How to rake an arena by hand?!

[Nocturnal]

The arena at my yard is in desparate need of raking/harrowing, but the YO only has a leveller, which I think would actually make it worse atm. Has anyone ever done it by hand? Is that even possible? Any advice appreciated

 

[You Wont Forget Me]

I done my arena by hand once when the quad was broken, just with a normal rake and OMG it took me forever............ it did work tho done a nice job!

 

[Nocturnal]

A hand rake... gulp! Better set aside a weekend, then!

 

[Maesfen]

Many hands make light work so get the other liveries to give you an hour, it'll soon be done and then make sure you use the leveller regularly so it doesn't get bad again. We always had to rake the school, it's not a problem as long as kept on top of.

 

[Baggybreeches]

Erm with a rake? It is not that bad a job, but as said before the easiest way is to get 4 or 5 of you and do a section each, although have a little conflab about how deep and level you need to rake or you will end up with a patchy arena!

 

[Nocturnal]

Unfortunately there's only one other livery, and we're rarely there at the same time for long, so I think it'll prob be just me. As the surface tends to get packed down I doubt regular levelling will help much, so I may have to do this regularly to keep the arena usable, hence my post - hoping that someone has a better idea than a hand rake! I certainly don't have time to burn, so it's not really ideal...

 

[jesterfaerie]

Our arena surface isn't brilliant and we have to rake it by hand, using just a bog standard garden rake. It can take a bit of doing so if you can get others to help it would be ideal!

 

[You Wont Forget Me]

My only other thought is be extra nice to YO and ask him v v v nicely to buy a harrow!! Could work, worth a shot anyway

 

[muddypony]

if yours is all built up around the edges it's much quicker to shovel a load of the built up stuff onto the track or any thin bits first and then rake, especially if you don't have a very strong rake!

 

[Nocturnal]

Thanks for the input guys, guess I'd better invest in a sturdier rake!

 

[L&M]

There was an 'arena rake' on the market a few years ago - I had one before investing in a small chain harrow.

It is like a normal rake but a lot wider with triangular shaped teeth, and I could do my 20x40 in a couple of hours - hard work but it did a good job.

Try googling it....

 

[Nocturnal]

Thanks, I'll have a look

 

[Vicki_Krystal]

My only other thought is be extra nice to YO and ask him v v v nicely to buy a harrow!! Could work, worth a shot anyway

That isnt happening!

Was all i could do to get them to rake it once last year!
Been rolled since, but only twice, and that took some repetetive asking too.