Closing the arena when it rains...

[Xanthoria]

Our new barn manager, has instituted a new policy: arena is groomed and closed when there’s a rain storm.

Here’s how it’s falling apart:

1. We only have one arena. It’s the only place to ride at night.
2. The arena gets locked at 2pm when rain isn’t going to start until 4am
3. The arena is not unlocked until a few days after a storm, but the BM refuses point blank to tell boarders when this has happened (ie won’t email the boarder email list to say so)
4. The majority of the serious arena riders ride after work, in the evening - not knowing if the arena is open or shut affects when they leave work, how they plan their week, etc etc

Of course this hits me hard as I have a horse who needs exercise daily for the sake of his health.

Does dragging and closing arenas really speed drainage? We get a few big rainstorms in our area per winter, but if she’s gonna close it every hint of drizzle we’re not going to get any riding done this winter/spring…

[poltroon]

Growing up in Southern California, yes this is a practice I lived with and yes it can be a huge PITA but yes it does minimize damage to the arena and help it be rideable again sooner.

You’re upset that the arena is locked hours before it is going to rain, but from the BM’s point of view, she has whatever labor she has available and she has to have the ring dragged and sealed before that person goes home for the day. She doesn’t have someone on call who can do the dragging at 9pm after everyone has ridden.

So, that’s the other side.

From your side, it would certainly be helpful to be informed, and it might be useful to find out the objection to informing people. Is it just that she’s not near a computer and it’s too much trouble? Is it that she can’t guarantee to do it every time? Does she object to someone else sending out notifications? Is there a way to make it low impact for her?

Most typically, this practice is meant to protect an arena that is not in excellent shape, either because it wasn’t strongly engineered in the first place or because it is in need of new sand and/or better drainage. It’s expensive to have and maintain a truly all-weather arena. Barns that I boarded at that did have well built arenas stayed open all the time, even with substantial boarder traffic.

No doubt your board price reflects the fact that you have only the one arena and also that it’s not state of the art. I know all too well how much it sucks, but have yet to experience the barn with no tradeoffs at all.

[Xanthoria]

Yeah I can see how not having staff there after 4pm is gonna prevent later lockups. Fair enough.

[QUOTE=poltroon;8558341]
From your side, it would certainly be helpful to be informed, and it might be useful to find out the objection to informing people. Is it just that she’s not near a computer and it’s too much trouble? Is it that she can’t guarantee to do it every time? Does she object to someone else sending out notifications? Is there a way to make it low impact for her? [/QUOTE]

In fact sending an email out to the group email list would be very quick on her phone, so it’s not that she can’t. It’s probably partly that she’s not at the barn every day, she doesn’t want to figure out how to get the guys who do the grooming/locking to let her know (they don’t do email and are ESL) and she’s just the sort of person who takes a stance and won’t back down no matter what. Someone else asked her to open the arena after a rain storm and they argued - now it’s an issue and she’s set her jaw…

I did think of telling her I’d encourage the rest of the group to let the email list know when they see the arena is open. It will require a very diplomatic email for her not so see that as a threat to her authority…

[RPM]

Not living in southern CA, all I can think of in response to this practice is, this must not be an eventing barn!

Or any other barn I’ve ever heard of.

If you can’t ride in a little rain, you’re gonna miss a lot of schooling. Shows don’t stop just because of a little rain. Lightning, now, that’s different …

If an arena can’t be used in the rain, the BO needs to rethink the footing.

Does Santa Anita close the track when it rains? Or two hours before?

[trubandloki]

I had never heard of this whole practice until it came up here on COTH, as it is not done routinely where I live.

You say the workers do not email. Do you know they do not text? Is it worth it to talk to one of them and ask them to text you?

[Wonders12]

Do you otherwise like this barn?

If not, I would consider looking into your other options. The lack of arena time is an issue, but the communication and BMs attitude aren’t helping things.

If so, I would wait it out. If you only have a few big rain storms, and she only closes them for that, just deal with it. Hand walk, hand walk, hand walk for your horse who can’t have the time off. If she ends up closing it every time it sprinkles, then you have a decision to make. Remember, this is the BMs new great idea. Don’t be surprised if it mellows out after a while. A lot of us have plans of grandeur until real life sets in and we realize the arena won’t float away from and inch of rain.

