DIY arena rehab: Can it be done?

[Fergs]

Calling all arena experts!

Last summer we bought a farmette that has a fairly large (100 X 200), professionally graded and lighted arena. It has some sandy footing, but it’s not deep enough and who knows how long ago it was put in. Unfortunately, since the property hadn’t had horses in years, the arena was all but totally neglected. I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that a previous owner had actually seeded it, because it was completely covered in a layer of grass at this point last year. The first time I tried to ride in it, I discovered to my dismay that some gophers were living just under the surface, causing some areas of slight undulations and indentations.

Over the summer and fall my husband spent hours spraying and harrowing, and it was somewhat rideable, at least at one end. The gophers disappeared as the vegetation died off, and I was pleasantly surprised at how well it drained. I used it as much as I could this winter, and it seemed okay.

Now it’s summer again and the grass is trying to make a comeback. We continue to spray (this time with some better stuff) and there are no more critters, but the footing sucks. It’s mostly hard as a rock and the leftover undulations and grass make it pretty crappy to ride in.

I called a professional arena guy, and he nearly gave me a heart attack when he quoted me about $10K just to disc and then add bluestone and sand. There’s no way I can afford that, so I’m thinking I might be able to DIY it.

Our neighbor is a serious farmer and owns a discer. Is it a feasible plan to have him disc it and then buy sand ourselves to add to area to make it rideable? It’s just me and my daughter using it, and she is just doing leadline and longeing. I don’t have any jumps, so it’ll be used for dressage only.

Someone please tell me we can do this ourselves…and if anyone has good advice or suggestions for arena resources, please let me know!

[Horseychick87]

You can do it yourself, but it’s going to be a lot of work.

You may need to just strip the current footing and go in and level out the ground and make sure the base is in good shape. You can rent the equipment you’d need to do it for a fairly low price per day. Or you can see if someone would help you out for a small fee.

Next you’d need to calculate how much footing you’d need. Say you want it 3 inches deep ( 4 inches is the absolute most you’d ever want and 4 can be too deep.) So 1200x2400x3 / 1728=5,000 cubic feet/ 27=185 cubic yards of footing. That’s a lot of footing Get a quote on the footing now that you have the numbers you need. Remember you want washed angular sand, not sugar/ beach/ river sand, it’s too slippery.

As for the grass, spray the arena and maybe put down some geo-textile fabric if it falls within your budget.

With these numbers and ideas you could call around and see if you can find some good deals.

[msj]

I’m dealing with a similar problem. My outdoor arena is ~80’ X 220’ and hasn’t been ridden in since '07. Yes the weeds are awful. I had been spraying and pulling weeds for a couple of yrs and finally called a farmer that does ag spraying last fall. I sprayed a border for him and then he sprayed it. I waited about 2-3 wks and then dragged it and pulled up all the dead weeds I could. It looked great for a couple of months and the weeds came back pretty good again this spring. Am waiting now for him to come and spray again and I’ll have him back come fall as well and hope for the best. I’ve decided if I can keep it looking decent with him spraying twice/yr I’ll do that but if it looks crappy again next yr, then I’m probably going to get several loads of top soil and grass seed and make another paddock. It’s easier to just mow. I really hate to do it because the ring was tiled, graded, compacted with a vibrating compactor (rattled the windows of the next door neighbor), and has lights for late fall and early spring riding.

[Foxglove]

I have two arenas. We use them for working with horses in dressage (for eventing) and reining. My own opinion is that as long as the surface is reasonably soft and flat, the varying texture (softer in one corner, other corner is a bit hard) is just something the horses learn to deal with. In eventing dreassage, rings are often set up just for the HT. The footing can be on grass, muddy, sandy, or all three in the same ring. What I mean is that I’m not sure perfect footing is ever possible or even necessary for what WE do (maybe it is for what you do.

Weeds: I spray with Round Up about every month (just in the summer, so about 4-5 times) and have 0 weeds in my ring. To spray a 200 X 200 ring with a 2 gallon hand sprayer takes about 20-30 minutes.

