Arena Surfaces Fibre Vs Rubber

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Yogi Bear

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We currently have planning in for a 20 x 40 arena and I am trawling the internet looking at various surfaces. There are so many options and obviously everyone claims to be selling the best!
Does anyone please have any recommendations and rough cost estimates?
Also, rubber used to be the in thing, but fibre seems to be taking over as the go to choice. Again, do people have any preferences?
Any advice and feedback greatly received..
 
Rubber and sand work only as well as the equipment you use to level the school .The rubber "floats "to the top and needs to be worked back in . Otherwise ,a good prctical reasonably costing surface. (Carpet is also good but needs a bit more work). Remains workable in sub zero temps. Carpet and sand has problems sub zero with snow. Balls up in hooives and the carpet insulates so the snow takes longer to melt sometimes. Sand and fibre with wax is a great surface ,but the wax needs to be applied more often outdoors. The single biggest factor for schools is the attention you give to keeping them raked and level. It takes effort to keep a school on good nic.
 
Bob notacob said:
Rubber and sand work only as well as the equipment you use to level the school .The rubber "floats "to the top and needs to be worked back in . Otherwise ,a good prctical reasonably costing surface. (Carpet is also good but needs a bit more work). Remains workable in sub zero temps. Carpet and sand has problems sub zero with snow. Balls up in hooives and the carpet insulates so the snow takes longer to melt sometimes. Sand and fibre with wax is a great surface ,but the wax needs to be applied more often outdoors. The single biggest factor for schools is the attention you give to keeping them raked and level. It takes effort to keep a school on good nic.
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Yes, ours is levelled every week.
 
I have flexi ride from equestrian direct. Really pleased with it. Been down 2 1/2 years, although we only have 3 Horses so it doesn’t get used daily.
It’s not frozen although if the sand is exposed, that will freeze.
We were not allowed to use rubber on the planning, because it’s not able to be recycled, and will cost a fortune to get rid of for that reason.
My daughter is away competing this weekend, and the surface is wax of some kind, they’ve had huge issues with it sticking to tack and rubbing the horses, so I would avoid that personally.
Mine probably doesn’t get graded as often as I should because of lack of time, and that is actually an important factor in keeping the surface good, but it’s mostly down fortnightly.
 
Bob notacob said:
Rubber and sand work only as well as the equipment you use to level the school .The rubber "floats "to the top and needs to be worked back in .
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This is not my experience. I've never worked the rubber on my surface back in and neither have either of my friends who have them, four arenas in total. we all simply level the top
 
Rubber isn't good. It often rides deep and/or isn't stable enough, is is very unpleasant in hot weather, leaches toxins into the water table after rainfall and being recycled from other products, is at the end of the line and therefore prohibitively expensive to dispose of once it has broken down and needs replacing. Personally I would avoid installing a new rubber surface. Luckily nowadays there are plenty of other options which address all of the problems above.
 
Unstable or deep sand/rubber surfaces may have the wrong sand or too efficient drainage. I've never found one unpleasant in hot weather. And I've never seen one where the rubber has broken down and needs replacing. Topping up, yes, replacing no.

No surface is perfect. Others using carpet fibre etc. can be very hit and miss in performance, need large amounts of maintenance, need watering to stay stable, blow around, be extremely dusty in dry weather, and be expensive. Two equestrian centres near me had carpet shreds a few years ago and you can't even see any of it now, it's all broken down.

Rubber is low maintenance, and at the low end cost of surfaces and there are thousands of us who are very happy with it.
 
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Mine is rubber/sand and it gets not a lot of maintenance, in fact if I am just light schooling it gets none at all!

I use it for turnout and if they have had a hooley round we just harrow the top with upside down harrows.

It rarely freezes, does not ride deep.

I did have a thin layer of black ash added to the sand though, and this stabilises the sand so the rubber sits on top.

Fibre arenas seem a bit hit and miss. I also wonder about the longevity of the carpet fibre ones.
 
ycbm said:
Unstable or deep sand/rubber surfaces may have the wrong sand or too efficient drainage. I've never found one unpleasant in hot weather. And I've never seen one where the rubber has broken down and needs replacing. Topping up, yes, replacing no.

