Fibre / Shredded Carpet / Flexi-ride Arenas

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luckilotti

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8 January 2006
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hillhousestables.co.uk
Hi,

we will be shortly be redoing our outdoor school and am after opions on the above surface types.

All of the different companies of course say slightly different things....

- the fibre does/does not have to be mixed with x sand
- the shredded carpet is fab - another company say its too 'springy'
- the flexi-ride - sounds good but TBH not over the moon with the customer service so far! (would actually call it rather rude!)

so - if you have ridden on any of the above, or know of a yard with such arenas i would be very grateful for any feedback, positive or negative points :)

And for anyone who replies, or has read this post, here, i'll share my Chocolate Friji Milkshake with you!
 
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WE have shredded carpet on our arena at the yard and I have to say it is one of the best surfaces I've ridden on. Yes its springy but in a good way and it didnt freeze, we could have kept riding on it if we hadn't had 1' of snow on top!
 
We're looking at similar type surfaces for our new arena (very exciting!). We also looked at the flexi-ride but the guy doing our arena has put it in a couple and didn't seem very enthusuastic about it (hope I'm allowed to say this!!). I think it's the same company that says you can use it without any sand? I thought this sounded pretty odd but don't know enough about it to comment. We've recently been to look at an arena with the Martin Collins Clopf down and were very impressed so I think we'll be going with that. It was a fairly 'firm' surface but with a nice amount of give to it - I'm not great at describing things but it felt good! :) If possible, I think the best thing to do is try and go see nearby arenas with the surfaces you're looking at.
 
Leg_end said:
WE have shredded carpet on our arena at the yard and I have to say it is one of the best surfaces I've ridden on. Yes its springy but in a good way and it didnt freeze, we could have kept riding on it if we hadn't had 1' of snow on top!
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That sounds good - can i be cheeky? is there any chance you can post a photo of the size of the 'shreds of carpet' as i have seen one arena that has massive pieces, but one of the companies i have spoken to say that they do it in 35 or 55mm - but from how he was talking, i think hes on about fibre more than the type i have currently seen.

Celia, yeah, flexiride say you can use it with no sand, and i seem to think also with no 'typical' arena drainage inplace.

Ours is going ontop of an older woodchip surface, which is now rather firm and compacted and from all of the companies that i have spoken to, a few have done this and its worked ok.
 
Yeah, i know Gina has it and its also in Country Farm Studs indoor. The other companies though that supply that type of thing are really slating the way in which its shredded and going on about long term damage to legs etc!
Those near us seem to have it as a stand alone surface - no sand, yet other companies keep on going on that i will also need 120 tonnes of sand to go with it.
 
Our yard has the Flexi-ride surface added to existing silica sand about 2/3 years ago. I have to say the surface rides really well. We are a busy yard with upwards of 15+ horses exercising in it daily, including jumping. It requires minimal maintenance just bringing on the sides occasionally and rolling is always good. It is the only surface in our area that you can use during the bad weather. During the last two years of snow it has still been rideable wHere others have frozen over.
 
I am nervous!

we have our new surface provisionally booked in for monday!!! arghhhhh!

I'm not sure we will be fully ready for it as i want to reboard the bottom, straighten up the fencing etc but worse comes to the worse it will be put in the middle and spread to the edges when possible.

We are going for a bit of an 'experimental surface' so fingers crossed!
 
luckilotti said:
Ours is going ontop of an older woodchip surface, which is now rather firm and compacted and from all of the companies that i have spoken to, a few have done this and its worked ok.
Click to expand...

Ooh, are you sure?? I had my old woodchip surface removed before I replaced it with sand and fibre - brilliant by the way. That woodchip is going to rot under your new surface, which could give rise to all sorts of problems.
 
we have spoken to various people and we are going to give it a go - hence why i say 'experimental' lol!

The woodchip menege hasnt been in use really for years, and as such hasnt been topped up since maybe 2006/7? so quite a lot is already rotted down, we have had to go down to the membrane to measure the depth thats left etc. We are not having the typical fibre/shreds but the company are doing us a larger one which should work considering what we already have. (have gone direct to the people who do shred now rather than the surface companies that simply brand it and sell it on).

Worse comes to the worse, we have to try and scoop it up and restart/salvage what we can.

The shredded carpet pieces, there is only 1 company that seems to approve of it - the company that sells it. All of the other companies when they have heard about it/seen the photos i have shown them have had all sorts of concerns about it.
The fibre isnt suitable really for what we have/the location.
so we are having something in the middle but more towards the fibres if that makes sense. Its similar to the flexiride but not quite as they are made from slightly different materials.

I know it has been amazing what the different companies all say we do and dont need - none could even agree on the amount of sand required for a paddock of 25 x 40.

I'll keep everyone updated with how it does/doesnt work :)
 
I would remove the woodchip first because if you decide that the combination of woodchip and carpet fibre is not working and you need to dispose of it there will be horrendous landfill charges and twice as much material to dispose of. At least if you dispose of the woodchip first it can be spread on fields without expensive landfill charges. Carpet Fibre would have to be landfilled and once mixed with woodchip cannot be seperated.
 
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because there is not a deep layer of woodchip, and it's well compacted we have been advised to leave it as by removing it etc, its going to unsettle the drainage, membrane etc.

it will either work or it wont but according to Equestrian direct etc they have had various customers lay it ontop and it's all woked as planned as the top layer (flexi ride etc) knitts together and is more like a layer of carpet ontop...

It's not the end of the world if it doesnt work as the paddock is barely used as we all tend to use the indoor all the time, it'll be a bonus if it does though!
 
We have just had a 10ton top up on our silica sand and pure rubber arena. We also got samples of the flexi ride but wasn't terribly impressed with cost or the look of it to be honest. Only my opinion but if a carpet gets wet in the house it then rots quite quickly and this sample bag was more carpet than rubber. I don't see how it can be sustainable and durable for any length of time. We bought our rubber from a super chap in York and it was delivered yesterday. No fuss, no bother, great stuff, 20mm rubber, 99.9% wire free, which is all the big boys will guarantee. Very reasonable too. Happy customer:D
 
I have Flexi Ride on my arena. Sand topped with 2ins flexi ride. I am so impressed with it. it rides really well and NEVER freezes. Doesn't need a lot of maintenance either. Fantastic stuff.
 
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