I use a spring tooth harrow to work up the ring after spraying and sometimes after rain, and sometimes just because my draft horse needs the work. Again, to harrow the ring takes about 30 mins. Probably would be faster with the tractor but not nearly as much fun. A spring tooth harrow has adjustable tines so the driver can vary the depth. I harrow deeper where the footing is packed on the sides, and not as deep in the soft spots. Even so, my ring, as i said, has different footing in different parts --we even have a wet spot! But ride in any outdoor ring in any out door show, and you’ll likely at some point have a wet spot. I like that our horses have learned to deal with it.

FYI we do jump in the rings, but for the most part our courses are set up on grass --rolling hills, too. It’s what we might find in any venue for eventing.

Foxglove

[Mosey_2003]

If you want to know how much footing you’ll need in tons you can use this calculator:
http://www.triconmaterials.com/calculator.php

[Gloria]

[QUOTE=Fergs;8177220]

I called a professional arena guy, and he nearly gave me a heart attack when he quoted me about $10K just to disc and then add bluestone and sand. There’s no way I can afford that, so I’m thinking I might be able to DIY it.

![/QUOTE]

How much of the 10K is the material/transportation? We’re having 150 tons of sand delivered for our 90x210 arena next Tuesday. That thing cost us ~$5000, half of it is transportation.

So whether you can do it cheaper depends on what you need to truck in, and how much. If the base seems in solid shape, I don’t think you’d need bluestone. Find a dozer guy who can do fine grading, remove the vegetation, grade and compact, and spread the sand. The quote we are getting from our dozer guy is $2500. So total for us is about $7500.

By the way, with regular grooming, we don’t have vegetation growing in our arena. What kind of grooming equipment do you use?

[msj]

[QUOTE=Gloria;8178725]
By the way, with regular grooming, we don’t have vegetation growing in our arena. What kind of grooming equipment do you use?[/QUOTE]

I don’t know about the OP’s ring, but when I was riding and using my outdoor ring regularly, I had an occasional weed coming up and some at the edges but not much. Usually I could just go pull the offending weed out and all was well. Unfortunately it hasn’t been used since '07 and even with regular dragging the weeds have taken over.

[Fergs]

Thanks so much for all of this feedback. I am definitely leaning toward the discing route rather than taking out the footing that’s in there/regrading, and I’d like to just add some footing and hope those two approaches take care of my problems.

The arena guy wants to add bluestone to the base because, according to him, many of the arenas in our area fail. Apparently, because of the soil, if there isn’t bluestone added to the base, they don’t drain properly and become bogs. But I REALLY don’t think my ring has that problem. Most of the time it’s concrete, and it drains really well. It never has standing water in it. (And it has rained daily for the past month)

The weed/grass issue is a leftover problem from the previous owners. It looked like a lawn this time last year. I am hoping the discing, in tandem with all the spraying we’ve been doing, will help solve the problem. Right now the clumps of grass are the worst thing about the footing. I can deal with imperfection (I’m an eventer too, so honestly I don’t need perfect), but the clumps are tripping hazards and not fun to deal with.

As for the amount of footing, the arena guy suggested adding 2" of angular sand. I will need to do the calculations to find out how much that is for a 100 X 200 arena, but is the trucking really that expensive? I find it hard to believe it could be more than a couple thousand dollars, but then again everything about owning a horse property seems to be many orders of magnitude more expensive than I expected!

[Fergs]

[QUOTE=Mosey_2003;8178553]
If you want to know how much footing you’ll need in tons you can use this calculator:
http://www.triconmaterials.com/calculator.php[/QUOTE]

That is awesome. It looks like I need 185 tons of sand. A local company sells washed arena sand (not sure if it’s angular or not yet) for $8.95 a ton. Delivery is extra…

[poltroon]

I would be worried about discing cutting into the base. Maybe he’s just doing the top inch, but I’m not sure he has the right prescription for you. The undulations you report - are they in the base or the top layer?

[Fergs]

[QUOTE=poltroon;8178826]
I would be worried about discing cutting into the base. Maybe he’s just doing the top inch, but I’m not sure he has the right prescription for you. The undulations you report - are they in the base or the top layer?[/QUOTE]

I honestly don’t know! I’ll try to take some photos and maybe that will help give a clearer picture.

