Arena Surfaces - Advice Needed!

measles

measles

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I am looking to surface an indoor 20m x 40m arena. The arena will be used by 12 livery horses and 4 private horses for flatwork, schooling over jumps and lunging.

I have been advised to avoid wood fibre for indoor use as it relies on a lot of water. My budget does not extend to gel surfaces.

So I believe I am looking at silica sand based surfaces:

Alruba rubber fibre chips 0.5” -1” chunks of rubber backed fibre (not tyres)
Alruba rubber strips 1”-3” flattish strips of rubber (not tyres)
Equestrian Direct Turf-float fibre strips (looks like white strips of felt)
Equestrian Direct Flexi-ride (looks like carpet bits)


Has anyone ridden on these? They all seem to be coming in at a similar cost so am interested in:


Ride quality
Stability of surface
Amount of watering required
Amount of rolling/harrowing/”poo” picking required
Length of life


I am in Scotland and would love to try them out if anyone has them installed.


Thanks in advance!
 
Personally I don't like rubber strips. One of the schools I use has a rubber strip surface (sorry don't know manufacturer) and it seems to be rather slippery. I have known two horses go down in there for no apparent reason.

I also use a school with rubber chunks and this seems a much more satisfactory surface.
 
Agree about the strips of rubber, one of the larger colleges used to have them... used to make my old mare lose confidence into a fence as slipped about, hence she put the brakes on, and it slipped more...!
 
I have ridden on Alruba rubber fibre chips at a stables in N/Yorks, it is very nice! minimal sticking in hooves (shod) or not, no watering required, that i know of. Poo Picking=Just the big bits!

Stephen
 
I have silica sand with Spring-TEk rubber on top. Fab surface, really pleased with it.

I also have the Equestrian Direct Flexi-ride but from Spring-Tek, for the horse walker and round pen.......Spring-Tek (or 7 Tek) make it and sell it to Equestrian Direct!!!!!!!! They accidently delivered some to me, so I got 30 tonne free.

And I have to say this is also fantastic. The horse walker has been heavily used and it hasn't moved.

The arena (silica sand and Spring-Tek rubber and foam)
004-1.jpg

007.jpg


The horsewalker (silica sand and Spring Tek foam/carpet bits)
012-2.jpg


http://spring-tek.co.uk/default.aspx
 
I've got Trackright and Equistride rubber and it works brilliantly. I wouldn't have Turf float. We tried that with some sand that wouldnt compact and although it improved it a little it looked horrendous and when it was dry was just as deep. It was the worse thing we ever had. Luckily we only had 2 bales to try it in a smaller area first.
 
We have silica sand and rubber chips (can't remember make!) and rides brilliantly - personally I really don't like rubber strips to ride on as everything I've ridden on feels slippery - it's also harder to level unless you buy a arena leveller specifically for strips.

A friend paid a fortune for a new build outdoor with sand and strips and ripped it up after 11 months and redid it with chunks as she hated it so much to ride on and her hubby found it awkward to level
 
My friend has rubber in her indoor which she greatly regrets not due to how it goes but because it stinks! The strong smell of rubber means that she has serious issues getting one of her more suspicious horses in the school. Hope you find a happy medium x.
 
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