Horse walker concrete base depth?

[juliap]

We are thinking of putting in a concrete base them putting rubber matting on top of our walker. Currently have sand & rubber surface but it is a pain as needs raking back frequently.

Please can anyone advise on what depth of concrete is needed?

Many thanks

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

my walker base is approx 6 inches with a camber towards the outside to drain it. was installed to monarch spec prior to installing the walker. have tried many surfaces on top, the best so far is the rubber chippings put on 3 years ago. skipped out after use and shovelled on inner and outer rings 3x a week. i wouldnt like rubber matting on top unless you put a moveable surface on the top of the rubber. rubber matting when wet is very slippy. walkers are an accident waiting to happen. i like my chips on top of the concrete as the rubber moves and the concrete is stable. i suppose it depends on whether your walker has a roof on it or is indoors.

 

[EventingMum]

We are just about to have a walker installed by Monarch and they specified a minimum depth of 4" for the concrete - rubber pavers are going on top so hopefully they won't be slippery. Monarch and several other companies we made enquiries with were very detailed with their groundwork plans and made it clear that cutting corners was a false economy in the long run.

 

[Baggybreeches]

We have just got ours up and running, but because we have drainage issues (surround area) we have opted for a base of road planings then a membrane with sand on top, the sand needs raking in every other day at the moment but only takes 5 minutes, and when the sand settles it should be once a week, I wa sthinking of adding a fibre, but at the moment just waiting to see how we go. At least doing it this way we have options of changing it without too much hassle.

 

[Mike007]

Rubber matting on horsewalkers increases the twisting action on the stiffle . personaly I would avoid it .

 

[popsdosh]

I will echo Mikes reply dont put rubber mat on top of concrete .I have a friend who very highly regarded in equine orthopaedics (writes for this very publication) and he says that a lot of the injuries he sees could be put down to horse walkers with rubber matting.This is because the horses foot is designed to move around on the ground surface as they move and the combination of steel shoes and rubber mats take this away.
He recommends either just concrete so the foot can still move or tarmac .Better still is some form of more arena surface but this requires maintenance so you have to decide how much you value your horses legs!

 

[Baggybreeches]

He recommends either just concrete so the foot can still move or tarmac .Better still is some form of more arena surface but this requires maintenance so you have to decide how much you value your horses legs!

Thats why we are just using sand at the moment, I am going to add some Clopf, or something similar which will hopefully keep it a bit more stable.

 

[wench]

At a guess I would have said 150mm concrete

 

[RW1]

We have a walker with matts, I rarely use it but I do not put my horse on when it is wet - slippery. The mats also need fixing down - it they move it can be trup hazard galore.

 

[jess_asterix]

We have got a 8inch base at ours as we had to raise it up slightly because the ground gets very wet around it and we flood quite often!

We have rubber paving on top and it has lasted 4 years without replacing any so far

ETA - it has a roof on so doesn't get slippy.