LOL. I know the feeling. Even though I had a ride this morning, not a long line session, it was my 64 year old couch potato self that was huffing & puffing a whole lot more than my 25 year old semi-retired ball of energy underneath my fat butt. He still has what it takes; me… not so much.:eek:
Enjoy tomorrow and your future playing in the big sand box.
A barn I assisted at had 300k worth of footing. Same rules. No lunging, no turnout, nothing but riding and hand walking. We even had to be careful with the base when dragging it.
I have seen a lot of barns with the no loose horses or rolling horses rule. More variation on the lungeing rule. I suspect with a clientele who are in the same discipline (and probably taking lessons) and can be trusted to not lunge to let the horse run, buck, fart like a maniac it is allowed. At other barns where the owners are concerned about people letting their horse-kites rip, they would not allow. I did see one ingenious solution for uneven wear: They posted a lungeing quadrant so they controlled where horses were lunged and moved it as often as needed.
OP, I see the problem in the winter. I assume the horses still go out most of the time in the snow? And if they winterize and drag the new roundpen a lot it can be usable except when you have serious ice.
I do not find this to be a strange or out of line rule.
How did your visit to go see the new footing go?
Although I am not an owner of high dollar riding arena footing, I like to think I treat other people’s facilities as mine.
So, in the event that I were to own one of these facilities, I have been curious about the geotechnical design of riding arena footing and the care and maintenance of these surfaces.
While I respect the rules of whatever facility I am at, as an engineer, I do not understand any technical reasoning for some of the restrictions. The footing starts with the prepared sub-base, to which is added 4"-6" of base on which 2"-4" or footing is added.
I don’t see how lunging or a horse doing a “free school” during winter, would incur any different “damage” than the wear and tear of that footing that happens by use of that surface in a jumping course.
Below is a Penn State Ag Extension write-up on this subject.
https://extension.psu.edu/riding-are…and-management
Lol, yes the horses go out most of the winter, until we get windchills in the -50*C range, then they tend to stay in, and get turn out in the arena! We will see what happens but it is often cold enough to be dangerous to be outside for any length of time.
Going this afternoon, I’ll let you know
Another vote for “not strange or out of line”.
Nope. No amount of base will counteract that. (don’t ask how I know) No lunging, no turn out (mirrors can be an issue there as well), no reining horses doing sliding stops, jumps need to be moved regularly. I dragged mine every ten hours of use as well, but I was cautious. However, my footing cost a third of the whole construction of my arena.
Better footing usually means that they do not allow lunging other turnout on the footing. My barn does have another arena that you can use for lunging or turnout. That works well for me unless there is ice, which prevents me from being able to use it since it is uncovered. Last winter there were some times when I couldn’t ride because I couldn’t lunge and the arena was icy. I am hoping that this winter there will be a trainer onsite and so hopefully I can work through the cold backed issue with some help. I do think footing is important, and so I would rather not do things on the footing that are hard on it. In barns with expensive footing, I’d say that these rules are very typical.
I think it is reasonable to respectfully ask the BO how the barn anticipates handling turnout next winter if traditionally the indoor was the only turnout space available. Free lunging and rolling have never been allowed in rings at any barn I’ve been at across multiple states. That being said, I’m in the south where there is ample turnout so rings never needed to serve a dual function.
I will be asking, but that is a question for later on, at the moment it is just so new, I think we should all ride and enjoy what we have, well when we can that is.
Well let’s see, led the boy once around the arena, and I was exhausted…it is DEEP right now. It is free of larger stones, level, and beautiful looking. I’m guessing that it will firm up some as it is worked and watered.
I was surprised to find the round pen up already, so ground worked the boy in there, he found it very exciting! Certainly it gives us lots of options now, indoor, outdoor, grass jumping ring, small 50’ round pen by indoor, larger round pen by outdoor, plenty of room for everyone.
Good thing I have my own place. In the winter my horses are allowed to rip around and roll in my arena. My boarders were also allowed providing they raked the crater created when the horses rolled.
My arena is 30 years old. I initially spent a lot of money on the base and then sand. Had to have some of the sand removed as it felt like we were riding through snow drifts. Had crumb rubber installed on top of the sand that was left.
All the vets and visitors that have ridden in my arena commented on how much they liked it. It required very little maintenance. I hand raked the perimeter track and occasionally the lunging track. I added calcium chlorde in the winter when it could get dusty if the moisture froze.
We used to do a lot of jumping in our younger days but now it is flat work only. The footing and base did not suffer and has held up well all these years.
I have managed a barn where a competitive vaulting team was based. Those horses were NEVER allowed to act like idiots on the lunge line and as such were not punching through to the base, but they did spend several hours each week on the same circle in the same place. It was hell on the footing (and eventually the base) even with appropriate ring maintenance.
No loose horses in the ring is pretty standard, doubly so if there’s nice footing involved. Lungeing rules vary widely, but it sounds like they’ve provided plenty of alternate options for much of the year. It’ll be interesting to see what their plan is for winter given your climate and the precedent set.
There is no free turnout allowed in our indoor and lunging is highly, highly frowned upon. You can do it if the weather outside is horrible, but just briefly and not sticking to just one spot to protect the base.
Sheilah
No free lunging, turnout or rolling in our indoor as well. The free lunging and turnout rule is more to protect our mirrors than the footing. A rolling horse can impact the base.
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