[Fergs]

Okay; here’s a link to some photos I took this evening. My husband dragged the arena about an hour after a huge rain/hail storm.

http://s289.photobucket.com/user/amckown1/library/

I actually think the weeds and grass are looking better since this last round of spraying. It’s hard to see the undulations, but they’re there.

[msj]

Your weed problem is looking good. Just keep spraying and dragging and you should be good. That’s nothing to worry about.

What kind of drag are you using? I’ve got a York Rake that I use and before that, I used an old bed spring! Hey, it smoothed beautifully!!!

Can you tell if the undulations are getting better, especially after you drag? Also, have the undulations improved a lot over your use of the arena?

How often are you riding on it as well?

[tangledweb]

You already have a tractor? Buy a good arena rake. Spend half a day raking it really well once to get rid of the undulations and weeds, then rake it for half an hour once a week to keep them away.

If it’s still not the surface you want add material then, but get it flat and have a way to maintain it first.

[judybigredpony]

FWIW…looks like your down to the base…you do need to disc it before spreading sand so they bond…just don t disc to deep and ruin the good solid base…once the sand is dumped…we did dump n run with dump trucks…you need a heavy solid piece like a steel beam ( what my ring guy used) to drag drag drag around the ring to even out the sand…start with No More than 2 inches…it’s easier to add than scrape off…ride on it for a few months ,then add more if needed…

[Fergs]

[QUOTE=judybigredpony;8179095]
FWIW…looks like your down to the base…you do need to disc it before spreading sand so they bond…just don t disc to deep and ruin the good solid base…once the sand is dumped…we did dump n run with dump trucks…you need a heavy solid piece like a steel beam ( what my ring guy used) to drag drag drag around the ring to even out the sand…start with No More than 2 inches…it’s easier to add than scrape off…ride on it for a few months ,then add more if needed…[/QUOTE]

Thanks; this was my hunch. About how deep should we disc? An inch? I’m terrified of ruining the base.

[Flash44]

[QUOTE=tangledweb;8179007]
You already have a tractor? Buy a good arena rake. Spend half a day raking it really well once to get rid of the undulations and weeds, then rake it for half an hour once a week to keep them away.

If it’s still not the surface you want add material then, but get it flat and have a way to maintain it first.[/QUOTE]

Yep. Since you are not working your horses really hard, you can probably get away with just adding some material to the top. That is what I am getting ready to do. If only my dump truck guy would call me back.

[judybigredpony]

[QUOTE=Fergs;8179262]
Thanks; this was my hunch. About how deep should we disc? An inch? I’m terrified of ruining the base.[/QUOTE]
No more than an inch…and no more,than 2 inches of sand…its much easier to add than delete…plus you will,have thin and deep,spots until,it all,settles…I love my ring…I have no fancy drains. We cut off,the top,soil leveled,it then crowned the center so,it drains to,sides…they put down stone dust…aka,blue stone and used a steel,I Beam with chains welded and a lope centered as a drag and went up n down checking the level laser every so,often…we,wet/soaked,it and then I rode on the stone dust base for 14 months just chain harrowing occasionally until,it settled,set,up,and got rock hard…
They came back re crowned disc ed it and dumped the proper sand on…re Ibeam dragged and now what 5-6 years later we occasionally touch up the sand, use a regular,chain harrow to drag and an angle blade around edges yearly,to,fill,track back in. My ring drains phenomenally and everyone raves over the footing. Not fancy European by any means but holds up well,horses love it…no,holes,bog spots,nor rock,hard. Yours looks very similar…enjoy!

[ToN_Farm]

How do you know your base is level if it isn’t laser graded? If it isn’t level and you add sand, it will be deeper in some areas than others. Also, how will you distribute the sand so that it is even throughout the arena?

[Flash44]

[QUOTE=ToN Farm;8180440]
How do you know your base is level if it isn’t laser graded? If it isn’t level and you add sand, it will be deeper in some areas than others. Also, how will you distribute the sand so that it is even throughout the arena?[/QUOTE]

You work it. It does not have to be perfectly level, but you need to figure out where the water wants to go when it rains. It’s going to go somewhere.