Building an arena straight onto grass - experiences

JellyBeanSkittle

JellyBeanSkittle

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Granted, it's not the proper way to do it but it has been done and rather successfully by people in the past.
I have a large flat and well draining area I currently use to ride in. My plan was to lay 3" of silica sand and mix in carpet fibre as the surface.
What have some of you done before? What did you use and why? Tia x
 
I know of no arenas that have been successfully built in this manner and lasted for any period of time.
Arenas need to be drained properly otherwise the surface becomes saturated with water (rain water and ground water) and then the surface becomes destroyed.
 
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There are a few local me and that have done this, one with silica sand and one with sand and rubber chip. While there were some periods in winter where they were wet, they have mostly been useable and have been down a good few years now
 
We laid our arena straight onto the hard-core chip area we had and it's been amazing considering the winter we have had.. or still having! But sorry no direct experience of straight grass.
 
Depends on the soil I'd have thought? I know people in sandy areas who have done this successfully, but it wouldn't work here, as even the roads sink into the peat bog over time :D
 
Our previous property was exceptionally well drained.
We did do some excavation and put a hard core base down before laying sand and pvc granules. It was an excellent menage and never flooded.
You 'll need to put kick boards round the perimeter to contain the surface and help stop it blowing away.
 
In the days before outdoor arenas were the must-have, most people schooled on grass. If you mark out a school on the grass, the advantages are unless you're showjumping, it's probably going to be the same surface as you'll compete on (dressage, jumping, trec), and you can move the school to whichever area is the most dry or has the most grass cover.
 
Ours was put down on a huge plastic sheet so it was in theory movable! Sounds absolutely crazy but its fine. it rides well although its maybe not quite as soft as people like I think its just about perfect. I have never ever known it be wet or freeze etc. It got a top up this year of tiny little plastic granules which have been brilliant although they do seem to end up down my socks!
 
Really interested in this. Presumably you didn't need pp as it was a temporary structure. Could you give me more details please e.g what grade plastic etc etc
 
Thats why it was done that way, to avoid the need for PP. I dont have any idea about the plastic or anything though, other than it was large chips and my current YO topped it up with tiny almost sand like chips.
 
lamlyn2012 said:
You 'll need to put kick boards round the perimeter to contain the surface and help stop it blowing away.
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I used railway sleepers for this and put a plastic chip and gravel surface (sold as Pasada) on grass. It was great for several years until I decided to upgrade in size and surface. Pasada tracks badly, freezes when wet and is deep when dry.
 
I would love to know how this worked. We have very well draining sandy soil and I'm planning to take off top soil and put down a carpet surface maybe Flexiride. Don't need it to last for ever and its just for children on ponies but I do want it rideable on. Any advice please?
 
pixie said:
Personally I wouldn't try and do it without planning. They would certainly have every right to make you prove that it wasn't permanent and that it could be moved...
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This, I still think this would be counted as 'ground works' and therefore require planning. It's not a risk i would take with the possibility of having to pay to dispose of a surface which isn't cheap
 
We sort of did this, but wasn't exactly straight on to on the grass. Tbh if your land drains well naturally then your idea will work.

We did sort of the opposite. We had a boggy and useless corner of a field so built an 'above ground' arena so it could never flood. We scraped back the top soil using a digger and formed 4 sides of the arena with the earth. We then filled it with building rubble and road planings. Topped with clean stone and then the top surface. Deliberately didn't want a membrane. It absolutely never flooded and made good use of a useless part of the field. Oh and we had to apply for PP for it which was granted.
 
Could I ask if there is an update on how you got on with putting the arena on grass?
I am looking to create an exercise area for my kids ponies - little/no budget so trying to find the cheapest solution. Currently at least a third of my costs I'm getting is the drainage layer of stones.
The location is a reasonably flat part at the top of a hilly field. I am wondering if I could just pull back the top soil and level underneath. I was then wondering if I could put a surface down directly on the subsoil / hardcore. I'll get the digger to compress this as much as possible. If I was to do this would it be better to do it with our without membrane do you think?
Any advice welcome - four kids holding their breath as ponies here for Covid lockdown at the moment but if I can't come up with a solution for the winter they will return to my sisters more that 20km away. Thanks so much in advance.
 
Banzai said:
I would love to know how this worked. We have very well draining sandy soil and I'm planning to take off top soil and put down a carpet surface maybe Flexiride. Don't need it to last for ever and its just for children on ponies but I do want it rideable on. Any advice please?
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hi i know this is an old thread, but did you sort your arena out as you described above? if so, how well did it work?
 
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