D@%N HORSES!! Arena base repair?

[SugarCubes]

I could absolutely kill one of my horses right now. I have a new-ish arena and we had a good storm on Monday night. After dragging today, the footing looked good but I had planned on just doing trot work in case the base was still a little soft.

Long story short, it was windy and cool and my horse was a complete ass. He decided the ride would be better spent spooking, bucking and bolting and tore up parts of the base.

The holes aren’t more than a few inches deep, but now the base isn’t level and I can see where spots are mixed in with the footing :mad: Please tell me this isn’t going to require extensive repair. I’m ready to cry…

[EmilyM]

if it’s still wet, i would rake back the footing and smooth the base back in. let it bake in the sun. then rake the footing back over.
keeping footing nice is a constant struggle. and the struggle is real in my humble experience.

[SugarCubes]

@EmilyM

if it’s still wet, i would rake back the footing and smooth the base back in. let it bake in the sun. then rake the footing back over.
keeping footing nice is a constant struggle. and the struggle is real in my humble experience.

Thanks, Emily! He was acting like such a hooligan that the spots he tore up looked like little mountains of footing mixed with base. When I raked the footing away, the base was mixed in with it so I raked back as much base as I could and tamped it down, but I think I’ll be left with some small dips in the base now. But like you said, arenas are totally a constant struggle so I’ll try not to stress too much about it!

And of course, these shenanigans were caused by the nearly-17 year old who is supposed to be acting his age by now :rolleyes:

[EmilyM]

do you have any extra base material to help fill in the divots? i’ve had to keep some ringside. good luck. i’m sure it will be ok.

[SugarCubes]

I am actually picking up a small load today that I can keep behind the ring for “touch-ups”! I rode yesterday and only noticed two spots that felt a little lower than the rest of the ring. The tricky part is remembering exactly where those spots are after you dismount!

[SonnysMom]

@SugarCubes

The tricky part is remembering exactly where those spots are after you dismount!

Maybe the next time you ride carry a few bandanas and drop them near the spots so you can spot them afterwards. Or drop your gloves?

[SugarCubes]

@SonnysMom

Maybe the next time you ride carry a few bandanas and drop them near the spots so you can spot them afterwards. Or drop your gloves?

Oh, good idea! I was trying to think of an easy way to mark those spots as soon as I felt them. We jumped around yesterday and I only felt two places where he sunk a little more with one hoof than the others, so I’m thinking the damage wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. Phew!

[mvp]

@SugarCubes

And of course, these shenanigans were caused by the nearly-17 year old who is supposed to be acting his age by now :rolleyes:

Yes, but Horses and Water/Drainage are in cahoots. They cooperate to just wreck any kind of geological engineering we’d do.

[SugarCubes]

@mvp

Yes, but Horses and Water/Drainage are in cahoots. They cooperate to just wreck any kind of geological engineering we’d do.

:lol: Isn’t that the truth?!?

[DoubleDown]

I know this is older, but bumping up to see if @SugarCubes made any repairs and how they worked? My arena was just finished a few weeks ago, about 3-4" of concrete sand on top of 3/4 minus compacted. My dumb 3YO was being stupid on the lunge today and when digging in to buck, scraped back the sand and small spots of the base got kicked up. I kicked the sand back over it, but I of course can still see a few rocks that came up.

Makes me so mad and sick to think about it! Spend all that money and DingDong has a go with it! :mad:

[OneTwoMany]

@DoubleDown

I know this is older, but bumping up to see if @SugarCubes made any repairs and how they worked? My arena was just finished a few weeks ago, about 3-4" of concrete sand on top of 3/4 minus compacted. My dumb 3YO was being stupid on the lunge today and when digging in to buck, scraped back the sand and small spots of the base got kicked up. I kicked the sand back over it, but I of course can still see a few rocks that came up.

Makes me so mad and sick to think about it! Spend all that money and DingDong has a go with it! :mad:

A bit of the base is almost certain to get mixed in with the footing unless you put down some sort of matting system between the two. Maybe others on here have different views, but 3/4 minus seems a bit coarse to use as a base when sand is put right on top.

[SugarCubes]

@DoubleDown

I know this is older, but bumping up to see if @SugarCubes made any repairs and how they worked? My arena was just finished a few weeks ago, about 3-4" of concrete sand on top of 3/4 minus compacted. My dumb 3YO was being stupid on the lunge today and when digging in to buck, scraped back the sand and small spots of the base got kicked up. I kicked the sand back over it, but I of course can still see a few rocks that came up.

Makes me so mad and sick to think about it! Spend all that money and DingDong has a go with it! :mad:

Hi there! Yeahhhh…I learned the hard way not to lunge any wild ones in the arena for the same reason you describe. I’ve had to repair some small divots from horses being dumb, or from me being dumb and deciding to ride before it’s dry enough. My base is screenings, which may be smaller than 3/4" minus, but I have no idea. I ended up having a pile of the base material dumped into a corner of my ring and any time I find a “bad” spot, I rake the footing away, add screenings and water and use a hand tamper until it’s packed nice and smooth. Then, I’ll let the spot dry in the sun for a day or so and cover back up with the footing. I had one spot in particular that kept coming back, so I actually mixed some concrete into the screenings before adding water. Fixed it beautifully.

I’m learning that outdoor rings require ongoing maintenance to keep them in good shape. I’ll definitely put in an indoor instead at my next place :yes: Good luck with your repairs!!

[ThirdCharm]

Screenings are also referred to as 'quartedown" and are as such much smaller than 3/4 down. That does seem big for directly under sand…