Treadall rubber arena footing

[4furbabies]

We are looking at replacing our footing in our indoor riding arena because the dust is so bad - we were looking into putting treadall rubber footing in…having said that we were’nt sure we wanted to mix sand in with it. Has anyone used just straight treadall? 2" rubber Footing?

We think we may still get too much dust with a treadall/sand mix since we can’t seem to find a sand company that understands the composition of different sands (round granulars vs. triangular etc.)

So if you are using treadall in your areans can you please help? Tell us what you think of it please.

[keatssu]

We have ProStride crumb rubber with coarse sand in our outdoor. The sand is washed concrete sand. Regarding the rubber, it shouldn’t be used alone as footing. After a very heavy rainfall we get deep areas of rubber that separates from the sand and floats to the low end of the arena. It is unstable to ride on, and the horses slip. It has to be mixed back in. (Sometimes I will ride before I’ve had a chance to groom the arena which mixes the rubber back in).

We put in a 1:3 rubber to sand ratio totaling 2 inches. It fluffed up to around 2 1/2". I do like the rubber - except for the occasional need to rake it back in after major rain.

Our neighbor has sand footing in his indoor and he has to keep it watered. I don’t think there is any other way to eliminate dust with sand. I think there are additives that help, but I’m not sure of the specifics, and I believe you still have to water it. Even the super expensive footing in the indoor arena at the Kentucky horse park is watered. Of course they have fantastic, large tanks that they drive around and spray with.

You are right - rubber doesn’t really help with dust because it doesn’t hold moisture. I suppose there is less dust, but it doesn’t seem to make a noticeable difference.

[sascha]

What climate are you in?

If you’re in a moderately humid to humid place, something as simple as adding feed grade salt to your indoor, harrowing, watering, and harrowing again can make a huge difference for dust control. You don’t need to water often, but regular harrowing helps to keep everything mixed so that you don’t end up with the top layer getting dusty again.

If you’re in a dry climate (desert), I have no help for you. Sorry.

[merrygoround]

Adding Magnesium Chloride to your arena will keep dust down, and also hold off winter freeze. It is of all the salts considered the least damaging. However it has been getting terribly hard to get.

[StormyDay]

I rode at a barn that had an outdoor arena with only rubber crumb in it, no sand. The product they used looked like treadall, but I am unsure if it was. It was amazing, the best arena I have ever rode on. They only needed about 1 inch of footing vs the 3-4 inches of sand you usually need. It never froze, drained beautifully, and I could imagine was great on the horses joints, since there was no drag like in sand, just the bounce. Running in a sand arena vs that arena, I could feel how much easier it was. If I ever build an arena again, I am going to model it after that one.