Cushionride arena??

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Charlie77

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Hi any one have one? do you you love it? im Lucky enough to have my own field and stables and planning for a 20 x 40 sand school. i have put off doing the school just by cost, but now have to do it, or move my horse back to livery for the winter, and that seems daft when the extra livery cost, is possbly no more that what a loan would work out each month.

I had chosen a sand school & thought later subject to pp have rubber added. In the mean time im now thinking the sand will ride deep in summer, sure its going to be fine in winter.

Wood old fashioned, but should drain in winter mch the same as sand, but would not ride so deep in summer?

All thoughts please!
 
I think with all surfaces they rideuch better the wetter they are.
I've just re-vamped my sand school and have gone for sand again, purely from a financial point ( still cost nearly £1000 !)
Whatever surface you have will freeze in the winter if it's wet. If freezing weathers forecast I try to chain Harrow it the day before and it usually rides fine, as for being too deep in the summer I can't say I've really ever had a problem, only thing is if it's very dry it can be a bit dusty hope this helps and make sure you get your drainage right, had them back 3 times to put mine right
 
Thanks that is a help, not so worried about freezing just getting through the wet, lucky im down south Kent, i have a 4yo so guess if i ever needed it nows the time and also he is not safe to hack, last time i had a young horse by his 1st riden winter he was safe enough to road walk hack, this one is v spooky. and not confident yet, so leaves me with a wet field to work in. or a move back to livery.
 
Temptation - Have you had to top up yet? how do you look after it? what kind of base do you haveunder it?

Sorry for all the questions x
 
Haven't had to top it up.. However looking to do it in the new year (when finances allow :D ) we harrow and roll it about three times a week. It's built up
So I can't flood with a hardcore base , then the company do the rest! Hope this helps?
 
They break down very quickly my old yard had one in the first arena YO built. It broke down after 4 months of heavy use (16 liveries) so he built another arena so more riding space and tried wood again. Despite now having 2 arenas it still broke down quickly 6 months later. So in the new arena he took up the wood and replaced with sand.
 
The drainage of the arena is a matter of the construction, not the materials. If you do a search on here there is quite a bit of advice on how to contruct an arena with good drainage including technical specifications.

"Sand" is too broad a category. What kind of sand do you have? For equestrian purposes you need small (0.25cm kind of size), rectangular particles that will knit together and give you a firm footing.

If your sand rides too deep, try watering (easy to do with a sprinkler mounted on a post) and leveling frequently (with a leveller than compacts, not a harrow with tines). If it still rides too deep adding a fibre surface can work really well in many cases.

If your sand freezes try adding rubber. If you add enough and harrow right before you ride you should be able to avoid the worst of the frost.

Woodfibres and woodchips are all natural products that will break down in time. How long depends on the weather and conditions in your area, but wood will turn to mulch sooner or later. This creates an extremely slipery area that cannot be fixed by anything other than removing the surface and starting again (in doing so you may damage your membrane and incur extra costs). Woodfibre and sand is a nightmare, the woodfibre becomes uneven as it fills in the hoof holes in the sand and the whole surface becomes very unstable and slippy.

I don't know Cushionride as such, but in general the better woodfibre suppliers have products treated so that they last a bit longer. If you notice though they often show them on racetracks where the depth of the surface is a lot less than an arena and the rate of breakdown of the woodfibre will be slower.
 
I had a Cushionride arena for seven years, topped up once in that time. I chose Cushionride purely on cost, I had to have an arena as I'm on heavy clay and impossible to ride in the fields. It did pretty well although wasn't heavily used. It needed a lot of harrowing and rolling towards the end. I've now had a new school built, sand and fibre, which is what I would have had in the first place if I could have afforded it then.

Having said that, the Cushionride did well on minimum drainage but if you can afford it get a sand based arena on a good drainage system.
 
Thanks that really helped. slightly foxed how do you find the sand and fibre, my friend looked at this then went with rubber, and i have to say i had totally forgoten about it, The scool will only have light use i have a couple of horses but only the one will use it thoug i suppose next door may like a go in it so 2 horses would be using it.
 
You find the sand either through equestrian suppliers who should give you a guarrantee that it is suitable for equestrian use and you have a come back in case of problems, or call all your local quarries direct and see what is available, but get the sand checked yourself to avoid an expensive mistake.

A number of equestrian companies do fibre, e.g. Clopf.
 
I have one - loads of drainage underneath but I put down rubbish stone (would use better if did it again) then cushionride - been down 3 years - no top ups - graded once a week - the grading is essential (for any surface) and love it - I lunge on it, school and jump on it and the horses are turned out on it in winter as well - means they sleep on it and have yard/matted field shelter as well but that i dont need bedding. if dog runs on it he stays clean and it even cleans their feet out - I also use it to turn trailer round ! its not slippery

See my album for photos of it !!

ps dont be put off if seems to move about a bit for first month will soon settle
 
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