Arena surface- how long till it beds down?

[badgerdog]

My yard owner has just put in an arena made of sand and shredded carpet. I've been told that this takes time to bed in but how long is it likely to take?
Is there anything we can do to speed this process up? YO thinks that riding the horses on will do the trick but my horse sinks in about 4 - 5 inches so I daren't go out of walk!
I was thinking of raking it and YO said she would drag a gate over it with her 4 wheel drive.
Is the mixture likely to be wrong?
Any ideas welcome.

 

[kerilli]

rolling it is the best thing imho. some arenas need time to be down, some don't. rain will obv help as well, you shouldn't have too long to wait for that!

 

[Baileyhoss]

rolling it with a heavy roller would probably be the best thing, other than that I agree, riding and using it it will bed it down eventually.

our yo drags a metal grid over it to smooth out the surface and get rid of tracking, etc, but I don't think that will bed it down as such.

 

[Dressagebabe]

Definately should be rolled at least once a week for the next 6 wks, a new surface can take up to 3-4 months to really bed in and settle?

 

[badgerdog]

Oh that's a relief, I was worried it wasn't going to work. I've been waiting in anticipation for this arena for months!
YO said she was getting local farmer in to roll it in a few weeks so hopefully it will be better then. In the meantime I'll just try and bring myself to ride on it.

 

[wishfulthinking]

I've had a similar mix down in my new arean for a few months now but as it has been getting very light use we haven't done any rolling yet and it definatley needs it. Dragging it with a weighted gate or such does help in the short term though. When it settles I'm sure yours (and mine) will be great!