BUILDING A MENAGE

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CILLA

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I am looking to construct a menage on a limited budget does not need to last forever as house is for sale. Has anyone used the Eco System from Equine Direct with Cushion Ride ?. Also anyone used Comfy Ride. This seems the cheapest option and would like peoples views to how it rides especially in Winter.
 
I have looked into the Eco System and decided against it. It's not suitable for every site and if you do have a site that is suitable, you might as well build a menage and not necessarily end up spending more.
Any sort of wood chip/fibre surface will be short lived and not very supportive, especially for jumping.
How big a school do you want and how much would you like to spend?
 
If you look around well, you can get sand and rubber school for that budget, just don't go off to the big names.
BTW Equestrian Direct doesn't actually make anything, they re-brand other products and charge premium on it - I got quote for what they call FlexiRide at 30% of their price directly off the manufacturer:)
Just have a browse on their website - their solariums are Kylix for example, only more expensive.
 
We have Cushion Ride in our manege, but it was put on as a replacement for crag (quarry) sand which we didn't find any good.

We have been very happy with Cushion Ride, however, I only have one horse and it is not in heavy use; it is also used for turn out all year round. I think you would need to check it out further if you wanted to use it a lot more than I do and have more horses riding on it.
 
We managed to do a 20x60 DIY in a difficult site for just under 10,000, but did a proper job, i.e. proper drainage, adequate hardcore, equestrian sand, etc. Four years the new owners are still delighted with it, so it is doable. If you do a really shoddy job or use a surface that is no good for riding on, anyone horsey will be able to tell and it will affect the sale of your house.
 
Martlin have you built a menage yet as we are in the next county to you and would be interested if you used any particulat contractor. I haven't been able to get a price under £15k using sand and rubber. A friend has a sand menage only and cannot use it most of the winter as it freezes. I want to get it right but difficult on a limited budget.
 
FabioandMiro, that's their website:
http://www.equestriandirectltd.co.uk/
*whispers* BTW means 'by the way'

Cilla:
Nope, it will be coming in hopefully this side of Christmas, but I'm not holding my breath...
It will be a DIY ish job though, we will be using our agri contractors, but we are very fortunate with our site - it is an arable field with full drainage to the dyke and 12 ft layer of equestrian quality sand, so an easy job really.
My site would have been suitable for Eco System.
smile.gif
 
Hi all i build many menages and i am always amazed at how cheaply people can build menages for i cannot build one for under £17k properly without proper drainstone (not crushed)and proper depths of sand etc. i am interested in what depths of stone and type people use and sand .if you pm me fabio i have the name of the lady you need to speak to at equestrian direct for sand it is good stuff but i recently got a great price for new sand now about to be dug out in norfolk so that would prob be better
 
We completed ours at the end of June, and the costs came in just under £10k, but we did it 100% ourselves, including have our own JCB which we bought for £3k are just about to sell for the same when we have finished the rest of the work we want to do with it.

The biggest cost was the drainage and stone by far. The fencing cost just under £2k and so did the surface. We went for cushionride from the manufacturer which came in a lot cheaper than from the company. It has taken time to bed in, and is now riding wonderfully, we have between 5 and 10 horses on it a day. Our council would not approve rubber as it is now classed as toxic waste, the only other surface we really liked was the new one like carpet and that came in at just under £15k, so maybe in a few years.

We had the majority of a hardcore base down so we just laid in the drainage pipes then a top up of hardcore. We then put down 50mm limestone 12 inches depth, rolled that in membrane and then 10 inches of surface on top.
 
Scally did you purchase the Cushionride from Giffords ? We will only have two horses using the menage so this seems like a good option.
 
Yes I did, the supplied 10 inches for the price of 8 plus giving a really good deal as well. If you are anywhere near (South Lincs) you are more than welcome to come and see for yourself.
 
Has anyone had any dealings or got any quotes etc from Equestrian Surfaces for there surfaces?

I'm going over tonight to view one off there surfaces, apparently the people that have it down said its fab.

They have only had to harrow / roll it once in two years as it doesn't move!!

Not meant to be too expensive either. :-)
 
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