Adding fibre to an arena

[henryhorn]

Posted in here because I reckon more people will have built arenas.
Has anyone added the fibre themselves, our arena is sea sand and silica with rubber and has worked really well for us, but needs a top up. I have bought 16 tons of rubber, and we have levelled it to perfection, and I'm currently sourcing fibre.
There are various suppliers but the best priced appears to be on Ebay a company from Bolton. I'll go for the Premium grade which they say is new carpet chopped up.
Has anyone bought from them please?
The method doesn't sound that difficult (we have built two arenas from scratch ourselves), you rotovate the fibre into the arena being careful not to go near the membrane, then add the remaining rubber chips on top.
It's a lot of money to spend without hearing from someone who has had good (or bad) experiences, so any advice gratefully recived.
For anyone wondering our mix of two sands and rubber produced a super surface, it is rideable in all weathers and has only got deeper at one end as the surface has moved a bit due to rain and the slope. Hopefully the fibre should solve that and more rubber give more bounce.

 

[Goldenstar]

I added fibre and more rubber to mine several years ago it coarse silica sand and rubber and we topped up with a lot of rubber and the fibre a contractor did it so don't know the details of now they did the surface had a looser 'new feeling after for a short while now it great the fibre and extra rubber has made it firmer which was what we where after.

 

[Booboos]

We did it ourselves...bugger of a job but can be done!

You need to spread it evenly so first you need to look at the weight of each bale and divide the arena up so that each bale is laid out to the same thickness (I managed to do the maths myself following advice from the fibre manufacturer). Then we had to hire a forklift to move the bales into the arena.

Next phase: it took 10 people a whole day to break up the fibre (thank goodness for all our nice friends!). We then watered it.

We hired a small tractor and rotivator, but despite setting it on the highest level it still tore through the membrane three times!!!!!! I was practically in tears by that stage, but we managed to repair the membrane and press on. The rotivator did mix it in but it also moved the whole mix all over the place and it was very unlevel. I then spent quite a few hours driving over it with the leveller to sort it out.

So...it can be done, but it's back breaking and costs a lot more than the cost of the fibre. Having said that it worked really well for us so if you can't replace the whole thing it's a good investement.

 

[mrussell]

Slightly different I know but we bought a Turfloat type product from Softrak and it arrived in 2 massive haylage style square bales. It took 2 of us 2 days to hand spread it over our pre-levelled sand and rubber arena (it broke apart in slabs which we carried about and broke up with our hands). We then had a local farmer come down and power harrow it into the first 2 inches. Wow..what a HUGE difference !

Pebble Mill fibres near Ely also supply that carpet shred...

 

[henryhorn]

Booboos were you putting it on directly on to the membrane or on to sand. Ours already has quite a depth of sand and rubber so I'm hoping the menbrane is deep enough to be ok. Breaking the stuff up is something that hadn't occurred to me, we haven't got ten handy people so will ask the suppliers for advice! We will get the bales offloaded into the arena I think, solving one problem, and should be able to move them about with our tractor spike like a haylage bale. It may also be possible to drive about with them spiked and spread it evenly that way by pulling it apart at a slow speed. Many thanks, that's useful info..

 

[henryhorn]

Thanks, advice re the power harrow is just what we needed too. Have spent three days searching for suppliers and yes they came up too, price wise there is huge variation in quotes, as in recommended amounts to spread. Plan is try a small area and see what works best, then top with rubber afterwards.
The stuff from Valley is sold under several well known arena names, so I'm hopingit will be fine.

 

[showjump]

Henry horn, i recommend doing a depth test all over your arena. Dig down to the membrane in lots of places, you will then have an idea of wheres low on surface/ high. If not when you power harrow/ rotovate the firbre in you will tear your membrane if its unlevel. If its way out of level, you will need someone to level the surface with a digger, if its not much out of level a menage leveller for afew hours may do the job!
Id suggest (like someone else said) to spread fibres by hand, and as even as possible.
If you have a farmer local with a Kennan or similar, load the fibre bales in that and get him to fire it out onto your arena. We did this last time, much much easier.

 

[Lark]

Henryhorn the best piece of kit is a Stone burier. The harrow can spin the fibre through the first 2 inches but may not get down any further.
We put in a lot of Clopf and it is working very well although it does need a couple of rolls after it has been mixed in.

I tried to find a pic with the stone burier but I didn't take one but if you look you can see where it has gone across mixing the fibre with the sand:

This is what the fibre looks like spread out:

And finished:

Best of luck.

 

[showjump]

Yes Henry horn stone burier is what we use, so id go down the Kennan (or similar) and stone burier for mixing it in.

 

[spark56]

I'm looking at this at the moment as well for a complete resurface. I'm worried about making the wrong choice as it would be a very expensive mistake. Have to admit that the different types of fibre, different ratios of sand to fibre (possibility of adding rubber) etc is giving me a headache.

At the moment I'm looking at Pebble Hall as I've heard a few good reports and Equestrian Surfaces as they are just up the road. I saw the one on Ebay but don't know anyone that has used it. Equestrian Surfaces have 4 types to choose from and it is baled. The fibre from Pebble Hall is loose so I imaging should be a lot easier to distribute.

