horse arena grooming/ soil pulverizer

[donais]

it looks like it work good if the teeth dig to the depth you want 2-4-6 inch ,and the wheel just firms it up a little. the one doubleg made would work great and not real expensive to build.

 

[gabby]

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

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

I have one of those made by Gannon and it works well in my arenas. It's 6 feet wide and I bought it used for $800.
gabby

 

[geethag]

With the soil pulverizer, can you set the depth of teeth so that it only works the sand to specified height (like 2-3 inches)? For an arena I wouldn't want it to tear up the base.

 

[JackIL]

I have no direct experience with a soil pulverizer for arenas, but it works great for seedbed preparation of a rough area around new construction.

Have you considered the Arena Rascal?

http://absoluteinnovations.net/equine/arenarascal.asp

It is the same concept as the TR3 Arena Rake by Absolute Innovations, but it is much lower in cost. I use mine to maintain a gravel driveway and it works very well. You might want to get their video and see it in action. It is simple and really appears to work well in arenas.

JackIL

 

[DOUBLEG]

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

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

I would not use a soil pulverizer all the time. You want some depth for footing but you don't want it to be powder.

 

[Fireman_dcb]

We have 4" of stone dust over a clay base. Once or twice a year I'll use a back blade to level out the ring then every month I use a 6' wide 8' long drag harrow (mat) to keep the weeds down and things looking good. Three times a year I use an 80" wide 15 gallon TSC sprayer to put down Roundup to keep the weeds at bay.

I just need to find a way to keep out the deer who love to prance around inside the ring and tear it up.

 

[LAXPatrick]

My neighbors have a sand arena and they use a King Kutter pulverizer. Basically like the one in the pics, but with two spiked drum rollers. Seems to do a nice job on their surface - though it doesn't go very deep. I've seen a couple of team penning arenas that use similar (but bigger) pulverizers.

I've got a 100x200 dirt arena. We show foundation quarter horses - lots of event types (reining, cutting, pleasure, etc). I usually condition mine with a row cultivator with a section of spike drag harrow behind that. Does a nice job.

I borrow theirs once in a while - The pulverizer seems to do a stellar job of breaking up the clods (go figure) and leaves a VERY smooth surface. It also was handy removing the leftover sod clumps when I had the arena done - it would collect them and I could lift the pulverizer with the 3PH and they'd drop right off in a pile...

I've got about $150 in my setup. Would I spend another $500 or more for the pulverizer? Nope.

LAXPatrick

 

[QRTRHRS]

I also have stone dust in my 125' x 250' arena. My landscape rake won't do much once it gets hard. I take my ten foot discer to it after a good rain then groom it with the rake. Being rectangular, the discer won't do much in the corners. The arena was built using onsite clay and brownshale material when it was pushed out of a hill and compacted with a vibratory roller. Still, as mentioned, the discer will cut into the base if I am not careful.

I was thinking about taking a 7 or 8 foot piece of 8x8 inch steel tubing, welding something on for teeth and filling it with concrete for a drag to break up the surface. I think the pulverizer would work just fine.

 

[DAP]

I posted this pic in another thread, but I too use this in the arena

 

[MarTau]

I use my 100' X 110' arena for canine agility. The soil pulverizer looks like a nice tool for prepping the ground. It looks like it would break up the top layer, smooth and level it out with a minimal number of passes.

Your post is old. Hope you are still active and can provide some feedback on your experience.