20x40 school surface

Samboy1004

Samboy1004

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Just had a 20x40 school put in now just need to put down the membrane then the surface any ideas please needs to be as cheap as poss 😂😂😂😂 thanks I am in essex
 
Honestly? It's a piece of string question. The cheapest surface would probably an equestrian wood fibre. Equestrian Direct do one which is ok. Personally I wouldn't use a wood fibre surface at all though.
Sand is the next up. Cost is fairly reliant on haulage as this really bumps it up! TBH you'd be better doing a google search & then ringing quarries & companies.
 
The cheapest surface will probably be woodchip but it eventually rots & has to be topped up or replaced/. Additionally I believe it gets slippery as well.

If you decide on sand make sure you get the right one, don't use building sand as it doesn'ty do your horses feet any good at all.

We have sand & rubbed & very good drainage. It never floods or freezes & it is rideable all year round. I don't know the cost though.
 
Be careful if you get sand from equicon, sand on our hard was tested as it was riding so deep and not compacting, turns out it wasn't the right grade.

However I must say they came out and gave us some free fibre and now the ménage is perfect :)
 
I put a carpet type surface down in january, apart from the fact i put too much on its very good. It cost around 3.5k no need for sand it just went down on top of the membrane. it was half the price of flexiride and apart from some rogue bits of foam in it, you cant tell it from flexiride. can dig you out the detail if you are interested.
 
Carpet only sounds interesting - does it not just blow away or shift under the horses feet? Mine mixed in with the sand and I assumed that was what kept it there and stable.
As a caveat, I experimented with a load of rubber on top of the sharp sand before I went for carpet fibre. The sand was rubbish on its own but actually worse with the rubber chips! So don't assume that rubber will always work well.
 
We are refurbishing our arena, equestrian direct were very helpful and sent us samples and gave us the details of a customer who has flexiride so we could have a look. We really liked the surface and are going to put it on top of our sand, it should be coming at the end of this month :-)
 
domsmith said:
The carpet shreds dont move at all they are heavy. we are on a hil so i can tell you for sure they wont blow away.

Eqestrian direct were good and helpful, but they couldnt compete on price.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/EQUESTRIA...900?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_3&hash=item3cdf2edbfc

this is their ebay advert but give them a ring.
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Are you really pleased with it? I have been looking at Flexiride and ridden on that and quite liked it. What put me off was that the friend who has it down had difficulty getting it right and to bed in - it needed loads of watering to come right. I am also looking at Combi-ride also which again looks great but more expensive. I must get it right as I have one horse with ringbone and one with a sacro illiac injury so they both need to have a perfect surface. I was told to never have rubber as it is not good as it throws joints out and I can understand that. Did you use any sand? Flexiride suggest 40 tonnes of sand to run over the top.
 
Run screaming from Combi -ride, I went for it over flexiride as it was more expensive and I was told (by them obviously - slaps face!) therefore better.
It's always ridden deep, I was fobbed off for months that it needed rain, but then after a torrential winter it was too late for them to help sort out !

Only good thing about it is that it's all rotted away in under 4 years so I can go ahead and put the flexiride I should have bought on the top!!
 
Polos Mum said:
Run screaming from Combi -ride, I went for it over flexiride as it was more expensive and I was told (by them obviously - slaps face!) therefore better.
It's always ridden deep, I was fobbed off for months that it needed rain, but then after a torrential winter it was too late for them to help sort out !

Only good thing about it is that it's all rotted away in under 4 years so I can go ahead and put the flexiride I should have bought on the top!!
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Gosh thanks for this - sounds like a nightmare. I will look at the Flexiride again and at this alternative domsmith has if I can find someone with it in Essex.
 
Just wondering if you found anyone with the alternative to Flexride in Essex? I moved to a house with a sharp sand arena and that rides too deep. We have considered adding fibre but not sure how well it would work with sharp sand. Local farmer will remove sand for us so considering a surface that doesn't need a sand base. I have found two on ebay, the one mentioned by domsmith and one from Premier Equestrian Flooring called Equi-Bound. Anyone have any experience of this?
 
i went for turffloat elite from equestrian direct. it her performed pretty well but in the summer goes a little deep in places but not awful, depends if ive done the wall of death lunge or not lol. it was awesome in the winter. on the whole i like it, it looks smart and performs well.

1521391_801380353224968_1861962229_n.jpg
 
Cheap - post peelings, don't go for some of these commercial wood surfaces, many are just old housing timbers chopped up.

We used post peelings on our school arenas, they are really hard wearing and don't slip. They are hard work to spread out but do a great job.

If going for sand a mixture of sharp and polished sand makes a good surface that is holding without packing hard, sharp sand alone can pack hard, polished sand moves around too much causing horses to slip.

For the best long term, low maintenance get WASHED sand it doesn't get dusty in summer.
 
jmdcoote said:
Just wondering if you found anyone with the alternative to Flexride in Essex? I moved to a house with a sharp sand arena and that rides too deep. We have considered adding fibre but not sure how well it would work with sharp sand. Local farmer will remove sand for us so considering a surface that doesn't need a sand base. I have found two on ebay, the one mentioned by domsmith and one from Premier Equestrian Flooring called Equi-Bound. Anyone have any experience of this?
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I have only found a friend with the Flexiride, so frankly I am going with the surface domsmith has it's much cheaper and I liked what the seller had to say ; he was very knowledgable. I am waiting for planning permission to come through anyday now....exciting. I shall post a thread when it's built.
 
YasandCrystal said:
I have only found a friend with the Flexiride, so frankly I am going with the surface domsmith has it's much cheaper and I liked what the seller had to say ; he was very knowledgable. I am waiting for planning permission to come through anyday now....exciting. I shall post a thread when it's built.
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I have flexiride over a dressage sand base. This produced the grip with bounce surface I wanted. I don't think I'd have got this just using flexiride on it's own and interestingly in the link above to ebay, the horses feet appear to be going in to rather than staying on the surface. Could just be camera angle but something to consider.
Like you, I also would never go for rubber crumb after a light bulb moment re joints, slipping and twisting.
 
Hi. We have sharp sand which is riding very deep, and thinking of adding carpe fibre. Good to hear it worked for you, getting very mixed advice! Can I ask how much carpet fibre you added, and did you just leave it on top? Many thanks
 
France1 said:
Hi. We have sharp sand which is riding very deep, and thinking of adding carpe fibre. Good to hear it worked for you, getting very mixed advice! Can I ask how much carpet fibre you added, and did you just leave it on top? Many thanks
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If you are finding the surface you have is too deep, then have some removed as its not good for your horse to work in too deep a surface. Advertise the excess as there is sure to be someone needing a top up.

You say you have sharp sand, this usually packs hard over time as the angular grains lock into each other. You can prevent this happening by adding polished sand, which is round, so breaks up the clumps.

We added aircraft tyre rubber which has no metal threads in it onto the school arena. It was a lovely surface to ride on but was stinky in hot weather and eventually broke down into fine dust that turned white socks black. Nasty too when it was very dry. The school got a lot of use with 300 riders coming through each week which probebly didn't help, breaking down the surface faster.
 
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