Does anyone use anything other than a tractor to harrow their outdoor sand arena? I would like something smaller as i have a small dressage court. I’m looking at ATVs or…and this is maybe nuts but a little old suzuki sidekick or similar would be fun to have for other reasons…anyone use anything…non-tractor…that works?
I have seen some people use horses! Also jeeps.
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My hubs is advocating i use my former carriage horse - I wouldn’t know how to get started with that equipment!!
Jeep…sounds fun… 
I am interested in that as how fun would it be to have a little soft top for summer?!?
I have a friend who uses an ATV and it works just fine. I use a truck to harrow my field and the only problem is the terrible turning radius. I think you’d have similar problems with a sidekick, etc. A horse could work, too. I put a plastic pallet on top of my narrow to add weight but it also blocks a horse from stepping through the harrow. I’d want to do something like that if I were using a horse to harrow. I wish my guys were trained to drive because then I’d put them to work on a few things!
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I think you’re right about the turning radius - even on a smaller 4x4 it’s going to be tight.
I don’t know if my horse has the right sense of humor to harrow his own ring…
Ive used a small lawn mower type tractor for years to pull my chain harrow. It doesn’t have a three point hitch for my York rake but it’s great with the chain harrow points up or points down. We even use it to drag our paddocks (points up). And before I had a real chain harrow I made a usable pretty good drag out of a few feet of old chain link fence with a couple of cinder blocks on top for weight. You might be able to find a used lawn tractor cheap!
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I have a friend that uses a Gator ( but they cost as much as a smaller tractor). She can’t use a 3 point hitch on it but uses a manual thing to adjust the depth. She can hook it up quickly and drag her large arena in probably 10 minutes because she is going 50MPH on that thing! Not really but she drags fast on that Gator. I think she can get in the corners better than a tractor, especially one that has a loader attached.
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A used garden tractor is prob your best bet if you’re looking to save $ vs an ATV. When it comes time for service, will be a lot easier to find a small engine shop to fix your lawn tractor vs an auto repair shop that will handle a suzuki Besides, the street tires on a car will not have much traction at all on sand-- if the harrow digs in a little deep, you may end up spinning your wheels/digging a rut.
With a garden tractor, you could get a snow thrower attachment and make it earn its keep year-round!
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Good point about maintenance costs. My mechanic recently advised me against getting an ATV because parts and servicing are apparently really expensive for them. He suggested a small lawn tractor or a golf cart.
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IME a good ATV is really reliable. We have a Honda Rancher which was expensive new, but has been a total beast of a workhorse for us for 10 years now, with just routine maintenance every 2 years or so. We did have an expensive repair this year due to a mouse eating through a wiring harness, but overall we’ve been super happy with it.
I personally would not buy a used ATV, I want to know its history and that it hasn’t been rolled down a hill by some yahoo.
But yes, in ranking routine maintenance costs, lowest to highest:
Garden tractor
ATV
Suzuki
Horse 
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Careful going this route - I sold the tractor and bought a 24 hp garden tractor thinking it would be sufficient to drag my sand ring and instead the tires just spin and it gets stuck. Ended up buying a Polaris Ranger instead… at least the garden tractor will be used for mowing and isn’t a total waste!
I thought this garden tractor would be more than sufficient, you can even attach a front loader to it, but I was mistaken. So do a lot of research before you decide on that, or get an ATV/UTV instead.
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I think you should get a team of really cute ponies. It’s hard work, 6 should be perfect!
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@SugarCubes thank you for taking the risk for me I can’t imagine a lawn tractor being able to get thru my ring - am now looking at ATVs or subcompact tractors.
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@frugalannie - is that on a sand surface? If it is, can you share more details on what sort of lawn tractor please?
I’ll have to look at it to get the model number, but we call it “The Fawn” because it’s a small John Deere, kind of a toy relatively speaking. (We have a real JD tractor, too). It was old when it came with a property we bought but it still runs well if we can keep the mice from chewing up wires. I’ve used it to push snow in tight quarters, pull a water filled roller and the chain drag. I never actually mowed with it!
The surfaces I’ve used it on have been outdoor rings with 3” stone dust over 6” river sand and our indoor surface which is pretty much just dirt (it’s about 20 years old and needs help, but works). And out in the paddocks when the grass is 6” tall or less and the surface is dry. Stone dust and river sand may be local names. The former is fine screenings, the latter angular sand that packs up quite firmly.
I hope that helps. Let me know if you want more info.
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UPDATE - buying a tractor. A small one. Something cute… 
