Need tips on DIY at-home & bare-bones outdoor dressage arena

[BAY_WITH_CHROME]

I keep my horses at home and I am looking into having a ring installed for this winter. My family owns a construction business & has the heavy machinery needed, so this would be a mostly DIY project. I can operate most of the heavy machinery myself (thanks, construction upbringing!).

My questions are many… I live in the very rocky/clay NE MA area. Our paddocks are a mix of clay and dirt topsoil with chunks of ledge, rock, etc. Half of our property is ledge, so a deep base may not be possible.

I would be schooling dressage, with some occasional cavalettis/jumps. I am budgeting for ‘small dressage ring’ as I don’t think I have enough saved for a large ring. I am not interested in the ring having enough room for a jumping course, and it would be only for myself/family. Traffic would be very minimal. I have a small $2,000 set aside, but by my math even a bare-bones ring that is 70x140ft with the recommended ~8" of gravelstone base + 3-4" of sand is ~$5,000 and over 48 truck loads. The $$ I could do… but that many truckloads would destroy my driveway…

What dimensions should I look into? What is the best base layer? The best top layer?

I know better than to just throw/compact sand down on the ground and call it a ring, but I don’t need a world class geo-textile deep footed ring either. What I really need is a ring that doesn’t have rocks. No matter how much rock-picking I do now, small and large rocks alike seem to spring from the ground overnight like gremlins. I can’t keep up and in the winter the rocks + mud make it too much.

Going with a base, what is most cost effective? How deep do I need to have the base?

Camber/grading - I am fine with schooling in puddles when it rains, what degree should I be looking into for run-off? Is there any specific orientation I can place the ring for maximized snow-melting in the winter?

So many questions, thank you for your answers.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

Honestly, it gets said a lot, but spend the $15 or whatever and buy Underfoot from USDF. It will answer your base and grading questions. Compacted clay with a rock base over it and then sand would be a very typical ring. Compaction is critical, btw.

[clanter]

The $$ I could do… but that many truckloads would destroy my driveway…

could the truckloads of material be brought in during the coldest part of the winter then stored on site?

[AKB]

When my daughter was in grad school, she had her driveway graded and put in several inches of stone dust in the turn around circle at the end of the driveway. This gave her an area that was slightly bigger than a 20 meter circle. She put a couple of flood lights on the barn and the house, and was able to ride there. The footing was adequate so she could ride when it was too wet or too dark to ride in the pasture.

At her current house, she graded an area that is slightly smaller than a small dressage ring. She put down about 6 inches of stone dust with 1-2 inches of coarse sand that was left over from a friend’s ring. It is a lovely bare bones, one person, ring.

[BAY_WITH_CHROME]

[QUOTE=TrotTrotPumpkn;8843788]
Honestly, it gets said a lot, but spend the $15 or whatever and buy Underfoot from USDF. It will answer your base and grading questions. Compacted clay with a rock base over it and then sand would be a very typical ring. Compaction is critical, btw.[/QUOTE]
Great suggestion! Just ordered it from USDF… should be at my doorstep by next week

@clanter;8843884

could the truckloads of material be brought in during the coldest part of the winter then stored on site?

That’s a good idea… I do have the space…

[QUOTE=AKB;8844042]When my daughter was in grad school, she had her driveway graded and put in several inches of stone dust in the turn around circle at the end of the driveway. This gave her an area that was slightly bigger than a 20 meter circle. She put a couple of flood lights on the barn and the house, and was able to ride there. The footing was adequate so she could ride when it was too wet or too dark to ride in the pasture.

At her current house, she graded an area that is slightly smaller than a small dressage ring. She put down about 6 inches of stone dust with 1-2 inches of coarse sand that was left over from a friend’s ring. It is a lovely bare bones, one person, ring.[/QUOTE]
Your daughter’s driveway sounds very similar to mine, which is a long 1/2 mile driveway that leads to a “circle” island by the house. In the winter I ride up/down the driveway and the circle… unfortunately the circle cannot be made any bigger, but thank you for the specs on her ring. Has it held up alright? Max my ring would see a day is 2 rides. Do you know how large it is?

What do we all think a doable but not huge ring size is? I’m seeing anywhere from 66x80’ to 70x100… I think 70x100 might be too much expense/material.

[Frog_Pond]

[QUOTE=AKB;8844042]
When my daughter was in grad school, she had her driveway graded and put in several inches of stone dust in the turn around circle at the end of the driveway. This gave her an area that was slightly bigger than a 20 meter circle. She put a couple of flood lights on the barn and the house, and was able to ride there. The footing was adequate so she could ride when it was too wet or too dark to ride in the pasture.

At her current house, she graded an area that is slightly smaller than a small dressage ring. She put down about 6 inches of stone dust with 1-2 inches of coarse sand that was left over from a friend’s ring. It is a lovely bare bones, one person, ring.[/QUOTE]

This is great advice.

