Combi-ride

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FollyFarmEC

Well-Known Member
Joined
21 December 2009
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112
Location
Tarporley
www.follyfarmec.co.uk
Hi

I'm looking for people that have combi-ride or at least ride at a place that has it in, looking for the good and bad abou the product and the company.

So anyone out there?

Thanks
Folly

Alsio in CR
 
We have it! Well, our school is sand and combi ride, with a rubber crumb topping.

Not sure how much I can say about it as obviously the rubber helps too, but it's been very stable, doesn't dry out or get too wet, and we didn't have many completely frozen days this winter. Would use them again :)
 
Private school. It's been down.... A year and a half now. Fantastic to ride on, gives firm base but it never goes solid.... If that makes sense! Horses are always riding on it, not through it like can happen with some sand schools.
 
I have a combi ride surface on a 50x25m arena, its the silica sand, fibre and rubber crumb one. I like it, use it all year round with no issues. Its a private school, been down 2 years. My instructor has the same surface down for a similar amount of time, I would estimate it has about 8-10 horses ridden on it a day. She seems happy with hers but estimated she would require a rubber crumb top up in 5-7 years (after installation) where as I think with my much lighter usage approximately 8 times a week + now long lining my youngster 2/3x a week I wouldn't need a top up until about 10-12 years.

I like my arena :) Im very happy with it, it never seems particularly adversely affected by heavy rainfall etc and manages well between gradings if I don't get chance to do it as often as ideal. They also made me a wonderful playpen sandpit for one of my horses who has to be in a lot to avoid laminitis. However I wouldn't advise asking them if they could do anything asides from a manege or similar (for e.g. matching field fencing) just stick to the manege! (which they are excellent at :)).
 
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I have it for private use, approx ten hours a week, including interval training my hunting boy. It's been down 6 months with rubber and silica sand and I love it. I hardly ever have to level it, it's been very dry and not changed it and its's been incredibly wet and not changed it and I rode on it when it was frozen with no problems too.

It's definitely a ride-on not a ride-in surface. Highly recommended and the company were easy to deal with too.
 
VLHIEASTON said:
Does anyone else have Combi-ride?
Click to expand...

not yet! :)

I have been to see 2 yards with it, both run show jumping and dressage comps on there and I have spoken to about 10 to 15 yards across the UK with it, just google combi-ride livery and they soon start popping up.

I have to say they pretty much got really good reviews which is why I'm moving forward with them, I even hired Tushingham Arena and took one of my livery clients down to work the surface and give her view on it as her completes are adv med dressage. All good feedback.

I have him down again on tuesday just to make sure we are all on the same page in what is expected of the order.

I can't wait to get rid of the Martin Collins CLOPF I might hold a party! :)
 
Hi, yes I will do, as if it wasn't for your posts on it then I would never have even heard of it.

You don't say what you didn't like about Clopf, did your aurgument with them get personnal then? And is that why you don't like MC? Or, was it certainly the fact that MC Clopf didn't do what you were told it would? Just that aren't Clopf and Combi-ride pretty much the same? Because if so, then you will have the same probs with the Combi-ride that's all I'm thinking.

Sorry for probing.
 
VLHIEASTON said:
Hi, yes I will do, as if it wasn't for your posts on it then I would never have even heard of it.

You don't say what you didn't like about Clopf, did your aurgument with them get personnal then? And is that why you don't like MC? Or, was it certainly the fact that MC Clopf didn't do what you were told it would? Just that aren't Clopf and Combi-ride pretty much the same? Because if so, then you will have the same probs with the Combi-ride that's all I'm thinking.

Sorry for probing.
Click to expand...

Hi

It's not that I dont like Martin Collins CLOPF, it doesn't work with my sand and that would fair enough hadn't took a bag of my sand before ordering and said yes it would.

When I say it doesn't work, i mean it doesn't for me, fibre should bind and create a root network under the sand like turf and that is why you ride on top instead of in, however the CLOPF is too big an therefore cant bind with my sand and doesn't create that root network at all.

The problem I have with Martin Collins is, they tested my sand and said CLOPF would work (as already said) and when Martin Collins says to you it will, they you believe them, this is after all Martin Collins, ok so maybe they got it wrong fine, but they haven't fixed it, and refuse too, they are answer to me is, talk to our lawyers little man.

So why will combi-ride, well I can;t confirm it will, but I can say it's different, combi-ride is micro fibres so Combi-ride tells me that the sand can bind to these tiny strands of fibre instead of the large chucks that CLOPF is.

