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Dragonpharm
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Very nice! I'll look into that next.
Horse arena ground prep
- Thread starter Dragonpharm
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drssg
Veteran Member
You're going to get so much feedback, you'll be sorry you asked!
For my first iteration at building an arena, I used a good excavator who didn't have arena experience. I had read all about sub-base, base, footing, and slope recommendations.
I asked him to make a 6" base of crushed limestone, because that was the terminology used in my reading material.
I came home from work to find a nice 72' x 240' pad of 1" crusher run. It would have made a great parking lot, but I couldn't put sand footing on top of 1" stone. I should have specifically requested 1/8x0 stone.
I later tried to add a layer of 1/8x0 myself. It didn't sound that hard, but the more I worked on it, the worse it looked.
I finally hired an experienced arena guy. He came in with laser-integrated equipment and knocked it out like nothing. I generally like do-it-yourself projects, but I sure punted on this one.
Hoodoo
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I'm doing the same with my new tractor. Had an double-fenced acre out back that was a mess, with pigweed and rocks. So far I've got out the weeds and rocks and used the gannon with scraper forks to get the furrows going. Of course this revealed more rocks, less in quantity, but bigger ones. So today I'll be going to get those out and drag it again. I'll set the forks a little higher...or might even use my harrow mat set with the most aggressive position.
Our dirt out here is a sandy/dirt mix and my plan is to get it all turned over and soft as possible and use it like that. Will it be as good as arena sand? Nope, but that's what the budget says it will be. And we're just going to use it for quick rides, training and lessons anyway. Our neighbors have a large ring that has sand and they love us using it.
Our dirt out here is a sandy/dirt mix and my plan is to get it all turned over and soft as possible and use it like that. Will it be as good as arena sand? Nope, but that's what the budget says it will be. And we're just going to use it for quick rides, training and lessons anyway. Our neighbors have a large ring that has sand and they love us using it.
OP
Dragonpharm
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- Pekin, IL
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- Mahindra 1538 with backhoe, Massey Ferguson 156 gas
I might end up just leveling ours out and possibly having sand brought in once I find out how expensive that will be. I know there is a gravel pit nearby that actually donated sand for a local riding club so they should be able to sell me a decent sand instead of builders sand. My daughter already put barrels out this week and started working the horses slowly in the snow. She isn't the most patient but is very careful with her horses.
riptides
Super Member
Just completed one a little while back. Ground prep was pretty simple, have mixture of clay bound soil under what was the top.
A little sand and a lot of "stone dust". Hardest part was positioning the rail road ties. And making sure the circumference matched the number of panels I had. LOL.
A little sand and a lot of "stone dust". Hardest part was positioning the rail road ties. And making sure the circumference matched the number of panels I had. LOL.
TheMan419
Veteran Member
USEF has book called Under Foot. It does a great job of telling you how to do great footing.
We have an in door we use for dressage. Originally we just removed the top soil. We have very clay soil here. So we moved more soil in from our own property to get it to the leve we wanted and put sand on top. That did ok.
Then several years down the road we removed the sand. Added 4 inches of stone dust and compacted that with a roller compactor. Put the sand back in. HUGE difference. Much better riding surface. Turns out the sand "slides" over the clay. It does not over the stone dust. The clay base was laser leveled, then the stone dust was laser leveled.
This process took two guys with two skids, a laser and a roller about 15 working hours over 2 days to get done. All they do is arenas and they do it all over the country. Watching real professionals work is always so much fun.
Usually for out door arenas the complaint I hear for folks who just throw down sand is that you end up with a muddy mess as the sand migrates down and the soil migrates up. Not only do you need a barrier to prevent that you need one around the edges to prevent the sand from exfiltrating and spreading out. Your 80x150 arena will become 90x160 and so on over time (or whatever size you are building).
Do it right the first time or you will spend twice as much.
We have an in door we use for dressage. Originally we just removed the top soil. We have very clay soil here. So we moved more soil in from our own property to get it to the leve we wanted and put sand on top. That did ok.
Then several years down the road we removed the sand. Added 4 inches of stone dust and compacted that with a roller compactor. Put the sand back in. HUGE difference. Much better riding surface. Turns out the sand "slides" over the clay. It does not over the stone dust. The clay base was laser leveled, then the stone dust was laser leveled.
This process took two guys with two skids, a laser and a roller about 15 working hours over 2 days to get done. All they do is arenas and they do it all over the country. Watching real professionals work is always so much fun.
Usually for out door arenas the complaint I hear for folks who just throw down sand is that you end up with a muddy mess as the sand migrates down and the soil migrates up. Not only do you need a barrier to prevent that you need one around the edges to prevent the sand from exfiltrating and spreading out. Your 80x150 arena will become 90x160 and so on over time (or whatever size you are building).
Do it right the first time or you will spend twice as much.
ponytug
Super Member
+1 on learning to level an arena by eye. It is a learning curve, at least for me. I set me perimeter boards to match the slope to give me an eye line on the slope.
@Dragonpharm great idea on getting something your daughter can run to keep the arena I shape. It will help clean up after barrel runs, and give her control over the surface conditions. It sounds like she is going to be quite occupied with her equids.
All the best,
Peter
@Dragonpharm great idea on getting something your daughter can run to keep the arena I shape. It will help clean up after barrel runs, and give her control over the surface conditions. It sounds like she is going to be quite occupied with her equids.
All the best,
Peter