arena surface

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melissasponies

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23 February 2010
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hi there, could anyone give me advice on an arena surface? I have spent a small fortune so far on leveling and drainage, I then had 5" of 40 - 80mm gravel put down followed by 5-14mm chips (about 3" deep) this forms the drainage layer. I'm not sure what to do next, whatever I put down will have to be saved for, I've run out of money!!
 
hi, your at exactly the same stage as me! my research has found that woodfibre is the cheapest surface but has variable results depending on the wood quality & effectiveness of the drainage layer. This will cost between £1500-4000+vat&delivery depending on the company (slightly guessing costs as our is a 45x25 so scaling down for a 20x40). But will need topping up ever 4-7yrs. Iv not got much research on other surface as we arent allowed rubber(council implication), i dont like sand & the rest end up too expensive!
Between the surface & drainage you need a membrance, its felt like in appearance but many of the companies will advise here as some surfaces require slightly different weights etc.
PM me if you want a list of woodfibre companies.
 
Why the 5-14mm chips? Are you going for a blinding layer instead of a membrane? This can work, but is tricky as you need to compact the blinding layer enough so that it does not allow stones up and sand down, but not too much so that it does not allow water to soak through - it can be very tricky to get right.

Otherwise you will need a membrane, which unfortunately is costly.

Woodfibre is probably the cheaper option to start off with, but it biodegrades so before you top it up you need to remove the old stuff when it turns into mulch 2-4 years in (depending on the quality of the woodfibre), so in the long run it may be as expensive and may become quite slippery.

Why don't you like sand? If you can't have rubber there aren't that many options left really.
 
I'm at the stage before the stone at the moment! My current plan for the surface is sharp sand from a local quarry, possibly with a layer of rubber on top if I can afford it. I know there is a lot of bad press about sharp sand in this country, but it seems to be very popular in the US and there are two schools near me that have used it to very good effect. It's much cheaper for me than silica sand but that is just because of haulage costs, so silica might be fine for you. The sharp sand is actually coming in at around the same price as woodfibre.
 
We built our own arena 3 years ago - drainage stone, blinding layer, then 6inches of basalt sand followed by 2 inches of rubber. Fantastic surface that you ride on top of, it drains brilliantly and isn't dusty. Rides the same whatever the weather and doesn't need levelling very often (we've done it 3 times so far) although I do rake the rubber back where it gets kicked off the track.
 
Hi, we built our own manege 5 years ago. We are thrilled with it. We dug 5 diagonal 2 ft deep accross the manege drainage ditches which we put in the blue perforated drain pipe and covered with shingle - these all run into a 4ft deep ditch that runs the length of the manege outside it. We then put down 100 tonnes of crushed concrete (wanted to use granite but too costly) and flattened it, then we put down a membrane and topped it with 4.5 inches of crag, which rides beautifully always. Crag comes from the bottom of the sea bed and consists of billions of tiny crushed shells etc, lots of interesting fish tooth fossils too. We never get flooded and the crag stays damp in summer and requires minimum maintenance. It doesn't blow away like silica or rot like woodchip and it's much cheaper too. Ony ONE downside - it stains your horses legs orange, but this does lessen over time!! Btw NEVER put a membrane under woodchip unless you want to practice 'slides'!!
 
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