Carpet Gallop?

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Cornish

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Our YO is looking to create a small school/lunge area. Size constraints mean we're limited to around 20m x 30m so not a huge area but it will be for a small yard with only light use, ranging from 13.2hh ponies to 16.3hh youngsters - will be for in hand work, light schooling and lunging and a bit of pole work, occasional small jumps for the ponies. The area has had drainage and two different grades of hardcore put down, but YO is now researching surfaces. We have very limited access and can't get lorries down our lane (my 3.5t just about fits, touching both sides!) so we're looking at surfaces that can be supplied baled to a local farm and we can then collect in smaller vehicles.

Carpet Gallop seems to be fitting the bill at present, has anyone had experience of using this as a standalone surface for a small area, and how does it ride/jump?

Thanks in advance.
 
Not sure if this is the same, but our yard has just had a small indoor done with what seems to be carpet fibre for a surface. Apparently used by a number of riding schools too. I don't like it. It's very soft and deep. It may improve with use but I'm not using it, don't want to risk horse's legs.
 
Haven't ridden on it, but the person who rents the other half of my yard has had Carpet Gallop laid in her arena. Hers seems to have a lot more white spongy stuff in it than they show in their advertising, but she says that it rides very well - soft and springy, and hasn't frozen.
My only bugbear, if it was mine, is that the white spongy stuff turned yellow within a very short period of time, so it's not the most attractive looking surface. Not that that matters though, if it does the job.
The spongy bits do fly quite a long way in high winds - I've picked up quite a lot and thrown it back in for her!
 
We have carpet gallop in all 3 arenas on the yard - the Automotive fibre version from them. The front small arena looks comparitively deep, but isn't in reality. It's been down for several years I believe (I've been there coming up to 4 years and it was down a good while before), never freezes and is a nice consistent surface.
The main arena had the same make up, but after complaints from owners that it was making their horses lame (will gloss over the lack of fitness, lami and that they happily lunge in the front arena that had the same mix of surface....) the YO mixed with sand and it's been a nightmare since. Rides hard in the winter or after heavy rain, and is so dusty in the summer. It ploughs up very quickly too, so if you're using it after a lot of use its uneven. This is mostly down to the type of sand and ratio the YO used. It really needs another load of the carpet gallop to 'lighten' it a bit. The new arena is currently having more of the carpet gallop put down and is looking good so far, although I am wondering if it actually the real thing as seems to be different carpet type.
 
Draining base and then about 8 (ish) inches of carpet gallop over the top.

Even after a horse has rolled and kicked it about a bit you never see the base, and you have to try pretty hard to actually get to the bottom. Never seen a horse manage it, even when pawing at it.

ETA: My instructor has it in his arena and its mixed with sand, but he rarely has a problem with freezing and it is still reasonably low maintenance. I think it is something that if mixed, it needs to be with the right sort of sand and mindful of the ratios
 
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Yes, we have sand and rubber and it's a fab surface but op is looking for something supplied in bales.
A local competition centre has it and it seems to be a decent surface, although rode quite deep until it settled. Mixed with sand I think.
 
Cornish said:
Our YO is looking to create a small school/lunge area. Size constraints mean we're limited to around 20m x 30m so not a huge area but it will be for a small yard with only light use, ranging from 13.2hh ponies to 16.3hh youngsters - will be for in hand work, light schooling and lunging and a bit of pole work, occasional small jumps for the ponies. The area has had drainage and two different grades of hardcore put down, but YO is now researching surfaces. We have very limited access and can't get lorries down our lane (my 3.5t just about fits, touching both sides!) so we're looking at surfaces that can be supplied baled to a local farm and we can then collect in smaller vehicles.

Carpet Gallop seems to be fitting the bill at present, has anyone had experience of using this as a standalone surface for a small area, and how does it ride/jump?

Thanks in advance.
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Hi just had arena done with this stuff.
 
I don't know if it's the same stuff or what the official name is but a yard I was on had baled reclaimed house carpets (and other fabrics) laid on the arena.

The arena was in a horrific state anyway; just sand with large clumps of weeds growing through, unlevel, deep at the bottom, rock hard at the top and a variation of the two down the long sides. It wasn't maintained at all but they decided to get bales of carpet and put it down. It wasn't laid correctly (there is prep work supposed to be done to level and roll sand before laying the carpet bales), they left the baled stuff lying for ages to get soaked and it absolutely stank and they didn't take any care when bursting the bales so left the metal "baler twine" in the mix along with various other "extras" like metal carpet bars and nails from grip strips.