I live in the same area as you, OP, and the conditions are challenging for making a ‘real’ ring, mostly due to drainage issues, as you clearly already know. I tried to answer your post yesterday but I thought “get a second job and save up more and pay an expert to at least site it for you” sounded depressing, and I like your DIY spirit too much to be such a downer :lol:. If I had a ring sized area, I’d try to make one myself, too. Instead, I’m concentrating on trail building throughout my hilly, wooded, rocky property, and tossing down wood chips for a path. That’s where the magic is going to have to happen

But, AKB is onto something, and I’ll add my two cents. Forget doing any serious earthworks – just find the best spot you have (buy that Underfoot book, or Cherry Hill’s Horsekeeping on a Small Acreage for intro info about siting horse things). I’d buy a roll of geotextile cloth – not the fluffy white surface footing, but the woven, black roll that excavators use under gravel roads, that’s about 15’ wide x 100’ long. My excavator gets it for around $700, and we used it to repair the road that we blew out driving 10 wheel dump trucks up & down it (to the barn site). It is hardy, awesome stuff that keeps your surface rock in place and keeps the water moving away, too.

A few inches stone dust on top of that would work well, I think, and you could add sand, too. The geotex would keep it from migrating, and you could drag it or even hand rake it back into shape. Unlike sand, that really disappears without a base, stone dust hangs around and grinds its way into the surrounding area – even without geotex under it, it’ll last for a few years. I have a stone dust pad outside of my stalls and I have not maintained it, but it still drains, and can be reshaped, and is lovely stuff. I’m not sure I’d jump at all on this set up, but, for flat work, it’d do. Best of luck – post your results, inspire the rest of us!

[costco_muffins]

@BAY WITH CHROME;8842834

I know better than to just throw/compact sand down on the ground and call it a ring,

Going with a base, what is most cost effective? How deep do I need to have the base?

Camber/grading - I am fine with schooling in puddles when it rains, what degree should I be looking into for run-off? Is there any specific orientation I can place the ring for maximized snow-melting in the winter?

Honestly, we had a relatively high area that we scraped flatish with a 2%ish grade along the long side. The dirt, when scraped, was clay and sand and glacial till. We watched it for a winter, filled in any low spots with 5/8" minus crushed gravel, compacted it, and watched it again. This made a relatively flat, non-puddling area of 70x145. Then we added sand (4 12 yard loads) and used our 22HP tractor to flatten and spread it. Used a rolling compactor to compact, and a regular chain harrow to drag it.

All in, the arena cost us under $3000, including earthwork ($1000 to our house contractor for the initial flattening). Add another $1500 for fencing, stain, and a drag, and we are under $5000 for the whole thing. I could ride on it all last winter, it took 12 hours to dry after a dumping of PNW rain, and the horses don’t slip when jumping 3’. I am quite happy with the return on investment.

[csaper58]

There have been several threads on this, with great suggestions, in Dressage Land

[BAY_WITH_CHROME]

[QUOTE=csaper58;8846853]
There have been several threads on this, with great suggestions, in Dressage Land[/QUOTE]
Do you care to link if they are easy for you to find? When I search I believe my terms are too broad because “dressage arena” brings up everything from heated debates about rollkur to Nick Peronace :lol:

I did try some several variations all with the same result. I was hoping once I posted the thread that the Similar Threads box on the bottom would have some helpful related threads…

[iberianfan]

OP, I did exactly what you are describing. Based upon a couple of years of living on the property, I knew where the flat spot with the best drainage was (interestingly, it was not on top of the hill!). I hired a local guy with some heavy equipment to come in and grade it flatter, taking all the grass. I should have put down a weed barrier at that time, but I didn’t. Then, I added 1"-2" of quarter-down (is that what you are calling gravel dust? It’s “quarter inch and down” around here. Anyway, that will pack hard over time. I rode on that, being the only rider, for a couple of years, adding a load when I could. Fluffing it with the arena drag as much as possible. When it packed too hard to ride on, and was 4"-7" deep, I added coarse sand, 1-2". Then, after a year or so, I added “beach” sand (which my horse appreciated mightily). OH, and in the beginning, I got free wooden utility poles from the electric company and used them to surround the arena. Don’t know if that is an option for you.

I had to have the trucks come when it was bone dry and hard because they had to drive through my pasture to get to the site. Even then, it took the grass some time to recover, but it did, and nobody got stuck.

So, that’s my Arena on a Budget. Hope this helps.

[AKB]

My daughter’s riding area in the driveway held up well during her 3 1/2 years of grad school. Her current “ring” has held up well for 4 years. Eventually, if she has extra money sitting around, she wants to put in a professionally built covered arena that is the size of a small dressage arena. It may be a while before that happens.

Try riding in various sizes of rings. You will figure out the smallest size ring that works for you.

[Jim_in_PA]

If you put the time and effort into establishing a good base that’s contoured to drain well, you’ll end up with a better final result. That’s the real key relative to the excavation part…which comes before you build your compacted base and place your footing.

[Pocket_Pony]

I am in no way shape or form a DIYer, but I will speak to arena size.

My last house had a small arena - wider than a dressage court (I think 80’?), and about as long as a short court (it was an irregular shape). The basic ground work had been done when we moved there, but nothing else. The arena was dug into the side of a hill so we only had that much space to work with. The ground was a mix of clay and decomposed granite.