Also, I am making sure I can certain guarantees, once bitten twice shy.

hope this clears it all up
 
Oh right, thank you.
I have found out that if you allow the sand to dry out then the Clopf will separate from the sand and rise to the sand surface, and poss blow away if in an exposed area too.

This means that if your sand does go dry, which it will unless you wet it in dry weather, you then have to re-rotivate the Clopf back in to your sand, and do so each time it goes dry!

So, the Clopf will NOT mix in with dry sand.

What a pain in the arse that would be!
 
Yes, it makes sense what you are saying Folley.

What bad customer service! Unless you had them say it writing then you are stuffed I guess.

I know what you mean about guarantee's, this will be my 3rd attempt at mine and I'm furious too! Yet, I even have that pale Reigate sand ( not Redhill as i'd thought).
 
Yep, it's the measure of a company that gives very poor customer service.

Yes you do have to keep it wet, but if you have the wrong sand (which I have) then even keeping it wet doesn't work, though it is better. The sand being frozen really helps, has the frost helps the binding process.

3rd!!!! Jesus, I am giving up if I have to go to a 3rd attempt.
 
G
FollyFarmEC said:
Hi

I'm looking for people that have combi-ride or at least ride at a place that has it in, looking for the good and bad abou the product and the company.

So anyone out there?

Thanks


Hello, I have never joined an on line discussion before but I feel I should warn everyone about Combi-ride and their customer service. We had an existing manege with Mersey grit sand that rode very deep. We were looking to remove that sand and replace it with proper silica sand and combi ride dual stabiliser. However Jonathan from Combiride convinced us that to save money all we needed to do was add a couple of inches of equestrian sand and then his stabiliser. He sent us an email stating he gave a "no quibble warranty". We got Combi ride to order and install both the sand and the dual stabiliser to ensure the installation was correct. It has never been right. In some places it is fabulous but there are patches where it is really deep. Unfortunately it is useless as riding from patches of good ground into deep soft going is so potentially damaging to our horses legs we cannot use it. We did manage to get Jonathan to come out a couple of times, he did re-level and grade it and add some more stabiliser but it made little if any difference. The next time he blamed our manege grader so we bought the one Combi ride recommend. It has made little difference, it is still unusable and now he will not reply to any emails, recorded delivery letters etc. So please be warned even though we had a "no quibble warranty" and he stated that "as much as to say if you are not happy with the surface then this is our problem and it will be rectified" We still have an unusable menage. I am very happy for anyone to come and see our menage or share any of the emails etc from Combi ride with you or do send me an email and I'll happily call you back. I am not saying that a new Combi ride surface from scratch is no good but beware of their promises and guarantees. They don't give a dam about their customers when things go wrong. We are going to have to pursue Combi ride through the courts and trading standards now, thank you, Kate
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I think the quality of the finished surface will depend a lot on the quality of the base installation. That is drainage, stone base layer and also the type of sand used can have quite an impact.
 
Combi Ride has NOT worked for me... It mainly comes down to the poor grade of the sand but that is another matter...MC told me that their fibre would work and the CR fibre breaks up too easily and will not hold the moisture. that is one of the reasons why my menage has the huge problem of not working at all. I was not advised to test the sand and jonathan actually recommended that i used the sand supplier. That said I do not blame them... it was my fault for not testing it. Lesson learnt - don't buy cheap!
I know of one other person who used the same supplier and CR dual stabiliser who are also going through the courts...
 
I know of a Combi Ride arena that did not work. It was great for about 18 months, then flooded, and after that was terrible to ride on.

Combi Ride blamed the installer for mixing it with the wrong sand, and the installer promptly went bust!

It never was sorted out, although the installer did try several "remedial" repairs. It ended up with paying out for a complete re-make at just 2 years old, with an independent company and different surface. The guarantee turned out to not be of any use once the company went bust.

It was a large well known company, who regularly install Combi Ride.
 
Well, mine has been brill so far! May need some more CombiRide for the corners, but nonetheless, been great for the price I paid. Think the price has since doubled now though!
 
Hi,
all the products such as combie ride and martin Collins clop will improve any sand based surface. they will not however rectify the effects of poor sand. if you have a poor sand, rounded or and not a diverse range of particle size grains it will dry out, not retain moisture, and be unsatisfactory. as well as this, they have no influence on drainage..

the sand must be right. if it is, it wont ride deep without artificial fibres that only improve stability. I guess those with clop with fibres that come to the top have sand that simply is wrong. we have a huge arena with clop, its the sand that's wrong, nothing to do with clop. in essence bishop burtons outdoor arenas are clop, but they have suitable sand and accordingly the sand and fibres work well together.
 
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