Putting a arena surface down on a concrete floor

chickeninabun

chickeninabun

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My friend is thinking of turning a barn into an indoor arena. The floor is just concrete at the moment, so what, if anything, would she need to look at putting on it before putting a sand/rubber surface down?
Thanks
x
 
uh not really sure but may have to dig concrete up and replace with stone and then your membrane possibly
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im no expert but i dont think you can put in on concrete, you would need a hell of alot of a good surface to stop it going bare in places and your horses sliping on concrete, i might be wrong though.
 
What do they do at the NEC etc, i am sure when i have been for other events that it is just a concrete floor and they when HOYS is on they put a surface down?????

I could be completely wrong and HOYS might be in a different building or something......

I could be talking rubbish.
 
i think the surface would move too much on concrete.

you could put a lot of surface down to combat that but then you are going to have a deep surface to ride on.
 
i'd contact one of the top arena specialists. it may be that one of their very sticky-together surfaces (waxed protrack, something like that) would possibly be safe on top of concrete. i don't think sand and rubber would do it unless she is prepared to water it a LOT - dry sand moves and the thought of the horse going through to the concrete is not nice.
 
As BFG says, of course it can be done, otherwsie how would HOYS cope at the NEC, or Olympia Horse Show ?. They certainly don't dig up their concrete floor. You will need to contact a pukka surface provider, they will tell you what you need to do. My trainer has a system where she collects rainwater from the roof of the indoor school, into large storage bins, they use that water for watering the school.
 
I was on a yard that had a concrete base and it had the shredded electric cable type surface on it.
It was massively deep in places and concrete in others, it was horrendous and the reason I left the yard.

As others have said though, I'm sure it must be able to be done.
 
my thought would be that at hoys etc the surface is only down for a short amount of time and can be carefully managed and is top notch.

I know a barn with a concrete floor that has had a woodchip and then sand surface down. TBH it is terrible and I wouldnt ride my horse in it. Most of it is very dry and deep but there are wet spots which the surface gets compacted and very slippy through to the concrete.

From this I would say you need:
a barn roof that doesn leak
a good surface at an increased depth or something else underneath it so that you cannot go through to the concrete easily
and to keep the surface well looked after, harrowed, rolled and even.
 
I've used an arena that has thick wood chippings on concrete. It's OK... but too slippy for fast work and hell to fall off on.
 
I dont think the woodchippings was at all good tbh, because as they decomposed underneath they got a bit mushy and VERY slippy
 
One of my friends shattered their leg when they fell off in an local indoor school at a competition yard. The horse stopped at a jump, they carried on over the horse's head, landing on their feet. My friend leg shattered as there was only 2cm surface covering concrete, so no surface to absorb the force, so bone shattered. I hate to think how much damage this surface was doing to the horse's legs when they were jumping on it. They held BSJA and Pony Club competitions on this surface. Not surprisingly they don't anymore!!!
 
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my thought would be that at hoys etc the surface is only down for a short amount of time and can be carefully managed and is top notch.

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and its an andrew bowens surface which is very very very expensive as its a very good surface, alot of it would go down and its harrowed and rolled with a huge drive n roller. we have two andrew bowen surfaces at work and they are fab if maintaned correctly!
 
OP, I think the main problem is the surface moving about on the concrete, which I dont think rubber matting would help and that can be notoriously slippy when wet.

I think it might be possible to be done and be safe if done properly but then it isn't going to be cheap
 
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OP, I think the main problem is the surface moving about on the concrete, which I dont think rubber matting would help and that can be notoriously slippy when wet.

I think it might be possible to be done and be safe if done properly but then it isn't going to be cheap

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Damn
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and to think I was hoping for free use of a nice indoor arena
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. Well, friend is certainly not short of a bob or two but the barn is rented so I think it's looking like a no-go. Shame
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i was at a yard with a concrete floor in their manage. Nobody ever cantered on it, and horses would often fall over. Somebody actually broke their leg when their horse fell. Very dangerous.
 
I've also been looking to convert a barn with concrete floor into an indoor arena and the company I contacted for a quote (Equestrian Surfaces - very good quote) said the floor would have to be taken up.
 
Manor Farm's indoor is on concrete.

I rode for years in a very large indoor that was originally just sand on concrete and now has some kind of white fluffy fibre in it. There was around 12inches of material and occasionally we WP's would be asked to dig it back out down to concrete on the outside track before the whole thing was harrowed. It is intensively used and tbh it's probably one of the best surfaces I've met.
 
It would rely on depth and maintenance to be safe and rideable. And cost a huge amount. I can ask my friends who put up a 20x40 indoor (I know, I know) and had a Martin Collins waxed surface put down. Not sure, but think it was on compacted hardcore, then some sort of membrane... That does go solid if not fluffed up regularly.

I know of another, and can get details of how they did it - a 60x20, this time, with the Andrews-Bowen prowax.
 
I'm at a loss to understand all the problems qutoed above. My barn is concrete floored. I put 9 inches of sticky pine wood bark straight onto it and it rode beautifully. When the bark broke down I added 10 tons of sand and over the years I have mucked out my wet shavings into it and now I add my shredded newspapers. It has never been more than eight inches thick after the initial load settled, and it has always ridden beautifully. I canter even though it is a very small space and I have never had a horse slip except on muck/wet (they live in there overnight too).


Perhaps for a concrete floor the cheap option is the best one? None of those expensive branded surfaces, buy two huge lorryloads of straight-off-the-tree pine peelings. They are full of resin, stick to each other and the floor and smell gorgeous!!

 
Hmm I know of an indoor where the surface was wood chippings on concrete and it was nasty! A combination of thin and deep, and incredibly dusty if not watered. Not to mention slippery!!

Personally, I think if its going to be done it needs to be done properly, as I know I wouldn't want to risk my horses legs otherwise!
 
Yes it has to be bark peelings, not chippings and not bark from a thick bark tree, but thin peelings from pine trees before they are cut into planks and posts. I must just have struck lucky with the right surface by mistake! I only bought them because they were so cheap.

If it's peelings on concrete or no indoor at all I know where I would be.
 
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