I can't emphasis enough how bad the arena was and how poorly they went about laying the surface and if they'd done anything right it might have been ok (although would still have had metal in it) but if it's the reclaimed household stuff I wouldn't touch it. I had a friend on a different yard who'd laid the same surface but correctly and it did ride better but was still dusty (I don't know the sand to carpet ratio) and did have bits of metal in it.

There are threads on here about the carpet from high end car interiors and they are largely positive. The user Hallo1212 (I think, something like that anyway!) just built a new arena and used this; the report is all positive.
 
I'm not an expert but I think Carpet Ride is the black foam stuff, and "soft and springy" - ask a vet about suspensories etc, arena surfaces should be fairly firm, just enough cut, not too much, and spring can't be a good thing. I have to walk on them as a saddle fitter and they feel awful, I wouldn't ride on them regularly.
 
i had a new arena put down in Nov 2018-4 inches of silica sand with 3 inches of automotive fibre from equi-elite on top.
it rides brilliantly, level and firm with just enough give and doesn't freeze or move.

its been super low maintenance and has ridden nicely whatever the weather-i dont find it overly bouncy and certainly prefer it over anything waxed (which i think ruins legs)

i really rate it :)
 
I was on a yard with a sand and carpet fibre arena.

I found through the winter, when it was wet, it was very good. Stable surface and just the right amount of give. Easily comparable to an expensive waxed surface.

Come middle of the summer when it dries out, it became deep and uneven very very quickly. To the point I would only use it immediately after it had been levelled - and it was no way suitable for prolonged use unless you were willing to risk a big vets bill. It was one of the deciding factors in a yard move as my horse was progressing and needing more school time.
 
I've got silica sand with fibre added, this was good in damp weather, needed watering in very dry weather and did freeze last winter when it was really cold for quite prolonged periods.

So I added a layer of chopped rubber mats/rubber backed carpet. The pieces are about 3cm square or so. This has been a great addition, it firms up the whole surface, the underneath sand/fibre stays damp and the thin top layer is pretty stable. It was ridable every day this winter.

Heavy rain seems to level it and in the summer we roll it to consolidate.
 
I don’t want the carpet surface as it is minced up waste carpet which is all made from manmade plastics. As soon as you lay the stuff you are laying plastic waste onto your land with all the microplastics being washed down through the drains... and the horses and riders have to be inhaling airborne plastic dust. One of our neighbours has it in their indoor school and it positively reeks. The smell it gives off has to be the petrochemicals which is what synthetic carpets are made from. Carpets aren’t health tested in their first life so don’t have to be in their second apparently. Healthy to ride on? It’s not for me.
 
We have carpet fibre and its great in that it doesn't freeze however the down side i find is that it rides very deep , and can take a while to 'bed in!'
 
I have a similar surface - automotive fibre I think it's called - as a thin top layer on top of silica sand mixed with stabilising fibre. It's a fantastic surface. The carpet fibre gives a springy top layer but underneath it's nice and firm. Had it down for a year and it's never frozen and doesn't ride deep. My physio commented on how much she liked the surface. I almost went for the standalone automotive fibre due to cost but I'm really glad I didn't as I can't see how it wouldn't ride deep, its so soft and spongy. It does also tend to fly away in windy weather when it's been pretty dry, we put netting round our arena to stop it disappearing!
 
I tried out a carpet fibre gallops on my QHxTB. It galloped extremely well, although I am aware this would be different from school work. The chap who owned the gallops (they are in heavy use) says that it never freezes, it doesn't blow away & he only harrows it twice a year. I am planning to get it in my prospective arena. There is apparently an issue with silica sand atm as (I am told by the person building the arena) out of the 3 quarries producing the right sort of sand, one is having trouble with gravel in the sand & another with china clay particles. Hence I would like to be sand-free if possible.
 
Notmadeofmoney said:
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We are having some issues with him now! Wrong surface delivered etc. Would be interesting to know what’s going on with yours as we have just started the complaint process and customer service hasn’t been great, to say the least!
 
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