any help / ideas - cheap surface to work on

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danceround

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Hello
any ideas , suggestions very happily received please on how you manage on a shoe string to make a surface to work on
We have a small outdoor area which drains reasonably well and is roughly the right size to make a schooling area. problem being is its out of the question to lay what i'd love , a proper surface, as tractors have to go through it to empty the muck heap and for purse strings factors
In the mean time , are there any cheaper make do methods anyones used with success , i'm happy to put the labour and time in to prepare and maintain and know that its never going to be great but somethings better tha nothing ,
i've wondered about wood chippings raked in as fairly cheap, etc anyone tried this, or anything else , loaclly obtainable

any help gratefully received, other tha that i think i'll have to carry on finding a green bit when out hacking :-(

thanks
 
wood chippings can get very slippery and breakdown very quickly I am afraid which is why people use other surfaces. It might be ok for very light use. You need to rake it every time you use it as well.
 
We have a large wood chip turnout area - it has been fine for our 4 and isn't at all slippery. It does need to be raked more often that the expensive surfaces, but no more than sand. I would be cautios about large tractors going across it regularly, on the odd occasion with care whouldn't be an issue though. Pricewise, tree surgeons in my area sell chipped wood for £50 a load (4cu m), for a 30 x 45 area we had 18 loads initially. Will need top ups annually I suspect of 5 loads or so. For us it was a cheap alternative as we only rent the yard and the owner was not willing to invest.

We do jump on it and do flat work too, the only issue was that we have to keep an eye depth of surface when doing a lot of jumping. Other than that no complaints as it has been a saviour when we were knee deep in mud and needed to turn horses our for a couple of hours.
 
Your problem is the tractors. To make a surface stable enough for that kind of heavy trafic you need to remove the top soil, add significant amounts of hardcore, add a blinding layer and then put your surface (you would still have the problem that dirty/muddy tractor wheels would always contaminate your surface and block your drainage). Is there any way you can divert the tractors?

In my experience woodchip (even the specially prepared kiln dryed equestrian stuff) will biodegrade within 2-5 years and turn into very slippery mulch. You would then have to pay to remove it and replace it, so overall it is a false economy.

Best thing to do is call direct all your local quarries (the closer the quarry, the less the transport costs) and see what kinds of sands they have available. Ideally you want angular, silica sand, with as small a grain as possible (e.g. 0.25 would be great). In some areas river sands have similar properties and may do. You may also get away with larger grain sand if you can get a pipe and sprinkler on there to wet it very regularly (but note this will increase your water bill).
 
Booboos is quite right, chippings wil not last overly long. Sand worked out very expensive in our area as we did nt have local quarries and the haulage costs were high.
I rather looked at it from the pepective that if it lasted 5 years it would be worth it. As a natural material disposing of it, should the need arise, is not too difficult - especially if you have a tractor available. I know somebody who made an 'allweather' track with chips a good 4 or 5 years ago and it is still useable, although more like peat in the wooded areas where leaf mould has mixed in with it.
 
wow thanks all, i'm always amazed and grateful of responses , thx for taking time out to do so :-) and also the great detail and experience

At the moment its just dusty, and stoney so anything gotta be better, I'm really pleased wood chip is ok in some instances and guess yes if i have to accept it comes up in few years, well at least i'll have had a few years on it defo going to price and attempt to source some local sands as advised and maybe compare price against wood chips, which i figure i'll prob get free opr v cheap due to area we are

PS to anyone out there working in lovely arenas, i 'm super jel lol but equally go enjoy :-)thx for help:)
 
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