Adding Packing Peanuts to Indoor Arena Footing?

[Alter_Halter]

Recently, the owner of a local stable in my area added shredded up packing peanuts to the indoor arena footing. My question is, has anyone heard of this before? Is this a thing? What would it do to improve the footing?

I believe the packing peanuts were the polystyrene type, not the biodegradable type and it sounds like he just got some packing peanuts, shredded them up and spread them around. This is in an indoor arena with sand footing that has historically been too deep and with a questionable base.

I have heard of all sorts of additives to improve arena footing; wood mulch products, rubber, felt and fiber to stabilize footing and chemicals like magnesium chloride to help retain moisture in the footing. I have never heard of adding polystyrene packing peanuts. They don’t absorb water, they will probably get crunched up into tiny useless pieces, and they are so light I am told they are already blowing away all over the farm.

What am I missing? Why would someone add packing peanuts to a ring?

[Cindyg]

They’re going to stick to everything!

[cowboymom]

:lol:

[Alagirl]

dang, I can’t believe I can’t find the video with the ferret covered in packing peanuts! :lol:

I have heard of nurseries putting ground up styrofoam in potting soil, because it;s light weight, etc…but no…that stuff is really not good released into the environment.

[CHT]

That TOTALLY sounds like something my husband would want to do if we happened to have some packing peanuts that would otherwise be thrown out…fortunately he is willing to listen to reason!

[Calvincrowe]

What an environmental mess! I can’t see that working out too well, in terms of enhancing the footing, they’ll break down into tiny pieces of fluffy, floaty dust that a horse or human can inhale. Ick.

[Alter_Halter]

So you say that styrofoam packing peanuts in arena footing is bad?

So what you all are saying is that that not only is there no good reason to add styrofoam packing peanuts to indoor arena footing, but that it also is bad for the environment (they blow away and don’t biodegrade) and that once pulverized, the styrofoam may present a respiratory hazard for people and horses riding in the indoor arena?

Did I get that right?

[Calvincrowe]

Well, that’s how I see it anyway. Now, I live in the PNW–land of reuse, reduce, recycle, but polystyrene packing peanuts are a plague here: how to get rid of them is a problem, and most shippers are using biodegradeable or alternative ones. I sure wouldn’t want to ride in a ring that has stuff in it that I can’t identify being ground to dust that I could breath in. It won’t hold water, and it won’t create much loft (like rubber or Nike or textile) and I surely won’t stay in large enough pieces to be helpful long.

I think it is a stupid idea, FWIW.

[Zu_Zu]

A MISTAKE ~ every way one looks at it !!!

[I]Honestly ~ this is a mess any & every way one looks at this :eek:

How is the owner going to feel ?! pay for all the surgeries when horses and dogs and cats and small children swallow the packing peanuts ?! :eek:

[/I][I]This is an accident waiting to happen !

** there is a note enclosed with packing peanuts when they are used to PACKING !

perhaps the owner should try feathers ```` yes add feathers to the indoor footing in that arena and then !?!

the horse owners will have easy access to the “feather part” when they decide to [B]TAR & feather the guy !

This guy may be ‘well-meaning’ but there is a fine line between well-meaning and
STOOOOPID !!! [/B][/I]

[goodhors]

Well, I can’t see the Styrofoam making the sand firmer or less deep, never have seen them break down to dust though it might be possible with heavy use. I would have to think it wouldn’t be more dangerous than the air filled with old manure and bedding, which people spread in some indoor arenas, then ride on and breathe in that dirt. Good way to get black lungs for sure, in horses AND you.

I have gotten the peanuts mixed into my garden soil by accident, and with my clay dirt, they actually are helping “lighten” the soil for better drainage. Clay dirt packs, gets hard, because the soil particles fit so tight together. Adding the shredded Styrofoam helps keep the particles apart, so soil doesn’t pack hard after rain or walking on it. I have also added other organic matter to the soil, but it needs constant replacing because it breaks down to nothing. That doesn’t happen with the styrofoam beads of broken peanuts. With dirt on the parts, the Styrofoam doesn’t blow around at all. And I get the benefit of better constructed garden soil.

