Thanks everyone for some very good and thought provoking advice! I am going to hold off on adding to the ring and work more on rehabbing it for now. If you have more opinions, please keep them coming!
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So a bit of an update. My chain harrow can be used 3 ways: tines up for smoothing (how I use it to break up pasture poops), tines down facing back, tines down facing forward. I had been using it tines down/back in the ring. For grins yesterday I reversed to to tines down/forward. HOLY MOLY what a difference. I dragged a couple times unloaded, then weighted it down. It dug in a good 2" in the clear areas and was beginning to really get up the dead material in the more “organic” areas. Rode on it yesterday and it felt pretty nice, actually. We had rain last night so I used that moisture to my advantage and did the same today (only once, unweighted) and got a bunch more up. The more I work it, the “fluffier” it is getting because the roots are part of what is making it so compacted. I also raked up a bunch of the lifted dead material yesterday but probably won’t be able to do that every time–however, I think eventually getting all that dead material out of there is also going to be key, so I will keep at it as I find “extra” time, haha.
I’m pretty excited by this, and so glad I asked y’all. I’m still going to use some sort of weed killer/residual as the weather warms, but I’m gonna hold off on additional footing for now. I do think I will eventually need some, but I’m guessing not nearly as much as I originally thought. I’d bet adding an inch of sand once it’s all loosened up is going to make this a really nice ring.
Thanks again everyone!
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Sweet! I didn’t realize you had a multi-directional tine drag. Mine is just vertical.
Did you ever dig in a corner to find out what the next layer is, and how far down?
JB, I don’t know half of what I have.
It is very similar to that one.
I had bluestone as footing and it was great as long as the weather was perfect. It drained like a sieve, but after a hard rain and then dry/sunny weather it would compact like concrete. I felt like a slave to the rake because if it didn’t get dragged as soon as it drained, it would be practically unusable until the next rain.
I added about 2" of masonry sand that a friend was getting rid of and dragged it together. It’s not fancy but it did the trick…it drains but it doesn’t compact. I’m sure it is not the “proper” way of managing an arena. 
As for weeds - with regular dragging and riding, they won’t be that problematic. I really only get them in the corners and i don’t ride often anymore. I would probably spray this year, drag them into a pile with your rake and dispose. You probably won’t have to worry about it that much if you use the arena.
Good luck!
I’m in the same boat - bought an abandoned farm and the outdoor arena had been neglected. It was basically a lovely, solid lawn. I tried dragging and was looking into buying a pull-behind sprayer, but eventually decided to just leave it. We mow it (I should say, we SCALP it) twice a month to keep the grass REALLY short, and I don’t ride in it when it’s wet so there are no divots. I actually really like it - it’s a different surface than a sand arena and my horses seem very comfortable in it. It’s much less maintenance than trying to keep it weed free, there’s no dust to worry about when we have dry spells in the summer, and it’s cooler - no heat radiating up from the hot sand.
This is my eventual plan. Glad to hear that worked for you!
This is what I did last year. But the “lawn” of weeds was very patchy and they mostly died off this winter which is when I decided I needed to really get to work rehabbing it instead of just intentionally ignoring it.
So I have been working and working this darn ring. We got 5" of rain this week and I used it to my advantage–my boyfriend and I raked all we could before the system rolled in, and then I dragged several times as soon as the rain stopped. I have a bit of new green week growth–the latest RoundUp didn’t get them all–but I have about 80% of the dead stuff gone. Even with all the rain it drained really well. I couldn’t be happier!
Plan is to just continue as I have for the rest of this year, and then maybe add some sand or other footing on top this winter. Feel free to comment or give any more sage advice!
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You did good, what a nice ring it is now.
Looks nice. Your hard work is paying off.
Looks awesome!
Five years ago my ring sat unused when I boarded my pony out for 3 years.
When I brought him back home, I did exactly what you are doing and I was also surprised at how well it came back.
