Reviving an old riding arena?

[gallen]

My husband and I are looking for places to buy and have found a lovely property that is move-in ready for us and our horses. The place has an old arena that was used before the current owners moved in (they’ve been there around three years), but the current owners never used it so they tore down the fence and let the grass grow back. You can still see where it was leveled, and the blue stone dust base is just under the grass.

Putting feelers out there to see if anyone has any experience with a situation like this, or if anyone has any recommendations on how they would try to salvage the ring.

Should we disc up the top and lay more footing down? Or would that ruin the leveling? Should we just kill the grass somehow (maybe spray?) and then add sand and drag until the bluestone dust mixes in?

We have blue stone dust where we are now and I’m quite fond of it, even though I know it packs down in the summer, I would rather have a ring that is too hard as opposed to too soft. I would drag religiously, so I’m thinking of adding rubber to soften, but I know people say it gets annoying when it rains.

ANY AND ALL SUGGESTIONS OR ADVICE ARE GREATLY APPRECIATED

[enjoytheride]

Kill the grass and run a drag over it a bunch to get the grass up. You might have to add new footing. My ring was rock hard from lack of use and we just used it as a base and put sand on top

[gallen]

Did you find the stone dust mixed in or did yours just stay a sand footing? Thinking of maybe doing a stone dust/sand mix on top. Thanks for the input!! Thinking the best way to kill the grass is just good old round up and then drag like you said.

[enjoytheride]

Some of my sand did mix with the base, which was fine as it was too deep when I put the sand down. We used round up the drug it over and over and kept cleaning the drag off. Once it was level and weed free we let it rain and harden and then added sand.

[wsmoak]

I don’t have a proper arena with a base, just a cleared area that had a natural crown that the contractor graded and spread crushed granite on. If I let it go too long I get all kinds of things growing in there… but a few times with the drag and some hand-pulling and it’s back to reasonably clear and useful.

I drag it with the flat side of a chain harrow, nothing fancy. I would do that as often as you can get out there. Then depending on how you feel about chemicals and how much grass is left, you can decide whether to spray.

I would not disc or rip it up until you have spent some time with it after the grass is gone and can evaluate what you have for footing and the base. If it’s just for you at home you might be fine with just adding more footing.

[Wyndwolfe]

When we bought our property, the arena was in much the state that you describe, but the fence was still intact. Our area has a hard clay soil, and the arena has clay as a base, but river sand was added on top. We used a plow to break up and loosen, then a drag to smooth. We did not use any grass killer, but working the footing with the plow down to about 11-12 inches killed everything. I did think about adding shredded rubber, but we ended up not needing it.