I mean if she really values it as a native, she can come dig it out herself! I see people offer all sorts of stuff as “we’re changing things, so come take it if you want it” 
Huh. That’s interesting. There’s a bunch that’s died out behind us although none on our property. Figured it was all wiped out by disease or pests or something. Weird!
Gottcha! When I lived up in Ontario (Peterborough region) I was amazed by how much Eastern White Cedar there was. Definitely a weed there, and a much sought wood down here. They grow here, but just don’t establish themselves. Wrong soil types.
Another rot resistant type of wood is Larch or Tamarack. They are deciduous conifers.
You literally came on here asking for input. People were giving you bad, uninformed advice that was going to use up your budget and not fix your problem. I genuinely don’t care what you do to your arena or if it’s ever safe to ride in again. But when you inevitably need actual professional help, because this is not a DIY job for someone with no skills, then I suggest you are a little less rude to the contractor you hire when they tell you the exact same thing I did.
also you said your arena is covered in weeds, I would suggest that’s all that is holding the “cap” of sand together and you don’t remove them or try to drag what’s left of it.
I’ve removed the weeds every year for the last couple. It’s been fine. Before that, I mowed it all, wondering if the growth would stabilize the boggy spots. It didn’t.
I DID talk to a professional about the boggy spots. About a year ago when he was here to bury a horse. His answer? Just put some stone dust on top.
I realize you think I’m just lying about all of this and a fucking moron (and probably the same of the excavator guy.) But you know what? You’ve provided absolutely zero useful input here, and only a shit ton of vitriol.
Amberley, my god, seriously, do you really think everyone just has 20-30k sitting around for crap like this? I am a casual rider. Doing this professionally is A LOT of money. Even though I know you don’t believe me, most of the arena WORKS FINE.
You’re welcome to put your OWN money up and do it YOUR WAY. Or if you have input on doing something for a grand or two, feel free to weight in. Otherwise, please god just go outside and take a deep breath and have a beer or whatever, because your ire about this is exhausting, and it’s not helping anyone.
You are really being quite an asshole about this, especially since OP validated you at every turn but CAN NOT AFFORD TO DO IT.
“Try nothing and hire someone” isn’t an option for many people.
Amberley, I’m willing to bet you mean well and are trying to help, but your delivery is combative and frankly, out of touch with Simkie’s situation. Everyone agrees that in a perfect world it’d be best to hire a contractor to pull it all out and replace it with an arena done properly. A friend just did a very basic 70x120 for $50k and that didn’t include removing fill / woodchips. Most people aren’t going to have that money lying around. If you’re in the position where this is a feasible solution for you, man, I’m happy for you - but it’s not the reality for most people. It’s a life skill to learn how to work outside the box when you have a problem with no perfect solution accessible to you.
Anyway, most people are not thinking of how to make something last longer than their lifetime, mostly because making things that last a long time takes an enormous amount of skill and labor, which costs money. It takes woodchips years to break down; buried woodchips like Simkie’s base would take decades. That’s long enough for one lifetime and Simkie can leave the excavating and ring installion to the next person that comes along. In this economy they’ll probably be loaded anyway and can fix it up how they like it.
Good lord my 20-30k wild assed guess on getting a pro in is obviously waaaaaaaaaaay off.
If you[g] have already cleared land and the heavy machinery it’d be significantly cheaper; I’ve looked into doing one myself (we have excavator and a large skidsteer). The material would run me about $6k. Even then that’s a big enough expense that I’ve balked at doing it for years. It would be nice to have $30k lying around, wouldn’t it?
When I back of enveloped this, I figured 10 triaxles of stone dust at just over a grand a pop. Then decide if anything needs to go on top of that once it’s all settled and compacted, maybe another 3-4k there? Figure double $$ that for a pro. Maybe that’s still close ish in broad strokes?
But to your point, I know very few people who find a surprise and can just turn around and drop that kind of cash! We improve the property every year but this year’s projects are already planned, and omg srsly, I am not a serious enough rider where it makes sense to invest that much.
This arena has existed as it is for a decade or two and there’s a clear reason why the areas that have failed failed the way they did. It’s def not the way I’d put it in initially but … here we are. 
Even if we go crazy and add a load of screenings every year we sure get a lot of use before hitting the $$$ that redoing the whole damned thing now would cost!
Yeah, it sure would be nice to think nothing of dropping that sort of cash for surprise funsies
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