Arena surface help please?

S

Skhosu

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 May 2006
Messages
8,193
Visit site
We have a 20x 40 arena with lough neagh sand in it,no membrane and stones that do come up. It is quite deep, not so bad now it settled (took 6years!)
We;re looking for something to top it up now as the stones are coming up a lot! Ideally not too expensive (naturally ;p) and that will give us a good surface for riding eventers on. It's outdoors and not maintained that regularly, no one has time, and ridden on by 1-2 horses during the week
 
I don't think there is a surface that is cheap, needs no maintenance and stops the stones from coming up. It sounds like this school was not prepared properly in the first place. You need to get an expert in and ask their advice.
 
it is maintained but not that often, so needs to not take daily maintenance to be rideable. The stones will keep coming up unless we put a membrane down, which we are not currently doing so not looking a surface to stop that.
 
You should have gone to the arena demo at addington! It was really good and very informative, not just for arena owners but those of us who ride on them, I didn't realise how important a good surface is! Especially as far as soundness goes! Martin Collins do a fibre additive I think is £900. But you can send a sample of your sand to them in the post, they will analyse it and see what they can do to improve it. It all depends on the grade of your sand. But its definitely worth giving them a ring
 
I am a bit confused as to what you want to fix with the arena. If there is no membrane or blinding layer the stones will come up no matter what you do. If it's too deep it's a difficult problem to resolve by adding more stuff, but some products out there claim to help (I've never heard of one actually helping though). If it's too compacted I think you have a better chance of making it more springey by adding fibre or rubber. In either case the stones will still keep coming up which will make it difficult to use so you might be throwing good money after bad.
 
Theres basically not enough surface and it needs a top up;) I think it would cost a lot to put a membrane down but willing to be corrected as this would obviously solve the stones
Whats a blinding layer?
Obviously I personally didn't put the arena down ;p but it looked to be done correctly as far as I recall...
 
An arena needs a way of separating the hardcore base from the surface that stops the stones from coming up but allows the water to drain through. There are two ways of doing this either by membrane or with a blinding layer. A blinding layer is a layer of 40mil stone to dust, raked out completely level and then compacted with a vibrating roller. You would need the right kind of stone as you want it to bind together enough to stop the stones from coming up but not too much that it stops the water from draining through. The cost for the blinding layer is the cost of the stone and will depend on whether your local quarries have anything suitable, plus the cost of laying it all out and vibrating it (my OH and I did in two days but I nearly did my back in - the arena has drained through all the rains in the last 3 years with no problem). Membranes will vary in cost depending on the specification. A good place to look for DIY materials such as membrane is Jackson Arenas, but there are many others on the web. You would then need to add on the cost of the labour of putting the membrane down and sealing it together so there are no gaps (can take two people 2-3 days to do).

Either way you need to factor in the cost of the machinery to remove the current surface and replace it when the work is done.
 
I would imagine we put a blinding layer down as it was done properly, think I shall ring some of the arena companies and ask them
 
[ QUOTE ]
A good place to look for DIY materials such as membrane is Jackson Arenas, but there are many others on the web.

[/ QUOTE ]

I wouldn't use Jackson Arenas, they built mine and i'm having to get Martin Collins in to rebuild it for me!!!! I'm also going for their sand and Clopf surface - it really DOES work!! (i've been to 5 sites locally that have added it and it really is amazing stuff - keeps you on top of the surface). If you have stones coming up (as i have) you need to remove the surface and put a membrane down. Then re-lay the surface (or put new in as i am doing). I would give Martin Collins a call - speak to Gill or Emma. They don't charge to come and have a look at the arena and will give you an honest appraisal of it - i've had 3 big companies out to look at it and they - MC - were the most honest of the lot, giving me real advice and even saying where i could save money (i don't actually need to have new sand for example, but i just want to get rid of the lot of it and start again - the other 2 companies tried to flog me a new surface before they had even moved from the stables to look at the arena!!). Definitely worth a call.
 
Confused as to whether it is deep because of the type of sand surface, because you also say that the surface needs a top up (does this mean it isn't deep enough)?. Lough neagh sand (because there is some gravel in it as well) doesn't normally move or get as deep as the builders sand that you se some people using).

When we had our school done (has a membrane though, and lough neagh sand surface) we had only 4" rather than the normal 6" of sand put down so it wouldn't be too deep at first. In about 18 months I could tell it needed topped up as the surface was moving alot on the corners and I has having to do a pot of hand raking which isn't pleasant. Once the extra 2" of sand was added it has been fine since, and is only levelled about once every 2-3 weeks unless (as recently) OH has been lunging a lot.

Sorry for the waffle - 2" of sand from Emersons was about £1100, my neighbour got hers topped up with fibre instead and it was more than double that, but as her sand wasn't as good (terribly deep when dry) she thought it was worth that to get a good surface at last.

You could also scrape it to one side and put a membrane down though, depends how much money your dad wants to part with really.

FIona
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top