Building Arenas- Peat soil

[silvershadow81]

We are in the exciting position to be looking at a property so that the horses can move home.

The house we have found is on peat soil. The paddocks are lovely and flat, but I have no idea if this would work for drainage and be suitable to build an arena. I wanted to just ask to see what we should be considering, and what the possible costs would be so we can include into our budget.

The area would be around a 20 x 40m arena, already fenced off (as used as a grass paddock currently)

Does anyone have any experience on if peat ground is suitable for an arena or not please?

and approx. costs of building something which will hold up to all year use and jumping?

Thanks

 

[Fiona]

Ours was on peaty soil. It did require LOTS of stone, and an extra membrane below the stone as well as between stone and surface, but it was v doable, and now in use for 15 years.....

I think it cost £18K but no idea on current prices.....

Fiona

 

[silvershadow81]

Wonderful, thanks Fiona.
I have emailed some companies too, but they want a site survey to quote officially.

im just after rough prices to include in the budget.

Thanks for letting me know the ground isn't a show stopper. Another quick question, does it hold up ok for grazing too? Currently they have a barefoot pony on it, so it looks lovely and lush. Mine are shod and like to run about a little more...

 

[Fiona]

I won't lie, you can't graze it right down to the ground the way you could with chalk or sandy soil, but if you leave a bit of grass cover its fine.

We strip graze to make sure of this (means gateways etc can be moved/rotated).

Fiona

 

[TheMule]

Peat does hold the water and it moves so you will need a really good base, as advised above. If the drainage on the land is good then it grazes well, but you need to be careful and work with the land when you discover boggy bits. It does grow lush grass. Liming might help as it can be wuite acidic

 

[stencilface]

We have membrane, stone, membrane, then surface and ours is on clay. We had to do huge cut and fill as it was on a reasonable slope and would have cost 30-40k from a company. One quick site visit they said 40k. We did it for 20k about 10k on material and a bit less on a machine driver with 20tonne digger for 2 weeks. The first week was just to get it level. We did all the setting out ourselves and all the membrane gluing and kickboards. It helps having a chartered civil engineer as a husband, although he's not horsey!

 

[silvershadow81]

Thanks for your comments. This land is very flat, so I guess it is a matter of digging drainage and laying the right foundations first.

I don't mind doing what I can to keep costs low, but want to make sure it lasts, and my DIY skills are not that great!!

Sounds like drainage is very important with peat soil

 

[silvershadow81]

Peat does hold the water and it moves so you will need a really good base, as advised above. If the drainage on the land is good then it grazes well, but you need to be careful and work with the land when you discover boggy bits. It does grow lush grass. Liming might help as it can be wuite acidic

That's interesting re- lime. Thank you. current fencing around the paddocks is electric tape, so

 

[silvershadow81]

I won't lie, you can't graze it right down to the ground the way you could with chalk or sandy soil, but if you leave a bit of grass cover its fine.

We strip graze to make sure of this (means gateways etc can be moved/rotated).

Fiona

Thanks for that, current fencing around the paddocks is electric tape, so would be easy enough to keep them off any wet patches. (another reason for having a surface would be for a bit of turnout should everything become too wet over winter)

 

[Orangehorse]

I think there is a book on DIY arena construction, but it would be worth getting quotations as there might be new materials/methods and at least you can see what is involved.

 

[silvershadow81]

I think there is a book on DIY arena construction, but it would be worth getting quotations as there might be new materials/methods and at least you can see what is involved.

wonderful, thank you. I will take a look. (I always turn to the internet now for information, I forget about trusty books!