Riding Arena Surface, sand/fibre mix - Devon

[hallarider]

Hi All

Could anyone recommend a surface for our school. I want to stay away from rubber chips. I am interested in Sand/Fibre mix. Has anyone any experience of this - does it hold out in our wet weather??. I don't want to pay a fortune for haulage charges. I am based in Devon. Any recommendations would be great.

many thanks

 

[LankyDoodle]

Oooh, I wonder where in Devon you are! Our new YO is about to build a school and they're in Devon! Ooooh.

As for type of surface, I actually like rubber or wood chip or some kind of clay sand (friends in Cornwall have china clay and it's amazing but cost them nothing from the china clay quarry!). I am not keen on sand as when it's wet it's not so nice to ride on really. Not heard of sand/fibre mix.

 

[louisevictoria]

whereabouts in Devon are you? I have had lots of quotes/suggestions for my new school and have some really good recommendations.

 

[oofadoofa]

Would be interested to hear your replies as we are putting our arena in in the next couple of months. We are going to go for something like this or sand/rubber, staying clear of woodchips as they can be very slippy. I know that pontispool have a sand/fibre mix in one of their arenas which is really lovely, it might be worth giving them a ring.

Carrie - don't let your current arena put you off sand - they're not all like that if done properly!

 

[LankyDoodle]

LOL. Yep, I forget you've been there. Well Mandy says that the school is worse now than when she started there 7 years ago; and it's certainly worse than we went there 6 years ago, so you imagine what it must be like now. It IS building sand and there's no proper drainage either. Plus it's more of a trapezium than a rectangle. Stones everywhere, liner/membrane coming up. Ugh!!!

Carrie.

 

[Mrs_Wishkabibble]

It isnt the surface that usually retains water - if you have adequate drainage under it no surface should retain water!
Why are you against rubber?
I have Trackright and rubber and it is fabulous. It never freezes and the only time I cannot use it is when it has a few inches of snow on it.
It is very minimal maintainence as well and doesnt leave big holes when you jump on it or lunge on it either.
If you decide to go for sand then get it analysed first to check it is angular. If it isnt it will in effect ride like a "bag of marbles" The first school we put down was silica sand and it wasnt angular and the sand was single sized so it never compacted and rode really deep so we ended up taking it all up (did get my money back for the sand as it wasnt fit for the purpose)
I would recommend going to look at other peoples arenas and even riding on the surface you are interested in before deciding. It is a very big investment that you need to be 100% happy with else you have to put up with it for many years!
Good luck

 

[barbaraNcolin]

We've put down a school of F100 from Mansfield Sands and Fibesands this spring. So far it's been brill, we haven't put any rubber topping on. Can't tell you about what it's like through the dead of winter but was fine with the terrential rain we had this summer.

 

[ajn1610]

We refurbished and extended an arena using Clopf from Martin Collins (sp?) it is great. I'd happily recommend the company and the product.

 

[Ladyfresha1]

Don't get clay sand, sand from china minds is not good, you need clean sand. I hate sand and rubber, used to love it until I started riding on sand and fibre! I have never ridden on a rubber surface that isn't deep (and i have ridden on a lot). It depends what you want to do on it. I jump my horses big and a rubber surface isn't good enough. But for everyday riding it is good. My horses go better on sand and fibre, which says it all. You need to make sure that what ever you get is going to last a long time. Using cheap sand will catch up with you.

It is personal preferance. Just get the best you can afford for what you want to do!