Keeping arenas in use, using tarpaulin...

[RachelFerd]

Just a quick post - having read all the threads about people who are out of action as they have nowhere to ride, just thought I would share the way that we have kept 2 outdooor arenas in use - one at the riding school and one at the racing yard that I work at.

Before thick ice or snow has set in (needs to be done before the weather is forecast) the whole arena, or at least a 20m circle can be covered in copious amounts of rock salt, and then covered with large heavy duty tarpaulins (bought from wickes 5x8m for £25) - you need 8 tarpaulins to fully cover a 20m circle, but can also cover a lunging 'doughnut' shape with just 5 of them.

So far, fingers crossed we have made the arenas use-able every day via this method, sometimes using a quad to loosen up the surface a little when the mats are taken up. The mats can all roll up over the arena side when in use, and then get pulled back down (and pinned down with poles, blocks etc) overnights. Even if it does snow, with a bit of manpower you can lift the tarpaulins to instantly clear a few inches of snow.

Anyone else doing this? Or are we all a little bit mad?!

 

[Bojangles]

Thats a good idea!! The school still under loads of snow so just been hacking round the fields!

 

[custard]

A good idea and someone on the BD forum has been doing it with rolls of builders polythene, much lighter and the snow jus slips off when they lift it. I was thinking of trying bubble wrap, a 100m roll is actually quite cheap.

 

[RachelFerd]

we have tried lighter tarps, but had problems with them ripping and frost still getting through them - hence why we moved onto the heavy duty ones last year (which, fingers crossed, are still going strong!)

Bubble wrap on the other hand I am guessing is a going to be a good insulator? just whether the material is strong enough to stand being dragged about etc.

 

[custard]

Bubble wrap on the other hand I am guessing is a going to be a good insulator? just whether the material is strong enough to stand being dragged about etc.

The other stuff I had in mind was the wrapping they put round electrical goods, usually white and kind of spongy texture but stronger than bubblewrap and also quite cheap, can't think what it's called.