Carpet gallop manege surface - no sand!

[JoannaC]

We're having a manege put in this summer and spoke to Carpet Gallop who have said that sand is not required with their product and that it is better for the horse not to work with the sand underneath. I just wondered if anyone has actually had a manege put in without sand as a base? I don't know any schools which don't have sand underneath but they said they are the largest providers of manege surface in the country and this is the way forward. Just very wary of not going with the tried and tested.

Another question, those of you who have either carpet fibre of rubber on the sand, what depth of sand did you put in. We were going with 150mm but thinking if we are then mixing carpet fibre with it, would it be better with just 100mm?

 

[Ruby's Mum]

IS it their automotive fibre surface ? IF so we have same product just from another company, you do not need to lay onto sand and can pay into hardcore BUT we found that it just never knitted together (low use as only me riding in it) it rode deep and shifted constantly. After a year of trying to get it to bed in (riding, watering we’ve tried everything suggested, we have had to bite th bullet and get silica to our over it to make it knit. So yes, you can lay it on it’s ien but be prepared for needing sand on top to knit it together. I know of 3 other yards that have had this issue and with sand on top it has fixed the issue. Personally if I was doing the arena again I would just go for silica and a stabiliser/rubber chip as have never been impressed with the fibre.

 

[JillA]

Mine is the recycled carpet and was used to stabilise a surface which had degraded - wood chip with rubber added later. No sand. It works well so I think it would work equally as well if not better on its own.

 

[whiteflower]

A friend locally has this type of surface and it rides very deep. Where surfaces are concerned do your research and buy the best you can afford and best suited to your circumstances as it can be an expensive mistake to make. I also have seen another school which had fibre (from chopped up car seats etc) added to a degraded sand only surface to try and improve it. It was incredibly deep and very uneven for the horses and did not give a stable surface. It wouldn't be my surface of choice but it's all to do with circumstances and budget

 

[JillA]

A friend locally has this type of surface and it rides very deep. Where surfaces are concerned do your research and buy the best you can afford and best suited to your circumstances as it can be an expensive mistake to make. I also have seen another school which had fibre (from chopped up car seats etc) added to a degraded sand only surface to try and improve it. It was incredibly deep and very uneven for the horses and did not give a stable surface. It wouldn't be my surface of choice but it's all to do with circumstances and budget

You do have to roll it well, and TBH I don't jump so don't know how it stands up to jumping

 

[Flora]

Mine is the recycled carpet and was used to stabilise a surface which had degraded - wood chip with rubber added later. No sand. It works well so I think it would work equally as well if not better on its own.

I have a small indoor with woodfibre which has degraded after 4 yrs and had thought about putting carpet fibre on top, but I have been told the woodfibre will rot the carpet. Does your surface move about when ridden on? Just wondering what to do with mine as its needing topped up and not wanting to spend a fortune as its only rented. Thanks

 

[JillA]

I have a small indoor with woodfibre which has degraded after 4 yrs and had thought about putting carpet fibre on top, but I have been told the woodfibre will rot the carpet. Does your surface move about when ridden on? Just wondering what to do with mine as its needing topped up and not wanting to spend a fortune as its only rented. Thanks

Never heard that before - the carpet is mostly synthetic so unlikely to rot, especially indoors. Mine moves very little, so long as it is well rolled to begin with it really rides on top of the surface, especially on places where it gets ridden on a lot, such ss the outside track.

 

[Flora]

Thanks JillA, will look into putting the carpet fibre on top now!

 

[JoannaC]

Thanks everyone, will stick to sand and carpet fibre mixed in I think!

 

[Fruitcake]

I have Flexiride (which is basically chopped up car interiors, I think) with no sand. It’s laid directly onto the hardcore. It does seem deep but does not actually ride deep as there’s an awful lot of return from the surface. It took a bit of getting used to but I do like it and the horses go well on it.