Pasture Arena

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Has anyone just tilled up a spot in their pasture to ride? I could ride (and do ride) on the grass but it’s a smidge too hard for my liking.

Can I just put a harrow on the back of my 4 wheeler and drag it around? Pasture is flat.

We have toyed with the idea of putting in a proper sand arena but this is DHs in-laws property and we lease for the horses and they may or may not lose it/sell it eventually so it gets tricky to want to put improvements into it or not. We have our eyes set on different property that’s better set up for horses/cows etc (In a few years)

I’m also getting irritated trying to ride my one young horse while the other ones follow us around. Like I said this property isn’t really set up for horses.

I was thinking about just dragging a 200x200 arena and then spending the money for pipe panels so I have a real place to ride.

Im not sure what the soil is but it seems pretty sandy (reminds me of sandy loam I had back home)

Or I just need to start trailering 10 minutes down the road to a friends place 😂😑

[TooManyBays]

Where are you located? On the east coast if you are east of the fall line you should be ok. On the west coast/Midwest it can be harder to tell.
The biggest issue is drainage and rocks.

[Dressage59]

We have sandy loam and the harrow barely breaks the surface. For us to do what you want, we’d need to use our box scraper. Other tools would work too!

[NancyM]

LOL that’s what I did here, when we first moved here and had “nothing” built. And yes, it can be functional, at least temporarily, or until you decide what you are doing, staying, going etc. It was hayfield before. It worked OK. Our ground has a good gravel base, and the topsoil in this area is kind of sandy and peat, and our area is “semi arid”, but it was compacted. I rode on it as grass for a while. Not so great if it rains, gets slick, and a bit harder than I liked. So I rototilled the entire area, then harrowed it (I have spike tooth harrows on a drag that my tractor operates). Again, pretty good for footing, given it’s limitations. If you are not jumping BIG, mostly flat work or under 3’ courses, it’s OK, but a bit “cuppy”. When our arena was built, and functional, it’s better than the outdoor, because I can control the water content of the footing and it is more consistent, so I tend to use it more these days. I have added some sawdust to the outdoor footing, and am now hoping to regrow the grass, such as it is. In the time I have worked with the outdoor footing, it is softer than it used to be, more level, and I also added some sand to a spot that got wet. So I am thinking that with a good turf mat of grass roots to help to stabilize it, it is going to be nicer than it ever was. No, it’s not “show quality” footing, and it’s not for “Grand Prix” jumping, but in our dry climate, it’s not a bad option, and cheap to operate. I can graze it too!

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@NancyM

LOL that’s what I did here, when we first moved here and had “nothing” built. And yes, it can be functional, at least temporarily, or until you decide what you are doing, staying, going etc. It was hayfield before. It worked OK. Our ground has a good gravel base, and the topsoil in this area is kind of sandy and peat, and our area is “semi arid”, but it was compacted. I rode on it as grass for a while. Not so great if it rains, gets slick, and a bit harder than I liked. So I rototilled the entire area, then harrowed it (I have spike tooth harrows on a drag that my tractor operates). Again, pretty good for footing, given it’s limitations. If you are not jumping BIG, mostly flat work or under 3’ courses, it’s OK, but a bit “cuppy”. When our arena was built, and functional, it’s better than the outdoor, because I can control the water content of the footing and it is more consistent, so I tend to use it more these days. I have added some sawdust to the outdoor footing, and am now hoping to regrow the grass, such as it is. In the time I have worked with the outdoor footing, it is softer than it used to be, more level, and I also added some sand to a spot that got wet. So I am thinking that with a good turf mat of grass roots to help to stabilize it, it is going to be nicer than it ever was. No, it’s not “show quality” footing, and it’s not for “Grand Prix” jumping, but in our dry climate, it’s not a bad option, and cheap to operate. I can graze it too!

Thank you! Definitely doesn’t need to be FEI fancy show barn quality at all just a little cushion so I’m not riding on what feels like cement. I haven’t jumped in 4+ years now but I did free jump the 5 year old over some 2’6 barrels. Getting pretty serious.

Sounds like I’ll need something stronger than a regular spike harrow to dig up what I want. I’ll let DH figure it out!

I’m in West. Eastern West I guess? We finally got rain and it’s not suppose to let up for another week so I can’t really ride anyways. Of course it was 80 degrees two days ago.

After figuring out cheap arena footing my next project is non permanent fencing for said arena.

[NancyM]

It’s amazing to some folks… that decades ago, footing for riding rings was a lot simpler and cheaper than it is now, and did not get shipped from Europe in large bales, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to install. It tended to be what was there, perhaps augmented by what was available locally. And amazingly, horses tended to stay sound in work and competition as much as they did, without any joint injections at all, and few drugs available. This is still the reality for us folks who are not mega wealthy, we do the best we can with what is available, and under the circumstances that we are under.

For fencing, I used electrical tape until this outdoor ring was actually fenced by DH. My horses are well schooled to electric tape, they respect it as a barrier. The current was turned off when I was riding, just in case it was touched. But it was never touched. Cheap and easily removable.

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@NancyM

It’s amazing to some folks… that decades ago, footing for riding rings was a lot simpler and cheaper than it is now, and did not get shipped from Europe in large bales, costing hundreds of thousands of dollars to install. It tended to be what was there, perhaps augmented by what was available locally. And amazingly, horses tended to stay sound in work and competition as much as they did, without any joint injections at all, and few drugs available. This is still the reality for us folks who are not mega wealthy, we do the best we can with what is available, and under the circumstances that we are under.

For fencing, I used electrical tape until this outdoor ring was actually fenced by DH. My horses are well schooled to electric tape, they respect it as a barrier. The current was turned off when I was riding, just in case it was touched. But it was never touched. Cheap and easily removable.