 

[Booboos]

We mixed the fibre (Clopf) with sand. The sand had been laid to a uniform depth of 15cms (we did it all ourselves to I know it was done right!) but the rotivator still went too far down and tore the membrane (lifting hardcore at the same time and making a mahooosive mess!!!).

The Clopf DVD shows two types of rotivator, a circular one that moves parallel to the ground, and a vertical one that digs in. We only had access to the second type (Clopf said it shouldn't make a difference skipping the other one) but it did go in too deep, so I think we should have used the other one.

We took the fibre apart by hand hence all the work! Apparently you can use this tractor attachment that breaks up bales (again from the Clopf DVD) but it all depends on what equipment you have access to. We had to rent everything so the cost did go up a bit!

 

[MillionDollar]

We added Martin Collins Clopf to ours last year..............and its AMAZING!!! Cost £3k, for a 60m x 40m. Rides like an expensive waxed surface and now needs minimal maintanenece, level it once per week now, before it was every other day!

It was very easy to add, BUT we did have all the correct equipment. Only took a day to do the whole thing. We watered it well when added the fibre but after that we didn't have any rain for 5 months........yet I still didn't need to water it again!

The day before we added it....the surface had become loose, especially when jumped on and just before we added the Clopf I was having to level it at least once per day...

This is the other day...

If you do add a fibre, do it now whilst its wet as you'll get the best results.

 

[MillionDollar]

Yes, like I said it was easy for us (being farmers) as we had all the correct equipment like the DVD showed.........we followed instructions exactly.

Also we have bought the correct leveller, as this makes a huge difference as many levellers will just rip up the fibre and it ends up on top instead of mixed in.

http://www.tizz.eclipse.co.uk/index_files/arena.htm

 

[MillionDollar]

Just thought henryhorn, even if you don't get Clopf, phone Martin Collins for a quote and they'll send you a DVD........its brilliant for showing you how to add a fibre.

 

[henryhorn]

Thanks, we have hired a digger and levelled it, and have a pretty good idea of where it was thinner, hopefully it's now spread evenly. Have no idea what a Kennan is but as this is farming country someone else will! Thanks.

 

[showjump]

Sorry its a keenan, its what farmers put a bale of straw in and it chops it up and spits out the side. Used for bedding cattle down n mixing feed I'm sure.

 

[KatieLovesJames]

I have this Scotts Fibre on my arena http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150380350330968&set=t.100001878939726&type=3&theater

 

[henryhorn]

Sorry KLJ, it won't allow me to see any photos?

 

[KatieLovesJames]

Um try again here http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.256133501125946.60288.100001878939726&type=3&l=2250a15bb9

Any good?

 

[hottoddy]

I have the Scotts Fibre as well. I put it onto a sand arena and laid it by hand in a day (it was a very long day though!) It has made a huge difference in stabilising the surface and giving it more bounce and was very reasonably priced. Well worth a look.

 

[henryhorn]

Yes, thanks I can see it now. We have gone for the fibre from Valley Equestrian of Bolton, it arrives on Monday, not looking forward to spreading 14 bales of the stuff!

 

[Booboos]

Good luck!!! I had a sore back for the rest of the week when we spread out ours, so don't plan on doing anything too active afterwards!

 

[jmdcoote]

Yes, thanks I can see it now. We have gone for the fibre from Valley Equestrian of Bolton, it arrives on Monday, not looking forward to spreading 14 bales of the stuff!

Hi, just wondering how happy you are with your fibre additive from Valley Equestrian from Bolton? I need to improve my surface as it rides very deep and was thinking of using this. Would you recommend it? Any tips on installation? Thanks in advance.

 

[France1]

Hi. Sorry to pick up on this old thread but just wondering how it worked out with the Valley fibres? Thinking of adding it to my school, which rides deep and has a coarse sand in it. Be really grateful for your comments, totally confused by all the different products and different amounts psm recommended!! S

 

[FabioandFreddy]

We added Valley fibres to ours that we built ourselves nearly 4 years ago - fibre was added a month and a half after the sand was laid. Still riding fabulously - we did have silica sand though. Valley were by far the cheapest for fibre as they supply most of the other companies! My RI was that impressed with the surface she put the same on her new arena!

 

[France1]

Thanks lots for the feedback

 

[sare_bear]

For those of you that have sand and fibre arenas, do you need to water in a long dry spell? Does it get deep or the sand and fibre separate? Was going this route but having read a few posts on it being high maintenance in the summer have been put off. Would adding rubber to the mix help. Sorry for gate crashing an old thread.

 

[Booboos]

I do water as my surface gets deeper and (worse) dusty in dry weather but then again it is much drier here (south of France) than the UK.

 

[Impu1sion]

France1 - I added fibre to my arena which had coarse sand in and rode deep. Also added rubber, still deep and loose. I wasted my money on this and in the end, took it all up and replaced with silica sand, fibre and later topped with rubber. Unfortunately, if the sand isn't right, nothing will fix it! Sorry to be the bearer of bad news...

 

[France1]

Thanks for this. Do you remember how much fibre you added? I am being recommended to put in some 6.5kg psm, ie almost twice what would go into fine sand. Thanks lots