Getting anxiety over researching Geo-textile footing

[Legacy1576]

Hey!

i am putting in a 100x200 covered arena and I want some sort of geo textile footing. I have called and talked to tons of different companies that manufacture and over the last couple weeks I have done so much research on sand that I am now an expert on sand sieves and content that I am driving myself mad. I have also talked to so many people that HATE their footing and I am getting so much anxiety over making a decision.

Anyone have any advice??

A little about my barn and wants: We have mostly jumpers and the majority competing 1.30- GP. I have 20 horses/students in full training so on most days I’d have 5-20 horses in the ring (we have another ring and a large field that we ride in).

I wanted to add a textile because I want to add some structure to the sand. Sand is great when it’s freshly dragged, but I feel like it becomes a little too loose. I also don’t want my ring to be hard as a rock with no horizontal give.

Any advice? Anyone love their ring and what they did? We will be installing sprinklers, most likely the gun ones.

[OutsidersOpinion]

Only advice is about sprinklers, make sure they can get EVERY inch of footing, well. Corners, middle, etc. Fiber footing is best kept heavily saturated and the corners get wonky if not wet as evenly as the rest of the ring.

[poltroon]

Adding my own question to help bump this back to the top… it seems like one of the things that may be important is to match your harrow/drag system to the footing, and I wonder if that has come up in your research or discussions.

[NaturallyHappy]

There are several threads on fiber footing regarding problems and successes, including my posts. To make a long story short, I bought fiber footing and it was an epic fail. We did everything we were supposed to, spent nearly 3 x the budgeted amount, and dumped it after a year. If you search, I think you will find information to
help you. Good luck!

[MuskokaLakesConnemaras]

I’m currently installing an arena and have researched the heck out of footing as well. I originally wanted Geotextile as well but the extreme amount of maintenance and failure/dissatisfaction rate is making me pass on it.

[Legacy1576]

@poltroon

Adding my own question to help bump this back to the top… it seems like one of the things that may be important is to match your harrow/drag system to the footing, and I wonder if that has come up in your research or discussions.

Yes! I have researched drags a lot! I am going with the DragNFly Pro. It’s the one with 2 rollers.

[NaturallyHappy]

I love my DragNFly Pro drag. It’s the ONLY good thing that came from my failed fiber footing. I use it on my sand/DOT product mix and it works great. The swivel hitch keeps the footing from building up on the edges.

[greysfordays]

If you’re working in an indoor, you may want to consider the waterless footing from Attwood. You need to add the conditioner or oil every so often but otherwise, it maintains itself really well. For the upper level jumpers, it’s terrific bc it’s soft but very stable. And bc you don’t need to water it, it’s incredibly consistent from one end of the ring to the other.

I think it’s ideal especially if you have other surfaces you ride on. Our biggest problem was riding on other surfaces so if we had subpar footing at the shows, the horses weren’t too shocked by it. How often do you drag today? With that much traffic, i wonder if you would need a mid-day drag.

[Fancy_Free]

Curious, what did you go to after ditching the fiber, in a similar situation right now and not sure what else to consider.

Wow I don’t know why this came up in my feed after 3 yrs

[NaturallyHappy]

Hi! We wound up using 2 inches of screening w 1 inch of a fabricated Department of Transportation product. It looks a little like limestone pebbles the size of a pea. I saved some and will happily mail some to anyone who wants to see it. The man that put this in drove to several quarries to find what he wanted-he said the name is not always reliable or consistent. My arena has a packed screenings base. Any kind of sand seemed to roll on it and horses would slip….even when it was the exact same sand that works VERY well in the outdoor. The mixture we have now works very well- has give and support but doesn’t ‘stop’ like fiber can.

[NaturallyHappy]

Oh- we do use mag cloride and ultimately, I bought a different drag. The wheel of the Drag N Fly would pack with sand if the sand was wet, so was sometimes a problem in the outdoor. I bought an Arena Rascal Pro w a profiler blade. Works well in both rings.

[BroncoMo]

Do you know what the DoT product is called? Or perhaps a picture? I’ve ridden on a type of small gravel before and thought it was pretty cool. But have no idea what it is called. Does it seem to have enough cushion?

I’m entertaining a DIY (yes, I’m well aware of the pitfalls of doing this myself) outdoor for my teen hunter who is having some arthritic issues as of late. I’ve always ridden in my pastures and chalked it up to being better than a poorly done deep footing that will cause soft tissue injuries. Well, now that he has boney changes, I feel like I need to ensure the footing has some cush to it. And I can’t tell if the gravel has any, though it drains beautifully.

[NaturallyHappy]

Hi! I don’t know the name. The man that installed my ring drove to several quarries to look for it as he said names are inconsistent. I’d be glad to send you a sample if you PM me your address.

[BroncoMo]

I appreciate it but I’m not too concerned about a sample. I can get one close by at the arena I’ve ridden in before; they just don’t know what it is called. No need to hassle with sending a sample but thank you for the kind offer

[Pico_Banana]

@Fancy_Free

Curious, what did you go to after ditching the fiber, in a similar situation right now and not sure what else to consider.

What fiber did you have? What didn’t you like about it?

I have the Master Surfaces TexStride product and I really like it. It looks like carpet fibers, not like GGT.

[NaturallyHappy]

I wonder if you are asking me… I had Premier and I cannot say enough bad things about them. They ordered the sand from a quarry they knew and sent the fiber. The pieces in the fiber ranged from 5” by 3” to the size of your thumbnail. I had a professional installer put it in, but it wasn’t safe to ride on. Horses either tripped, sank, or stayed on top.I called- they said I ordered the wrong fiber. Nope- you told me what to order. Then they said they had a fiber to fix it. I bought more- installed per directions. Horses either stayed on top or sank above the hoof. Called -still my fault. Sold me another fiber at a discount because they felt so bad about . Yea, right. It didn’t work either. So they asked me to send a sample. The president called me back and had the unmitigated gall to tell me I bought the wrong sand. I reminded him they picked the quarry and ordered the sand. So he paid to have “ green” sand delivered and mixed in. That stuff was so light it wouldn’t come out of the air, even when we had a profession water truck water it. I gave up and dumped it. My neighbor got it and hates it, too. Her dad drives for 8500 gallons of water every other day. I tried complaining to the BBB and the AG’s office in Utah, but they weren’t helpful. If I had had extra time, I would have flown across the country to face them in person, but that wasn’t feasible. This is the condensed version. I learned a lot from that experience.

[Pico_Banana]

Oh, wow. I’m so sorry to hear that you had such a horrible experience. I had considered ordering from them - glad I did not!