But you’re not going to change your BMs mind. So how can you work around it? Can she text one person when opens again and you can do a phone tree? If not, a Facebook group is a great way to post “If anyone is out at the barn today, can you let us know if the arena is open?” Then the first person to get there after work can let you all know. Is there one boarder that the BM really clicks with who she would trust with judging the arena conditions on the days she isn’t there?

[HungarianHippo]

It’s totally valid to request that arena closings are communicated by the barn via mail list. Generally people are going to the barn to RIDE, so essentially the facility is closed for them. That just seems like common courtesy.

Is your board lower, relative to other barns with better facilities, to reflect the arena being somewhat regularly unavailable? I’d start shopping to see what else is available nearby. Right now the BO is saying “take it or leave it.” So make that choice.
If you have a good relationship, and really don’t want to leave, let the BO know that you love it there but the arena situation is a serious issue, and does she see a path forward to make the arena more available. Maybe one path forward is a board increase that justifies her making the capital improvements she needs.

[digihorse]

I think I would be having a chat with the the BO about the new BM. If this was not a standard practice at this barn in the past, then she may be over reacting. Not all arenas need to be closed. I’ve found it more depends on the actual barn help doing the dragging, and if they pay attention or do the “usual” they get away with.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=Xanthoria;8558305]

Does dragging and closing arenas really speed drainage? [/QUOTE]

Yes. But the bigger deal is creating a flat surface so that the water will run off and not contribute to soaking the base… and then having that churned up while wet.

Your BO isn’t right about not notifying you guys. But he/she is right about being scrupulous about maintaining the footing and the base of the arena. And if the rain storm will come at 4 am, but you guys ride after work, do you intend for the BO to drag the arena late at night? Do you have lights out there so it’s possible? Does the barn pay overtime for stuff like that?

[digihorse]

Here’s my counter to everyone thinking this is ok (closing the arena early) Who are your boarders and do you intend on keeping them? If your client base needs that arena open into the evening for after work riding, then you as the service provider need to be looking at how to make that happen. And yes I have been in that position. In this area where OP is, its a BIG deal to get out to a barn like that in the first place. If you go too far in maintaining something that wasn’t “broke” in the first place, you risk your business. Are the facilities part of the service provided or not?

(And don’t get me started on “barn help” that doesn’t want to work beyond 4pm. FIRE them and find someone who will)

[mvp]

[QUOTE=digihorse;8558655]
Here’s my counter to everyone thinking this is ok (closing the arena early) Who are your boarders and do you intend on keeping them? If your client base needs that arena open into the evening for after work riding, then you as the service provider need to be looking at how to make that happen. And yes I have been in that position. In this area where OP is, its a BIG deal to get out to a barn like that in the first place. If you go too far in maintaining something that wasn’t “broke” in the first place, you risk your business. Are the facilities part of the service provided or not?

(And don’t get me started on “barn help” that doesn’t want to work beyond 4pm. FIRE them and find someone who will)[/QUOTE]

Yes, but will/can boarders pay for that? Great footing in an arena costs a surprising amount of money. So do employees who will work those uber-long days as necessary.

I say this as someone who only wants to own a barn if the standard of care is higher than all others in my area (which is why I want to own my own place and have a few boarders). But! I can’t do this if people can’t pay for that. No business owner can.

You’d be surprised by how much “mediocrity” in boarding barns is a product of boarders just not having enough in their monthly budget to pay for better. Most horsemen don’t want to keep horses in mud or in unbedded stalls, or have dusty/bad arenas. But they can’t afford to offer better if their customers can’t afford to pay more.

I try to see this from both sides, and to be sympathetic to the constraints of both. And financial ones seem to be quite immobile.

[Peggy]

“Sealling” the arena (basically flattening it so the water runs off, not a normal drag FWIW) before a rain can get you into the arena days earlier after the rain. It helps the water to run off.

The base dirt in southern California is often some sort of clay that doesn’t percolate well. If you punch through the base between the footing and the clay then chunks of clay start coming up into your footing AND you have holes in the base.

Thus, it’s common practice in these parts to seal the arenas before any rain expected to generate more than a quarter of an inch or so. We’re fortunate at our barn to have a second ring that’s a bit hard under normal circumstances, but generally rideable right after it rains.

Barns I have been at in the modern era have Facebook pages and notify the boarders when they’re planning to seal and also give updates on when the rings might open after the rain.

