New School Surface too deep - will it get better over time ?

Porkie

Porkie

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Our new indoor school opened for use yesterday and we are all so disappointed
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it is so so deep, my lad could hardly walk, let alone trot and when I tried to canter he just said 'bog off'!!

It is some kind of sand and rubber, well sand then topped with rubber.

Will it get better over time once it all gets mixed together? YO doesn't seem to think there is a problem with it......... but I couldn't ride in it, friend came out after 5 minutes, one lady wouldn't even get on her horse in there and 2 others think its awful - so it's not just me!!

Had such high hopes for it as old was terrible. Am gutted
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it probably will...at my old yard they replaced the old arena with a lovely new and bigger one. the extra 20m that they put on the end was SO deep that i just continued using the old 40m that had been there before. it did settle down when it had been ridden on for a month or two...just as i left the yard the owner bought a load more rubber and it had gone really deep again...i think the BEST arenas never start off deep but most improve with time. your YO should really ring the contarctors who built it for advice on what to do.....
 
In my experience the answer to your question is no. Well, not for years anyway. Over time the surface will be lost so that makes it shallower.
The contactors should be made aware of the problem asap. What type of sand is it?

A deep surface can cause alot of injuries
 
Agree with teddy ..... I was on a yard where the school was horrendous. Poor pony had to plough her way through it.

The school had been down 7 years and alot had blown away. I moved off as I couldn't expect an unbalanced 4 yr old to work in it.
 
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The contactors should be made aware of the problem asap. What type of sand is it?

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It seems to be bright yellow sand and a thick layer of very black rubber pieces on top. I don't know if the people who put it in were professionals........beginning to think not !
 
Has it been watered since it was put down and has it been rolled. I would imagine if it is an indoors surface it will have a watering system or will be a waxed surface?

If yes to the above then the answer to your question is a big NO.
If the sand is single sized and round it will always ride like a bag of marbles, imagine the kids ball park areas, they sink straight to the bottom of it as the balls are round.

If the sand was angular and multi sized it would be able to compact therefore creating a good surface.

We made the mistake of buying some unsuitable sand (it was sold as top grade equestrian silica) and we had it analysed after it rode deep, we ended up ripping it all up and starting again.

Not good to ride in deep surfaces, tendon problems are the first that spring to mind.
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The contactors should be made aware of the problem asap. What type of sand is it?

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It seems to be bright yellow sand and a thick layer of very black rubber pieces on top. I don't know if the people who put it in were professionals........beginning to think not !

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As far as i am aware the only sand any good for arenas is silica sand, which is white. It is much more expensive than other types because it is only available from minimal places but it is the most stable/well draining, etc sand for arenas.
 
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As far as i am aware the only sand any good for arenas is silica sand, which is white.

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I think silica sand is not necessarily white, it depends where it comes form in the country. Mine is local to us and is an orangey/redy/pinky colour (if you can visualise such a colour
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I agree, get contractors back in and ask who supplied the sand, only an expert can tell by eye if it's silica or not.

I can understand your disappointment, when I had my horses at livery my OH’s firm redid the school cos it was unusable and we were all so happy when it was done, there was a big BBQ to celebrate, it would have been awful if it had been unrideable
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Good luck
 
Our school is very much like this in the summer - it will become a lot different when it has rained, but I must admit the farmers have to roll it daily to stop it getting unrideable! Its great in the winter, but not so good in the heat of the summer.
 
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