My barn has an outdoor with crappy footing. There are ~25-30 horses, but most don’t use the ring, so it isn’t in heavy use, but as I said, crappy footing- I’d like to see once a week but even every 2 weeks would be ok. It only gets dragged when we ask for it. Always feels like nagging, I hate having to ask every time- I wish they would come up with a schedule.
Lucky you! I remember it taking at least 20 minutes, but maybe our ring was bigger than yours. Mind you our drag wasn’t very big, so it took some time to get it decent.
I have watched arenas for barrel racing being dragged in under 10 minutes, but my subcompact tractor doesn’t have the power to handle a big groomer. I run a 60 inch DragNfly behind a Deere1025.
Time to groom depends on equipment including tractor and drag, footing, and any complexities of the given situation like moving poles or raking edges or differences in footing etc. Also total time to groom includes getting the tractor attaching the drag and getting into the arena. Depending on how the place is organized that can add time. Also if the arena is sprinkled grooming might not work well. It’s not always easy to fit in.
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I think it depends on the standards of the facility.
Is it strictly a boarding place with some pleasure riders? Or is it a training facility?
We have Reiners and have anywhere from 8-15 horses in the arena every day.
Our arena is drug every morning around 7 and watered as needed - usually every 3 days which takes about an hour and a half.
I prefer to drag immediately after watering as I find the water works into the footing and keeps the ground at a good consistency for longer.
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I think if you’re at a barn where people ride daily in the arena, lessons are given, boarders attend shows . . . arena maintenance should be a priority. If you’re at a casual barn where people maybe ride occasionally and just for fun, then the expectation is different. That being said I have a really hard time with lack of arena maintenance. I was at a barn for 10+ years and during that time, they replaced their footing with wonderful sand and GGT. The arena got heavy use and was groomed pretty much daily M-F. My current situation is much different and drives me insane. The footing is subpar at best and very uneven. It’s a million times better when it’s watered, but that only happens if the trainer waters. She waters generally on her lesson days 2-3 times a week. But typically that only impacts that day and it’s a dry dust bowl by the next day. Grooming - well that rarely happens. Now if we have a show, then that arena looks fabulous. Which is a bummer for boarders that aren’t showing because we don’t get much benefit from that. My horse coughed a lot during a recent ride due to the dust. I think that is unacceptable. But ultimately promises go unfulfilled and the situation doesn’t change. If I had a younger horse such that I had showing / training goals this wouldn’t be sufficient for me. I think footing is super important to prevent injury. I also think a dust free environment is important.
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Can you water?
Your fetish pales beside the Good Ol’ Boyz who “groom” the smallish arena at the fairgrounds between the Reiners & the Pony Driving classes.
They spend a good hour dragging, redragging, watering, dragging again…
Sand is already deep for the Sliders 
These guys make the track quicksand for my 34" mini.
Honest, Judge, I’m not purposely driving off the track, Id like my guy to survive the class & not collapse in the lineup.
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