[Quelah]

IME very standard procedure and every show barn I’ve managed and boarding barn where I’ve kept my own horses has done the same, until the boarding barn where I had my own changed ownership and the new owners stopped doing it and the arena is now….well it would take heavy equipment and a lot of $$ to fix the free for all during rainy weather damage that has been done to it since they bought it.

My own arena got dragged and “closed” for the coming rain last night. Sad fact, if people want to be able to ride every day regardless of weather, they need to be somewhere with a covered. Even my friend who has a $$$ perfectly professionally done “all weather” outdoor won’t be using it this weekend.

Spring is almost here, hang in there!

[enjoytheride]

I have never heard of this being done until I saw it on COTH and it always seems to be California. Here in Indiana we can get quite a bit of rain but most of the rings here are designed well and the footing holds up fine even for a show with lots of jumping after several inches of rain. If the base is designed right the water drains through and the footing stays excellent. If you slacked on money installing your arena you might get soft spots or standing puddles but I’ve honestly only seen that in backyard arenas where the homeowner didn’t spend as much money as a facility that had boarders or shows.

[rothmpp]

For me the issue would be that the arena closing is not being communicated to the boarders.

I get the necessity of closing the arena in certain climates with heavy rain, and hopefully you are in a location that this is a fairly rare occasion.

But for me - it smacks a bit of laziness on the part of the barn manager that she can’t send out a group text message telling the boarders that the arena will be closed starting at x time and will remain closed until x day and time or until further notice. She’s communicating the need to close the arena to the barn staff doing the work - so she should be able to take the 30 seconds to tell you the same.

It sucks to not be able to ride - but if this continues to be a thing - you may need to consider moving to a barn with both a “nice” arena and a “sacrifice” arena. I’m just jealous that you even get to ride outside. Our outdoor has not been useable since November and as I look out the window from my desk it is snowing. Again.

[mvp]

[QUOTE=enjoytheride;8558849]
I have never heard of this being done until I saw it on COTH and it always seems to be California. Here in Indiana we can get quite a bit of rain but most of the rings here are designed well and the footing holds up fine even for a show with lots of jumping after several inches of rain. If the base is designed right the water drains through and the footing stays excellent. If you slacked on money installing your arena you might get soft spots or standing puddles but I’ve honestly only seen that in backyard arenas where the homeowner didn’t spend as much money as a facility that had boarders or shows.[/QUOTE]

It really has to do with the soil underneath. Clay is a bitch, even if you spend money and effort on a base.

[khall]

Well I am in Georgia, land of lovely red clay. My arena holds up beautifully even during heavy rain storms (I know because I host clinics and have had heavy rain during clinics, arena stays good shape) but the contractor who installed the arena put it in like a road base. So there is red clay sub base, crush and run base and then footing of M10/screenings (depends on what you call it) which is pretty deep and holds up well to rain. In fact this footing needs water on it to keep it from being too shifty. Very happy with my arena but was not cheap $35,000 for 80X200 and NOT covered :(.

So I would question why the arena does not hold up. It should for a boarding barn.

[Quelah]

Many boarding barns in this area (N Cal) do not have engineered stone bases under the sand. khall you’ve got enough stone in there that it kind of takes the Georgia clay right out of the equation LOL and I am jealous!

A fancy built with $$ training facility would have a good stone base, but it’s rare at a more low key type boarding barn. So if you have a leveled (hopefully) dirt pad with sand on top, it makes the closing during wet weather make more sense.

[Peggy]

The clay in California is adobe. You know, the stuff you can make bricks from to built houses and missions. The water goes through the sand and any base and then hits the adobe, can’t percolate through, and sits there.

There are very expensive things that can be done but it doesn’t rain enough usually , at least in Southern California, to make it cost effective in many situations. Kind of like it not being cost effective to make buildings earthquake resistant in some parts of the world.

[Hilary]

To RAyers point, I ride in the rain all the time. But sometimes I cannot ride in my arena because while it might be OK that day? The amount of work it would take to fix the damage of that one ride isn’t worth it. So I hack or go to an indoor or something else. I find I can do a conditioning ride for hours in the rain but I hate doing flatwork in it. It just seems wetter…

I would be frustrated too, OP, because if you don’t know how much rain you will get, and they just close it if it hints of misting, then you are losing riding time. Weather forecasting seems to be more art than science sometimes. I’m sure the ring would be fine if it sprinkled lightly for a while but getting 2" in 3 hours would be problematic.

She seems to have taken the easy way out. For her.