One of my favorite arenas I ever road in was tilled up sandy loam. They just dragged it as needed, same with water. Horses always felt great on it. I worked for someone who had the fancy GGT footing, which was meh. So so expensive, expensive to work and keep up as well!

I was thinking t posts, or even those super cheap plastic t posts and electric tape that isn’t electrified 😂 we will see if my horses bombard it or not. Same horses that galloped through my hot wire and army crawled up my barb wire til I put up 4 strands! I really like wooden fencing for arenas but my cribber would goto town.

DHs old boss who lives up the road built their roping arena and the footing is just working up soil except it’s a bright red color. We don’t have the same soil sadly. They team pen/rope/cut in it and all their horses are sound as nails.

[GraceLikeRain]

For those who tilled it up with the goal of regrowing grass, how long did it take for the grass to be established and safe to ride on without tearing it up?

Conversely, for those of you who tilled it up without regrowing grass, how much effort is it to keep grass from creeping up in random spots?

[NancyM]

How long it takes to re establish grass seems to be dependant on a number of things, depending on your location, soil, rainfall etc. Mine has been a couple of years, but I never reseeded it, and it gets little water. It is “getting there” this year. It is being taken over by “cootch grass”, which is endemic here, and I like it for this purpose. I don’t think that you can buy cootch grass seed, most people spray it to kill it on their property LOL. The mat of roots is thick, and indestructible, and drought tolerant. Since we are so dry in the summer, I like the grass because of less dust than what was happening with just the rototilled dirt. And yes, the grass may well be torn up at times, but if it is just your own private riding ring, this won’t be too much of an issue. My horses are barefoot, so less tearing up than with shoes. Our weather here is so dry, it is true “horse country”, all my TB horses have feet like iron, don’t need shoes any more.

Streamline, I so agree with the fancy expensive footing. So much work to keep it in shape, watering, grooming twice a day etc. So nice to have a fleet of workers being paid a wage to work the footing in your ring. Not in my reality. And so many injuries on this footing when it is not kept in optimum shape. My only education on footing for athletic horses comes from racetracks, where a firm draining base is underneath it all, and a combination of sand, clay and organics makes up the cushion. The sand for “grit” and traction, the clay to compact and “hold” the foot so that the footing is not “cuppy”, and organic for spring and to hold water. What may be used as “organics” is dependent on what is available in your area. Then water it and work it to keep it functional. It is important that the footing returns energy to the horse’s leg in each step, is not slippery, is not cuppy (breaking away under each step), not deep, not too hard. I can only control these things in my indoor arena. In my situation, the outdoor arena is best to be grass, IMO. I have been advised to “just order up some sand” for my outdoor arena, but this, IMO, would just result in a sandbox, and not what I am looking for in an outdoor arena.

[NancyM]

@GraceLikeRain

For those who tilled it up with the goal of regrowing grass, how long did it take for the grass to be established and safe to ride on without tearing it up?

Conversely, for those of you who tilled it up without regrowing grass, how much effort is it to keep grass from creeping up in random spots?

PS When I tilled it up and wanted to keep the grass from growing back, I harrowed it about once a week with the spike tooth harrows. That did the trick.

[24eventer]

I’ve done basically what you’re talking about for years. I keep an area of my pasture worked up to ride in. The dirt will get really hard by the end of the summer (at least for me) I work it up as often as possible but the main track still gets really hard. It also takes a long time to dry after it rains and is unusable when its wet because its so slick. I’ve added sand over the years and worked it in and it helps some. Last year a friend redid their outdoor and I was able to get all of the old sand. I just spread it out over my well packed dirt arena and it has worked really well. I don’t have a real base so I have to be careful when it is wet but it doesn’t get too hard anymore and I can use it a lot more. It is usable sooner after a big rain, and if we only get a little rain its still good to use.

[Scribbler]

I expect for big competition venues its important that the footing stay exactly the same all day and day after day, with the use of arena zambonis between classes. I assume the sand and textile footing fits the bill for the big venues.

At home you aren’t going to have a hundred horses a day jump the same course, and if you start to wear a track in your footing you can change your pattern.

I’m on the wet coast and every arena needs drainage and additional footing. But up in ranch country I know a training facility where I’ve been to clinics, and both indoor and outdoor use the natural born dirt, which is as nice a sandy soil as you’d want. It gets a bit compacted indoors during clinics with 8 horses in 8 hours but I’m sure never gives the owners problems in day to day use.

Unheard of down here in the rain!

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@24eventer*

I’ve done basically what you’re talking about for years. I keep an area of my pasture worked up to ride in. The dirt will get really hard by the end of the summer (at least for me) I work it up as often as possible but the main track still gets really hard. It also takes a long time to dry after it rains and is unusable when its wet because its so slick. I’ve added sand over the years and worked it in and it helps some. Last year a friend redid their outdoor and I was able to get all of the old sand. I just spread it out over my well packed dirt arena and it has worked really well. I don’t have a real base so I have to be careful when it is wet but it doesn’t get too hard anymore and I can use it a lot more. It is usable sooner after a big rain, and if we only get a little rain its still good to use.

We normally don’t get much rain (ha) but we are having a week straight of rain! Really put a damper on my riding/arena project. I’m curious how long it will take to dry out. I’ll probably be too pregnant to ride once the rain stops. I did just push cattle last weekend.

I find the footing around here does get packed pretty quickly. I’ll just have to see what I have when I can finally work it.

I have 3 horses to ride and will hopefully be adding another when I’m not pregnant. Like I said I don’t see myself jumping above 3’ anytime soon plus there is some nice flat grass areas if I really wanted something different.

Worst case I hate it and go back to riding on the grass. We will see.

Thanks everyone for the input!