Sorry Zu Zu, I have never had any animals try to eat packing peanuts, though the cats like swatting them around if they find one. The kids had more fun breaking them up to bead sizes. Kind of irresitable, like popping bubbles on packing material!!

[HungarianHippo]

I don’t think I’d get too worked up about health hazards. Inhaling dust of any sort is an irritant. Yes, I know that styrene is a carcinogen and EPS (=expanded polystyrene=the technical name for styrofoam) comes from styrene. But considering that there are millions of cubic feet of EPS filling our landfills, with no special disposal requirements, tells me that it’s just inert filler that doesn’t pose special harm vs organic dust.

Doesn’t mean it makes good footing though. It’s so much lighter/less dense than the sand/dirt base that it would probably end up surfing on top of the base and just blow away. So I’m guessing this will be a short-lived problem.

If he’s that into recycling packaging material, you ought to ask him to lay bubble wrap over the arena footing. The loud popping noise will guarantee good elevation and impulsion from your horse.

[Mozart]

Won’t help retain moisture
Won’t make it less deep
Won’t help an iffy base.

The only thing I can see it doing, maybe, is firm up shifty footing. Maybe. I think you would need to have a lot of it to make a difference like that.

[morganpony86]

I can’t imagine it’s a good idea. When the 35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, it landed on a train and busted open a bunch of cars. The news would not stop talking about a “polystyrene bead” spill and that it was a hazardous material. I remember my SO and I looking at each other “uh, isn’t that packing peanuts??”.
Also, from personal experience, I know once you squish a packing peanut, it ain’t comin’ back, and you can squish those things paper thin. I can’t see how that would be a good arena component.

[HungarianHippo]

It’s very easily ignited, so that is probably the hazard they were referring to. The Hazmat label applies to all sorts of risks, not just toxins / health effects.

[csaper58]

A lot of people mistake Perlite, an ingredient in potting soil, with packing peanuts, and styrofoam.

[Ghazzu]

[QUOTE=Zu Zu;7075812]
[I]Honestly ~ this is a mess any & every way one looks at this :eek:

How is the owner going to feel ?! pay for all the surgeries when horses and dogs and cats and small children swallow the packing peanuts ?! :eek:

[/I][I]This is an accident waiting to happen !

** there is a note enclosed with packing peanuts when they are used to PACKING !

perhaps the owner should try feathers ```` yes add feathers to the indoor footing in that arena and then !?!

the horse owners will have easy access to the “feather part” when they decide to [B]TAR & feather the guy !

This guy may be ‘well-meaning’ but there is a fine line between well-meaning and
STOOOOPID !!! [/B][/I][/QUOTE]

Do you genuinely think that the local pets and yard apes will congregate in the arena to eat plastic bits out of the dirt?

If so, you must live in a very interesting neighborhood.

[Ghazzu]

@morganpony86;7076632

I can’t imagine it’s a good idea. When the 35W bridge collapsed in Minneapolis, it landed on a train and busted open a bunch of cars. The news would not stop talking about a “polystyrene bead” spill and that it was a hazardous material. I remember my SO and I looking at each other “uh, isn’t that packing peanuts??”.

Milk spills are also regarded as hazardous waste.

[Alagirl]

[QUOTE=csaper58;7076925]
A lot of people mistake Perlite, an ingredient in potting soil, with packing peanuts, and styrofoam.[/QUOTE]

true.
but styrofoam has been added to potting soil in the past.

I mean, I do not object to filling large pots partly with the peanuts, but I would not suggest grinding them up and putting them in a arena.

[susanne]

The concept with container gardening is to put the packing peanuts in a mesh bag and set in the bottom of really huge pots, which, if filled entirely with potting soil, would be too heavy to ever move. The peanuts are supposed to be kept separate from – not mixed in with – the soil.

I’ve done this once or twice, but the containers are still too heavy just to pick up and move. When you repot, you have a mess of filthy, squished peanuts to deal with.

[trubandloki]

[QUOTE=Ghazzu;7076947]
Milk spills are also regarded as hazardous waste.[/QUOTE]
There was just tanker full of food waste oil/grease spilled on the road here. That too was hazardous waste.

I am wondering if the owner of this ring things the packing peanuts will make their footing lighter, less likely to pack down so easily.