Harrowing/Rolling a sand and fibre school ??

[Libbylou]

How often would you harrow and roll a school of sand and fibre mix and what would you harrow it with ??

On the yard im currently on the school is having a gate dragged across it which doesnt harrow the school properly and bounces over the top of lumps and bumps, this is being done everyday and then rolled.

There have been issues that have arisen regarding school on circles leaving deep marks in the sand.

Am I wrong being of the belief if there was a proper harrower it would get the marks out of the sand.

You are not allowed to freeschool, jump or lunge in the school either. Ive tried to point out going round on the outside track will also leave deep marks but it seems to fall on deaf ears.

I have suggested tying a bag of sand to the gate to get it to harrow correctly but have told it will tear the membrane, but if the school isnt deep enough to take that should it be ridden on at all ?? and the problem with circles has brought up people worried about suspensory ligament problems.


Im somewhat confused and many proplems seem to have arisen but not any resolutions ......

 

[Mainland]

Hmm...If a gate could be at risk of tearing the membrane it doesn't sound deep enough to me. The proper arena harrows usually have a set of tines for scarifying the top 2 inches or so. The combined surface depth should be 150mm (6 inches). This may consist of 150mm of Silica Sand on its own or, 100mm of Silica Sand topped with 50mm of Rubber etc.

Best thing to do would be to level the arena as well as you can and then dig several test pits and measure the surface depth. If it is too shallow you risk the horses hooves tearing the membrane.

 

[L&M]

I have a similiar surface and use a small chain harrow which I find works a lot better than the leveller I had, and do it approx once a fortnight. It always comes up lovely and have never needed to roll.

 

[martlin]

If you roll the school it will always come up ''bumpy'', at least if you do it with an ordinary roller.
I tend do chain harrow 2 times a week and drag a gate to level the surface every fortnight or so.
If you weigh down the gate it will dig into the sand and make a mess, really.

 

[Mimi2610]

We had a sand and fibre school and we harrowed it then rolled it every other day and this worked great. The harrows are great to even out the suface and then the roller compacts it. So yes, the harrows will make a big difference! It was a big livery yard and we lunged on it and held weekly SJ comps with no probs.
In the dry summer it ended up having to get done daily as it dries out and becomes heavy.

What's the point having an arena if you can't do anthing on it?!

 

[Birker2020]

You should be careful when rolling to make sure that the surface is properly harrowed first. If a horse has been jumping for instance and left indentations in the surface and you roll over the top of these indentations there is a chance that there will be a space left under the top surface which will provide an incorrectly level foot fall for a horse. This can put pressure on tendons by overstretching them. I only know this as my O/H is groundsman at a large riding club and has over fifteen years experience will rolling and harrowing their surfaces and this is what he has told me. I think the danger is increased if the weather freezes or makes the surface significantly harder. A lot of surfaces especially the cloth type of materials need regularly bowsing with water, I think this is more necessary in the summer than the winter if outdoors.

I also know of a show centre that doesn't harrow their indoor school but only rolls their surface as they have polo ponies on it the majority of the time, and for this discipline I was told that a firmersurface is preferred with only a small amount of 'give' on the top surface.