home-made arenas

[Wheels]

I am looking at the possibility of building my own school. I am currently just using a bit of my field and riding out a lot but I'd really love a proper arena - funds however dictate that I will need to do everything myself.

What are the things I need to do when planning what I need - what are the stages I will need to go through? (i.e. preperation, drainage, membrane, choosing surface)

Is it possible to create a good grass surface for all year round use if it is looked after correctly or is it a must to have an all weather if you want to ride in all weathers?

Has anybody built their own school & did it work out a lot cheaper?

 

[PippiPantoPony]

have a look here for some ideas
http://www.jacksonarenas.com/arenas.asp
but think it can be done a lot more cheaply. Esp if you know peopl with diggers etc that can help.

If you want a surfaced arena you will need to apply for full planning permission for a change of use to the land before you start. If you want to put up floodlights it is a good idea to do it at the same time. If you are in a National Park or area of ONB then PP may be harder to obtain.

I am not sure you could ever have a truly all weather grass surface, but maybe someone will prove me wrong. It would depend a lot on the underlying soil construction & drainage of the plot, but would also runt he risk of getting very hard in the summer. To make it useable more of the time you would need to roll it and water it & possible aerate it to stop compaction. Plus if you use it a lot, which I presume you would, then you would wear a track round the outside etc. & remove all the grass if it was kept in the one location. So for a lot of use on a single area I am not sure grass would fulfil your requirements.

But lots of people do ride on grass all year & just move the arena about so that grooves/tracks are not worn in to the surface. But when it is very hard/dry/wet/frosty you won’t be able to use it in most cases.

 

[Wheels]

That's a great site, thank you

 

[zoeross0]

Hi, we did ours ourselves, about 8 years ago now, I say `we' my dad did most of it! We just had silica sand and it never ever flooded as he put great drainage down. Last year we topped it up with rubber chips which is great as it rarely freezes in winter and is lovely to ride on. Even when we got it resurfaced, we just got the rubber delivered and paid a friend to do it, saves a lot of money compared to quotes I got. Im not too good on the technicalities of it all, but if you want to message me any questions I can ask my Dad for you.

I would say you need a proper surface, grass in the winter a no no, we had to get permission from the council for it and for the floodlights. One thing that we did was put excellent drainage down, definaltey worth it, and a decent quality membrane, dont skimp on the surface either and if you go for rubber check its suitable for horses, ie, no wire in it and not one that colours grey horses legs black!