Building your own arena tips

[moorhillhorses]

We are going to build our own arena. We did a few years ago and it was a gravel and rubber mix and had no membrane as our arena previous to that would never drain. The rubber gravel was amazing never a puddle, never froze. We are going to try sand and fibre. Would this be better for jumping on or is the runner gravel as good? I'm afraid it will get puddles. What membrane to use? Any advice ? It will be 35m by 50m

 

[TGM]

We have a sand and fibre arena, put in two years ago, and we are very pleased with it. Great to ride and jump on, and easy to maintain. There is no membrane, just what I believe is called a blinding layer between the base and the sand/fibre. It drains brilliantly, not been a puddle on it all winter despite the wet weather we have had. It does, however, freeze more easily than rubber arenas - this is not a huge problem for us as we are in quite a mild area in the South East and the arena gets sun all day, so defrosts quickly.

 

[old hand]

we have beach sand and carpet fibre, it is excellant and holds water well in dry weather, yet is firm to ride on even this terrible winter. It does freeze when the ground temperature is below -4C, if you add rubber chips it helps stop this but we haven't as the rubber tends to cause sideways slip, whilst the carpet fibre rides like old turf. We have a domed sub base of chalk , it was rolled in in 4 inch layers and was like glass once finished, there is no membrane and the fall of 9 inches from the centre line to the sides , really heavy rain drains in about three hours and as long as it is levelled there are no puddles. You do need the correct leveller though, anything else picks the carpet fibre up and it separates.

 

[Spottyappy]

We have this membrane under the gravel-
http://mcveighparker.com/content/100m-x-45m-geotextile-poly-membrane-spun
And then this one under the sand
http://mcveighparker.com/content/11m-x-45m-geotextile-poly-membrane-woven
My surface is sand and fibre. I had to have a huge amount of drains put in, and IMHO you can never have enough of them!
They were put around the perimeter of the arena as well as in a herringbone pattern underneath it.

 

[soloequestrian]

I have sharp sand and carpet fibre (from Equi Con). The more fibre you add, the firmer it gets. I don't jump but if I did I would probably add another 6 bales or so to the (I think) 15 we put down. It's a brilliant mix - rarely needs leveling. We have a fleecy membrane under the sand, then 4 inches of hardcore and then a smooth membrane over the drains. Doesn't hold any water at all.