Arena Question

[penny.rose17]

Hi! Is it okay that I dug holes in my arena to measure the depth? Will that disturb the base at all? I was very careful when I scraped rather than digging, working parallel to the ground, but I might have grazed the base and made light contact with it when trying to determine where it was. Could the digging also disturb the sand on top, potentially making certain spots weaker and more prone to drainage or stability issues down the road?

I honestly might not have made any contact; it was hard to tell because everything in the arena is so compact right now since it just rained last week and hasn’t been dragged yet. I measured about 2.5” to 3.5” in the several spots we dug, so I don’t think we really dug that deep. If we did dig deep enough to disrupt the base, I think we would’ve really felt that too. I think I’m probably just overthinking it, but it’s a new arena, and I don’t want to have already disrupted something and started problems. So I guess that’s where the concern is coming from.

[173north]

You can contact the footing company with all these questions and they’ll walk you through everything to make sure both you and your dad have all the details. I am sure they want you to feel confident before riding on it for the first time and will be happy to spend 20 - 30 minutes chatting with you to fill you in.

But nothing here sounds too alarming to me — the little test holes will even out and the footing will loosen up / expand when you drag it, though the final depth will depend on the type of footing. The company that did the install will know for sure and can explain more about what they did to make the ring suitable for jumping.

And if you’re really stressing you could always have your trainer or another local pro you trust come by to give it a final okay before you start riding on it (and pay them for their time, obviously). No harm in a third-party seal of approval!

[SillyHorse]

Paragraphs and punctuation are your friends. Truly.

[OverandOnward]

@penny.rose17

Hi! I think I’m completely overthinking this and I need someone to tell me I definitely am - we had our arena done back in November and we haven’t ridden in it yet because our horse is still in training down in Palm Beach and we’re getting the sprinklers in this week we haven’t dragged it yet because we wanted to be able to water the arena when we drag but when the arena was done I was sick and my dad set it all up and took care of everything and it didn’t hit me until now that I hope he knew that the arena would be used for jumping and I hope there is enough footing I think I read you want between 3” and 4” and I know you don’t want too much it’s better to have less than more but I don’t want to be jumping so close to the base either and I don’t know if that makes a big difference reaffirming to him what my discipline is this is our first arena and I feel very clueless about it all and I’m just trying to make sure we have everything right and it’ll be okay for my horses legs to jump and ride on - I asked my dad if he went over everything with the guy about how many inches we should have for jumping and I’m not sure if everything was so clear but I’m sure this guy knows what he is doing and wouldn’t make an arena unsafe and would take into account that there could be jumping even if we didn’t clarify it I think it was mentioned when he came out last summer and we walked the property and he gave us a quote and I was there and met him and I know I would’ve mentioned that but I was thinking it was 6 months later until he came out and I would think he would remember and it didn’t need to be said again so I think I’m definitely overthinking that part but I couldn’t get it out of my mind and I had mentioned it to my dad and he told me he dug several different spots in the arena and he said he was very careful not to dig into the base and just scraped parallel to the arena and he was measuring about 2-3” between them all - is it better to be more 3-4 inches? It hasn’t been dragged yet and it just rained last week so it was compact when we measured it and I don’t know if I’m overthinking this too but was digging holes a bad idea and stupid - I’m worried that maybe he could’ve dug into the base without realizing, although I’m sure he was very careful and that it would be very hard to actually dig into the base accidentally, but if he did could that compromise or disturb anything with the surface/base? I think my questions are really stupid and more built up in my head especially since this was such a big and costly project and our first and most likely only arena and I just want to make sure we’re doing everything right and I also hope I didn’t mess anything up by digging - I’m sorry I just realized how long this is and hopefully not too confusing but honestly I just am looking for someone to tell me I’m overthinking and building it up more in my head than anything else

Wow. Just under 600 words with not a single period or comma. Or paragraph. Just the one exclamation mark after “Hi!”.

