Getting new sand arena to 'settle'

texenstar

texenstar

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Hello Everyone!

Just after some advice on what everyone did with their new sand arenas to compact and settle the sand :)

I had a new arena put in about a month ago. The surface is silica sand and because we have had such beautiful dry weather the arena is rather looking like a beach and is too deep to ride in. (It is torture to finally have my own arena and not be able to use it!)

Is the best idea to water it and keep harrowing? Hope for bad weather (sorry everyone!)?

What has everyone else done?

Thanks in advance for any replies :)
 
Rain helps but sand alone will always ride deep in dry weather. You probably need to get some fibre added to stabilise it.
 
ihatework said:
Is the surface just sand?
That will be part of the issue!
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Fanatical said:
Rain helps but sand alone will always ride deep in dry weather. You probably need to get some fibre added to stabilise it.
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I was hoping to avoid adding fibre unless i really needed to but I understand that sand will always go deep in dry weather. I live in the north and 'normally' it's very wet and the sand only arenas I know of don't do too badly most of the year.

I may have just put it in at the wrong end of the year but I had free time during lockdown for building it!

Thanks for your advice so far :)
 
I was told by Charles Britton that my new sand and rubber arena needed 4” of water on it to knit the sand together. I was also told not to ride on it until that had happened. Mine was indeed very deep when first laid, but as soon as it had had the right amount of water on it, it was grand. Even now, 9 years on, the wetter, the weather the better it rides.

You need to be doing a rain dance :D.
 
Patience, I had the same years ago and I just had to wait for the rain, once it had got thoroughly wet the bottom stayed firm and although it did ride a little soft in very dry conditions it never went back to how it was for the first few weeks.
 
My understanding was that you are always better to have something with the silica sand (i.e fibre, rubber etc) as silica on its own rides deep.

If your roller got stuck it sounds very deep, so I would be taking it steady for now when riding on it. If you're wanting to avoid putting anything on it, you could try watering it and rollering it as much as possible and hopefully it might settle a bit.
 
We have just sand in our school and the only way to stop it drying out and riding deep is to water it! We have installed 6 garden sprinklers and connected to a timer with valves and set it to run overnight when the water pressure is higher! At the moment it runs about 3 times a week as no proper rain for weeks, but after a downpour we obviously don’t water at all! It helps to start watering after rain and not let it dry out completely otherwise the sprinklers aren’t that effective! Hope this helps
 
Tiddlypom said:
I was told by Charles Britton that my new sand and rubber arena needed 4” of water on it to knit the sand together. I was also told not to ride on it until that had happened. Mine was indeed very deep when first laid, but as soon as it had had the right amount of water on it, it was grand. Even now, 9 years on, the wetter, the weather the better it rides.

You need to be doing a rain dance :D.
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be positive said:
Patience, I had the same years ago and I just had to wait for the rain, once it had got thoroughly wet the bottom stayed firm and although it did ride a little soft in very dry conditions it never went back to how it was for the first few weeks.
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Thanks for your advice. This makes me feel a lot better! Going to go start rain dancing now!
 
Ownedby4horses said:
My understanding was that you are always better to have something with the silica sand (i.e fibre, rubber etc) as silica on its own rides deep.

If your roller got stuck it sounds very deep, so I would be taking it steady for now when riding on it. If you're wanting to avoid putting anything on it, you could try watering it and rollering it as much as possible and hopefully it might settle a bit.
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madginger said:
We have just sand in our school and the only way to stop it drying out and riding deep is to water it! We have installed 6 garden sprinklers and connected to a timer with valves and set it to run overnight when the water pressure is higher! At the moment it runs about 3 times a week as no proper rain for weeks, but after a downpour we obviously don’t water at all! It helps to start watering after rain and not let it dry out completely otherwise the sprinklers aren’t that effective! Hope this helps
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Yeah, I think we went for the roller too early whilst it is still too dry. Luckily, I do have flat grassy areas that I can ride on so i am not working the horses in it a the moment :) Weather forecast looks dry for weeks so I will get some sprinklers set up.

Thanks!
 
I have known of yards make a donation to the local fire brigade to get them to come out and give new schools a proper soaking as a training exercise. Really dry might take forever with a sprinkler!
Maybe worth an ask - the worst that happens is they say no.
 
Polos Mum said:
I have known of yards make a donation to the local fire brigade to get them to come out and give new schools a proper soaking as a training exercise. Really dry might take forever with a sprinkler!
Maybe worth an ask - the worst that happens is they say no.
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eggs said:
Was going to suggest the fire brigade as well. I know of one competition yard that did that.
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Elf On A Shelf said:
Water. Water is the key. As said above no harm in asking your local fire brigade if they fancy a training run and give them a nice donation.
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I'll ask them and see :)

Thanks everyone!
 
Can I ask how your arena is now. I too availed of lockdown to create a sand arena. I'm not riding any more but four kids super excited when sand was spread earlier this week. Well younger two perhaps less so, as their personal sand dunes have been leveled!!

However since it has been spread, it is very soft - too soft to do anything with. We raked and leveled (using lawnmower and plank behind) so it looked fab. However it has only be used once and hoof prints are deep and not cleared by plank.

Just wondering what your experience has been - should we invest in a roller? It is so soft I am not sure what a roller will do for us. Did rain improve your situation? I am only glad I didn't get more sand. The arena is 20x40m and I was told to get 12 loads of sand - I wanted to get 5 and finally settled on 7. So can only imagine how soft / deep it would be with another few inches on top.

Thanks for your advice
 
Mum/Groom said:
Can I ask how your arena is now. I too availed of lockdown to create a sand arena. I'm not riding any more but four kids super excited when sand was spread earlier this week. Well younger two perhaps less so, as their personal sand dunes have been leveled!!

However since it has been spread, it is very soft - too soft to do anything with. We raked and leveled (using lawnmower and plank behind) so it looked fab. However it has only be used once and hoof prints are deep and not cleared by plank.

Just wondering what your experience has been - should we invest in a roller? It is so soft I am not sure what a roller will do for us. Did rain improve your situation? I am only glad I didn't get more sand. The arena is 20x40m and I was told to get 12 loads of sand - I wanted to get 5 and finally settled on 7. So can only imagine how soft / deep it would be with another few inches on top.

Thanks for your advice
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Hello!

The rain helped a lot. It is now all settled and rideable except for one corner and side which is still a little bit softer than the rest. We used a land roller that we two behind a dumper truck for now but I will be looking into buying a set of proper harrows/rollers soon. When I first put it down I was worried it would never settle and be good to ride on but it has worked out fine.

Good luck!
 
texenstar said:
Hello!

The rain helped a lot. It is now all settled and rideable except for one corner and side which is still a little bit softer than the rest. We used a land roller that we two behind a dumper truck for now but I will be looking into buying a set of proper harrows/rollers soon. When I first put it down I was worried it would never settle and be good to ride on but it has worked out fine.

Good luck!
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Thanks so much for your reply. That is so reassuring. I will get watering, rolling and hope for rain before I make any decision regarding adding something to it. Thanks again.
 
Mum/Groom said:
Thanks so much for your reply. That is so reassuring. I will get watering, rolling and hope for rain before I make any decision regarding adding something to it. Thanks again.
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I think you’ll find you’ll need a stabiliser of some description i.e. fibre, rubber, sand alone will ride deep and move no matter how much watering it gets.
 
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