No surface is perfect. Others using carpet fibre etc. can be very hit and miss in performance, need large amounts of maintenance, need watering to stay stable, blow around, be extremely dusty in dry weather, and be expensive. Two equestrian centres near me had carpet shreds a few years ago and you can't even see any of it now, it's all broken down.

Rubber is low maintenance, and at the low end cost of surfaces and there are thousands of us who are very happy with it.[/QUOT

This is exactly my experience as well, sand and rubber on my school is a perfect surface, never puddles or freezes heavily, easy to maintain and gives a springy ride. Carpet fibre at one previous livery yard was terrible, it fluffed up and blew away, stuck to my horse's boots and exposed the sand underneath.
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I think a lot of it comes down to cost and planning. I have sand and rubber, it rides well and requires little maintenance. It loves the rain as it settles the sand (mine is not top quality) and the rubber sits on top. It can ride deep if we have a very prolonged spell of hot dry weather but it lasts longer than a friend's sand and fibre surface without watering as the rubber helps to keep the moisture in. The rubber also stops the surface from freezing, friend's sand and fibre has been frozen a good deal this year. Waxed surfaces are great for indoor use but can get very slippy in wet weather but require less watering in dry conditions. Another friend has carpet fibre which she's pleased with but has lost a good deal of it this winter in the wind.
 
I think its personal choice. You need to ride in a few different arenas and see which you prefer. I personally don't like rubber or flexi-ride so went for a sand/fibre mix. All arenas need maintaining to a certain degree but it depends on how much use it gets. My sand/fibre arena has never been watered and has never blown away - we live in a very open area. It does freeze easily but I knew this before I chose this surface. I have a couple of friends with sand/rubber - they are happy with them and they don't freeze as easily as mine.

My main bit of advice would be not to skimp on the quality of materials especially the sand otherwise your arena will hold water.
 
We have sand and carpet fibre in ours which we chose in preference to rubber/sand having used a couple of sand/rubber schools nearby on a regular basis. Not all rubber and sand surfaces are the same. One we used was thin, flat rubber strips that sat mostly on top of the sand. Plus points were that it hardly ever froze, but minus points were it felt quite unstable and slippy to ride on sometimes, especially when jumping or on a green, unbalanced horse, plus white legs were really badly stained black by it. The other surface was more like rubber chunks mixed in with the sand, which rode better and stained less but did freeze more.

We choose sand and carpet fibre having spoken to several other people who had put it in their own arenas and found it rode really well and didn't need too much maintenance, which we found to be the case. And, to be honest, it looks a lot nicer than dark rubber which is a consideration as we keep the horses at home and the school is an AONB and overlooked by neighbouring houses. Only downside is that it can freeze, but as we are in the usually mild SE and the school is very well drained and in full sun all day that is not so much of a problem. If you were in a colder area of the country it could be a problem though.
 
The first arena we had done was a 40x20 rubber topped withy silica sand . It was ok . Low maintenance. I’ve now had a 40x30 fibre and silica sand . ( Same company who did the first ) without doubt my fibre and sand is far superior . It’s a better more stable surface to ride on , has more spring to it . It is low maintenance as well , we Harrow it onc a week as we did the rubber one . I found the rubber sat on top of the sand , which made it less stable , whereas the fibre stays within he sand. Yes it freezes , but I don’t care as I don’t like to ride when it’s -4 anyway . Various friends have been round and used it and all commented how nice it is .
 
I've got sand and rubber at home. Original surface is more than 30 years old and we had the rubber topped up about 15 years ago. Always rides well for both fllatwork and jumping.
 
I was told research has shown sand, rubber and fibre together is the best surface for the horse - unfortunately, I wasn't at the bimechanics demo where this was discussed but it's certainly made me think for when we replace our indoor surface this year or next year.
 
Because mine drains too well, (as requested - in winter it is at or below the top of the water table), I did order it with combi-ride and rubber, but the fibre disappeared after four years. To stabilise it I've been adding black, grey and brown sheep wool, which will rot in time, but is fantastic right now. And further supplies are almost free :)
 
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