Arena base options

[Lucky_shamrock]

After many years of riding on grass, I will finally have a ring installed. I’ve gotten prices from two different contractors, both of whom specialize in riding arenas. The prices were fairly comparable (though one includes fencing, the other did not), but their ideas were quite different in terms of materials and methods of installation. As this is a long awaited purchase and I have a limited amount of money, I’m not sure which option is best and would love some insight.

The spot I have picked out is about 150’ x 90’, leveled and stripped of loam several years ago. The subsoil is currently clay and rocks varying in size from pebbles to 6". It is extremely wet at time, though that improved substantially with grading and swales. I do dressage and eventing with one horse and have a two year old to start next year.

Contactor 1 - recommends bringing in clean fill to cover and level out existing clay and rocks, followed by geotextile fabric. He then recommended 6" of 3/4" gravel followed by 2.5 of the footing of my choice to be laser graded. The gravel gave me a pause, because I had always read that stone dust (or some equally compactable material was best). When I questioned this, he said that gravel is actually more compactable than stone dust. Gravel is cheaper and would save me $$$ in terms of materials, but I worry that it will create a stable enough base. His price did not include fencing. FWIW, this guy seemed easy to deal with, has gotten back to me promptly on multiple occasions and presented his price in a professional looking document.

Contrator 2 - recommended bringing in 5" of stone dust and laser grading. When I asked whether this would get too hard/compacted over time (as I’ve heard is the case with stone dust footing), he said this was a special stone dust he can get locally which is softer than the stone dust you get at your average quarry. This sounds like a line to me, BUT I’ve spoken to several people who have had rings installed by this guy and they all love the ring. When I asked about doing a stone dust base + footing, he said this would create a wet area in one corner that would eventually flood. This guy has been difficult to nail down as far as pricing, but he and his wife have a large hunter jumper barn, so he’s been in Florida since January, so perhaps that is understandable. His price does include fencing.

I did have a third contractor come out, but he never got back to me with a price.

Both guys come highly recommended and have done multiple rings in our region.

With the exception of my house and my truck and trailer, this will be my biggest purchase ever and I don’t want to mess it up! Would love your collective thoughts and expertise.

Thanks in advance!

[jawa]

I would be afraid that the freeze/thaw cycle would cause some gravel in the base to migrate to the top.

As I understand there is rock dust and there is washed rock dust. The washed doesn’t pack, which leaves the surface with a “softer” feel, allows for the hooves to leave impressions. Perhaps this is what he was referring to.

[Savannah_KP]

Not an expert, but I’ve done a ton of research as I am planning on building my own ring. I wonder if the first guy is talking about 3/4 crushed gravel with fines included, then maybe it would compact a bit, but I don’t think it would compact as much as stone dust. 3/4 clean gravel will not compact enough and will be unstable. Generally, it seems if gravel is used, it is usually the first base layer, then geotextile fabric to prevent the rocks from migrating up, then stone dust, then footing. If prices are fairly close, I would go with the guy your friends recommend, that way you know the quality of product you will end up with.

[TheJenners]

I also agree to go with the guy who has done arenas in the area people either love five-10 years later, or arenas you’ve ridden in and liked. It may be “a line” or he may know something. But weigh that with him being busy with other obligations. Do you want it done timely, or is it okay that he disappears halfway thru to deal with his other irons in the fire?

[Lucky_shamrock]

Thanks, all. Some good points, especially about the gravel. That was my initial feeling, as well. I definitely think stone dust is the way to go.

With the second guy, the reason I felt like I may be a line is because I thought stone dust had to meet certain ASTM standards. So, for this special stone dust to only be available from this one particular supplier made me raise my eyebrows a little. Call me cynical, I guess, though I’ll admit, I’m no expert in stone products. But he does highly recommended.

[jawa]

Other places may produce rock dust, but not all would have the ability to produce a “washed product”. The washed product doesn’t compact.

[Mosey_2003]

Raising hand Quarry girl here! The best thing to do would be to call the supplier and ask what their product is, if you’re wanting to know. If they have a website, try to find a salesman’s number, otherwise call the office and the secretary/scale clerk should be able to answer your questions.

We do limestone here, and we have a wash plant. Our stone dust does sometimes go through the wash plant (not as a washed product itself, but it’s a by-product of certain other runs we do).

If there is enough demand in the area, they may be custom mixing it with something like a coarser ‘sand’ product in order to lighten it up specifically for arenas. In the past, when we had enough demand, we used to custom mix a product for baseball diamonds like that, although it was lime plus our 1/4 inch washed chip.

I don’t know about ASTM standards. I know our lime is tested to verify it doesn’t have too much coarse material in it, and it’s tested for calcium and magnesium percentages, etc. But that’s geared toward agriculture and how it will affect the soil. If you call the supplier, they should be able to provide you with test results that show how fine/coarse the rock is as they should be testing it themselves in-house at certain intervals. The test results on ours are called “gradations” and show how much of the material passes through various sieves of different sizes.

Overall, I agree with others that the best thing to do would be to go with who everyone else likes the best.

[CupOJavaa]

I too have a grass arena and have been researching, planning, and talking to contractors about building an arena soon. One thing I wanted to say is to make sure that the people you have talked to who have had rings built by these guys have been riding on them for at LEAST a year. Last summer I was searching for contractors and got a recommendation from a horse-acquaintance for a guy who built her arena just a couple of months prior. So I called him and he came out and looked at the spot and gave me a reasonable quote (also in a professional-looking document). After getting a couple of other quotes I decided to go with this guy.

Fast forward to last month, I am getting closer to building, and I reached out to the girl who gave me the recommendation to check in with her. I sent her a message saying that I was getting ready to let this guy break ground and wanted to hear how her ring has been holding up since it had some time to weather. Her response: “Can you call me tomorrow?” Uh oh. We spoke on the phone for 30 minutes and it was not good. The guy had gone back to her place MULTIPLE times to fix multiple mistakes. The first one? He had said he would use a laser level and then later admitted that he had just “eyeballed it.” Yikes. She has recently decided to take him to court - thankfully she had a thorough contract written about what he was supposed to do.

Anyways. I would be skeptical of gravel over multiple freezing and thawing cycles and lots of weathering. Gravel can, and likely will, work its way up into your footing over time. I would much prefer a bluestone base compacted to 4-6" with footing on top of that. Gravel would certainly save some money but I have been doing a lot of research on building rings (as I am sure you have) and in that time I personally have decided against gravel. I have chosen to use a bluestone footing as well. Bluestone footing is very common here in Virginia and I have ridden in many arenas with bluestone and I have always loved it. Make sure you have a good drag and get to it after a rain. I do have it in my head that I will add a little sand over time.