Arena Surface recommendations

Fun Times

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It's been done to death but here we go nonetheless......

We are looking to replace our arena surface (in a 20 x 40 m arena), keeping the existing drainage and membrane, both of which are very good. The arena will get used by around 4 horses per day (each horse being ridden for no more than an 45 mins). We are obssessed with ensuring that the surface doesn't ride too deep and doesn't track up/become uneven too quickly. We don't jump a lot, maybe a couple of small fences a week.

Budget isn't huge - less than £10k. Ideally we want one company to deliver the surface - i.e we want to avoid having to source one component from one supplier and one component from another supplier and mixing it up ourselves.

Please could those of you who have similar useage/requirements as ours let me have recommendations as to what has worked for you. Equally, if you have suggessions as to who to avoid, please PM me.

Thus far, fear of making an expensive mistake has prevented us doing anything!
 

HappyNeds

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We've got Combi-ride, they delivered it and installed it too. We've had it a few years now and we love it. It rides great, doesn't get deep, rarely needs levelling and doesn't freeze, and although other half says this bit doesn't matter it does to me - and that is it looks great too! When we looked at various different arena before choosing our surface some of the recycled carpet/tyre surfaces I thought didn't look so great, but that's not why we chose it. We did quite a lot of research before we went with it as, like you, we wanted to get this decision right. If you live near me you are welcome to come and see ours, just PM me if you want to
 

Fun Times

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Ooh thanks Happyneds, that sounds interesting. We are near York, I don't suppose you are local to us are you?
 

HappyNeds

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Hi FunTimes, we are more than 3 hours away, so I'm guessing that's probably a bit far! However, when we were choosing we phoned the Combi-ride company (and a couple of others that we'd narrowed it down to) and asked if they had previously had any customers near us who wouldn't mind us looking at their arena and they gave us a couple of different customers who had said it was ok so we went and saw theirs. It was good because they had no reason not to be honest about both the pros and the cons, as there was no one from the company their, just us and them, so that was very useful. Just a suggestion that might help you decide
 

Fun Times

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Thanks Happyneds. Three hours is probably a tad too far but good idea to ring the company and find someone more local.
 

Prince33Sp4rkle

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i wont have anything bar silica sand and rubber (high grade equestrian silica sand and rubber chunks).

waxed surfaces grab the foot, dont allow any slide and IMO destroy the soft tissue and coffin joints. i dont mind competing on them would never have one at home for daily use.

some fibre/carpet strip type arena are ok but have heard very variable reports.

my first choice will always be sand and a thick topping of rubber.
 

Noodlebug

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We are looking to top up our arena and have had different opinions. I looked at the fibres Float tuft but worried that it will flood in the winter? Has anyone used rubber granulate? I have a sample from a company called Belvoir. Anyone heard of them??
 
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