It was mostly level, but we had a 2% grade put on it going in one direction specifically (due to runoff - we didn’t want the runoff going down the side of the hill in the most obvious place because we were worried it would create erosion and undercut the arena). We had road base (compacted) as our base, oil on top of that (honestly I can’t remember what kind but it was to help the water run off and not puddle into the base), and then sand on top of that. I didn’t like the sand we got the first time (round washed), so we ended up taking some of it out and putting in a coarser sand and then mixing the two.

I wouldn’t have the foggiest idea of how to do all that by myself.

If you want to jump, I’d go wider than 20 meters - those turns come up fast in a dressage court-sized arena. My arena size was adequate for what I did (basic schooling, dressage, small course of four jumps), but I would have loved to have more space.

I always say to go as big as you can possibly afford, even if you have to stretch the budget a little bit. I don’t think you’d regret it.

[Fairview_Horse_Cente]

We had a level spot in our field and wanted to host dressage shows. For the perimeter, we took 2’ pieces of 2x4s, and made a “V” point on one end, and drove them into the ground every 8’. We attached furring strips (1"x3"x8’) around the top to make the railing super cheap, but lasted even in the turnout field with 20+ horses. Then we dumped about 4 dump trucks (total of 60-80 tons) of crushed bluestone - no compacting the base as we had not disturbed the basic land. Then raked it with a York rake. We ran 5 shows a year in that ring + used for boarders and it held up wonderful. Every couple of years, we added a few more truckloads of stonedust to the top to keep it from getting too hard. For my other ring - similar base, we added 1 truck of Permaflex rubber. It was super cushy. We hosed 5 shows a year for 17 years, and had to keep expanding to 2 more temp arenas as competitors just loved our shows.

[DHCarrotfeeder]

[QUOTE=clanter;8843884]
could the truckloads of material be brought in during the coldest part of the winter then stored on site?[/QUOTE]

Paved driveways will crack under excess load regardless of temperature. I’m sure it helps to not be on a soft, wet ground but 48 truckloads is a lot of heavy traffic. Each one will add cracks.

I have a 1000’ asphalt driveway to show for this reality. Most paved driveways are simply too thin and too narrow to support commercial trucks. And then it gets worse - most drivers don’t keep perfectly centered on the driveway - which is saddening when you consider that asphalt is always weakest at the edges.

[BAY_WITH_CHROME]

I got and read the book. It came on a 2-day which I was not expecting, thanks USDF! It rained all day the day I got it, so it was nice to slip back and read with a nice cup of coffee. There was lots of information in there I did not know, so I am glad to have it handy.

I am thinking at this junction it may be wisest to do a thinner base layer. Many replies suggest that 4" is sufficient?

[BAY_WITH_CHROME]

Bumping. We are measuring this weekend and doing site walk for grading. Any other advice?

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

Please come back and say what you did and how you like it. Particularly in the spring after the thaw cycle. I’m very interested.

[Libby2563]

[QUOTE=BAY WITH CHROME;8847604]
Do you care to link if they are easy for you to find? When I search I believe my terms are too broad because “dressage arena” brings up everything from heated debates about rollkur to Nick Peronace :lol:

I did try some several variations all with the same result. I was hoping once I posted the thread that the Similar Threads box on the bottom would have some helpful related threads…[/QUOTE]

I have had the same terrible luck searching the forum directly. What I do now instead is go through Google, which has a much smarter search engine. You can restrict results to a specific website! For example, search “DIY riding arena site:www.chronofhorse.com.”

No advice on your actual question because I paid a very experienced person a helluva lot of money to do mine! Seems like a very easy thing to mess up and a hard thing to fix.

[BAY_WITH_CHROME]

[QUOTE=TrotTrotPumpkn;8869575]
Please come back and say what you did and how you like it. Particularly in the spring after the thaw cycle. I’m very interested. :)[/QUOTE]

I will! If it does not rain anymore, we are still planning on some site work this weekend. The silly thing is it has been dry as the sahara all summer and the second we start to put our heads together to make this a reality the skies open up in a deluge… all week!

I have an Excel spread sheet that has the estimated costs of varying depths, fill, etc - so far it looks like the most bang for my buck would be a 100x70ft arena with a 4" sub-base and 4" stone dust base with a roll of geotextile cloth. By my math, that will be just under 2.5k which is very doable. If I was not lucky enough to be related to a contractor I am not sure I would be able to afford this endeavor - leveling/grade work is expensive :eek:

The good thing is there is not much to level, the bad thing is it will take a bit of structural remodeling as our shelters are currently facing towards where the ring is and we’d have to remodel the paddock a bit. This summer we already went through with the Skidsteer+till to remove topsoil and level a somewhat distinguishable grade. It has been settling all summer so other than a few touch-ups in the corners and a minor pushback of one wall I don’t anticipate we’ll need to spend too much time removing topsoil.

What will take the longest, I imagine, is getting all the damn rocks out of the paddock before placing the geotexile cloth down.