Is there a way to improve arena drainage of already-existing arena?

[DressageLin]

I board at a nice little barn owned by a single woman who works hard to keep the place going. A former boarder paid to have a basic outdoor dressage arena built. Said boarder is now gone and I am the only dressage-riding boarder. The problem is that the dressage arena seems to hold water like a swimming pool.
(I used to mostly ride in the jumping ring, but it is filled with thousands of rocks now.) We have had a lot of rain over the past couple weeks and it currently has pools of water that are at least ankle deep, and I am thinking it may not be rideable for a long, long time.

There used to be railroad ties bordering the arena, but those were removed in an effort to help it drain. It’s a sand arena. I am just a boarder, but I would be willing to put a little money into it to improve it, if it’s possible. Is there a way to retroactively improve drainage of an arena in an economical way?

[alfonsina]

Does the ground surrounding the arena slope away from it?

If the surrounding land slopes down to the arena, surface water will be channeled onto the arena’s surface. I apologize if I am stating the obvious, but I do see this situation a lot! Dealing with drainage underneath the arena would be quite an expensive can of worms, but surface water does contribute too. A shallow gully some distance outside the ring might be a (relatively) easy improvement.

[Ambitious_Kate]

That’s what I thought. The arena must “crown” so that the water runs off to the sides. If there are “bowls” your arena isn’t graded well. You could scrape off the footing and fix the base so that it crowns. At the same time, install french drains around the sides to wick the water away from the arena and drain it away somewhere downhil. However, the french drains aren’t going to do anything if the water is pooling in dips and doesn’t flow off to the edges, so you are going to have to fix your base.

[Ambitious_Kate]

At the same time, if your arena sloped to one side, steadily, so that one side was slightly lower than the other, that would work for drainage, too, but still you can’t have bowls or dips in it. If it sloped to one side a bit, you could just put the french drains on the downside of the arena, where it slopes towards. Depending on how the arena was meant to drain would be how you want to sort it out and fix it so that it does that again. But it does require taking off the top and fixing the base.

[DressageLin]

Oh, there are definitely “bowls” or “dips” in the arena. We have had it leveled by the local landscaping company about once a year, but the dips return. I have a suspicion that the way it is drug is contributing to the drainage problems and and “dips.” I think the way it it drug creates a lip around the edge of the arena. (It is drug very infrequently, so I hate to say anything that could be interpreted as criticism. She may stop dragging it at all!)

One long side of the arena has a gully beside it . The other side is level with or very slightly higher than the arena.

[Ambitious_Kate]

There shouldn’t be bowls or dips in the base. Dragging should only be for the top layer, and if you don’t get the ditch around the perimeter, you end up riding on the base. The lip has to be dragged back into the arena. However, again, you shouldn’t be digging into the base when you drag.

If you have a hard time getting your owner to drag the arena, which is the way to preserve and maintain it, you aren’t going to get very far trying to correct the problem which is a bigger effort.

Good luck. You have to determine the slope, fix the base, add drainage, then keep the top layer maintained.