OP, very few people are going to read your wall 'o words.

[2DogsFarm]

Agree your runon post was hard to read.
Also agree you’re overthinking.

My footing - now 20yo - is 9" compacted gravel, topped with 3" angular sand.
It’s only me riding in there, so no track has formed. Well, hardly any.
And though it’s been years, I had no problems jumping - generally 2’-2’6" - in there.
For 5+yrs my neighbors/hayguys have stored loaded haywagons in there. As many as 7, holding around 52K# of bales. This load, along with the tractors & pickup trucks driven to pull wagons in & out haven’t made any huge difference to the footing.
A couple times I’ve raked sand back over ruts, but no lasting damage.

[trubandloki]

@penny.rose17

Hi! I think I’m completely overthinking this and I need someone to tell me I definitely am - we had our arena done back in November and we haven’t ridden in it yet because our horse is still in training down in Palm Beach and we’re getting the sprinklers in this week we haven’t dragged it yet because we wanted to be able to water the arena when we drag but when the arena was done I was sick and my dad set it all up and took care of everything and it didn’t hit me until now that I hope he knew that the arena would be used for jumping and I hope there is enough footing I think I read you want between 3” and 4” and I know you don’t want too much it’s better to have less than more but I don’t want to be jumping so close to the base either and I don’t know if that makes a big difference reaffirming to him what my discipline is this is our first arena and I feel very clueless about it all and I’m just trying to make sure we have everything right and it’ll be okay for my horses legs to jump and ride on - I asked my dad if he went over everything with the guy about how many inches we should have for jumping and I’m not sure if everything was so clear but I’m sure this guy knows what he is doing and wouldn’t make an arena unsafe and would take into account that there could be jumping even if we didn’t clarify it I think it was mentioned when he came out last summer and we walked the property and he gave us a quote and I was there and met him and I know I would’ve mentioned that but I was thinking it was 6 months later until he came out and I would think he would remember and it didn’t need to be said again so I think I’m definitely overthinking that part but I couldn’t get it out of my mind and I had mentioned it to my dad and he told me he dug several different spots in the arena and he said he was very careful not to dig into the base and just scraped parallel to the arena and he was measuring about 2-3” between them all - is it better to be more 3-4 inches? It hasn’t been dragged yet and it just rained last week so it was compact when we measured it and I don’t know if I’m overthinking this too but was digging holes a bad idea and stupid - I’m worried that maybe he could’ve dug into the base without realizing, although I’m sure he was very careful and that it would be very hard to actually dig into the base accidentally, but if he did could that compromise or disturb anything with the surface/base? I think my questions are really stupid and more built up in my head especially since this was such a big and costly project and our first and most likely only arena and I just want to make sure we’re doing everything right and I also hope I didn’t mess anything up by digging - I’m sorry I just realized how long this is and hopefully not too confusing but honestly I just am looking for someone to tell me I’m overthinking and building it up more in my head than anything else

Deep breath!

I agree with @173north, reach out to the company you hired and ask questions.

[mmeqcenter]

Periods.
Please.
I beg of you.

2-3" is fine to start. Better to start light and add more down the road, than to start with it too deep and risk blowing tendons, and having to remove some.

The holes will fill back in when you drag, no big deal.

[penny.rose17]

Thank you for all your responses, and I appreciate you pointing out that my post was long and lacking proper punctuation and paragraphs. I went back and cleaned it up quite a bit—it’s still a little long, but it should be much easier to read now.

As for the depth of the arena, we contacted the arena guy this morning, and he said it’s between 3” and 4”, more leaning toward 3”. I’d rather it be more on the lower end anyway, so that’ll be great. I figured the guy who did the arena would know what’s best, so I’m not too concerned about that. I think I was just overly focused on the holes more than anything else. Honestly, they probably didn’t need to be dug, and I hope it wasn’t enough to disturb anything with drainage or stability. But again, I think I’m just overthinking it.

Thanks again for your patience—I really appreciate it!