is it, that it always rains on weekends or Thursday or Friday, so it is too wet to work on the weekend? /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif /forums/images/graemlins/confused.gif) is why it took so long.
Gary - I have a rotary harrow, but that is one of the reasons that I wish I had laid down a layer of stone dust between the sand and the gravel base. The rotary harrow digs too deep and brings up gravel into the sand, just like sharp hooves do. I may yet end up scraping off all the sand, screening it, and putting down a layer of stone dust before respreading the sand /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif More seat time /forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif.
Thanks again for the kind words.
Kip
cowboydoc
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I admire the job you did clearing and leveling and your forethought for drainage. I would say for anyone looking to build an arena, as you have already found out, that a gravel base is sure not what you want for riding or training horses. You need a solid, smooth base under your footing. Usually this is a clay base. I have personally never seen anyone use gravel as their base. Just curious as to why you did that? Is it common to do in that area? For roping, reining, cutting, etc. you sure wouldn't want that gravel base. Also I would regularly pick those pieces of gravel that you bring up out. It's pretty easy to stone bruise a sole on the horse with those little stones.
Hi Doc:
The gravel base was intended to provide some drainage. A solid clay base would provide an impervious layer and keep the water up in the sand. Part of this I got from a book on arena construction, and it seems pretty common in this area. I had hoped that the crusher run would pack solidly enough so the rocks wouldn't work to the surface.
I still think that a layer (2-3 inches) of stone dust, unwashed, would allow drainage but not have rocks work through it. A previous experience trying to provide a workable footing on top of our clay/sand subsoil resulted in the clay/sand layer just getting muddy and slippery and taking longer to dry out, even with 3 inches of sand on top of it.
You are right about the rocks. Dragging the arena covers them, but they don't go away. Looks like I will probably have to strip the sand off and screen it, then add a layer of dust over the crusher run before I lay the sand back down. We checked into the crumb rubber footing material, but it would cost about $6K just for the material, plus delivery and spreading it -- with everything else we want to do, it seemed out of our price range. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
The gravel base was intended to provide some drainage. A solid clay base would provide an impervious layer and keep the water up in the sand. Part of this I got from a book on arena construction, and it seems pretty common in this area. I had hoped that the crusher run would pack solidly enough so the rocks wouldn't work to the surface.
I still think that a layer (2-3 inches) of stone dust, unwashed, would allow drainage but not have rocks work through it. A previous experience trying to provide a workable footing on top of our clay/sand subsoil resulted in the clay/sand layer just getting muddy and slippery and taking longer to dry out, even with 3 inches of sand on top of it.
You are right about the rocks. Dragging the arena covers them, but they don't go away. Looks like I will probably have to strip the sand off and screen it, then add a layer of dust over the crusher run before I lay the sand back down. We checked into the crumb rubber footing material, but it would cost about $6K just for the material, plus delivery and spreading it -- with everything else we want to do, it seemed out of our price range. /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
