Shredded carpet surface

[Britestar]

Looking for people who have shredded carpet as a surface.

Do you have only this, or a mixture with sand?

I have an area that is being surfaced and am trying to decide whether to go with all shredded carpet, sand with carpet on top or sand with rubber.

Mostly will be schooling, doing pole work but want to be able to have a jump too. I am worried that if I have just the carpet it will be too soft?

Any ideas I will be grateful.


Thank

 

[TGM]

I have shredded carpet with sand. It makes a great surface that is fairly low maintenance and is lovely to ride and jump on. However, it is not as frost-resistant as rubber, but this is not a huge problem for us as we are in a fairly mild area and the school gets sun all day, so if it does freeze it soon thaws.

 

[ROMANY 1959]

With rubber, be aware any white legged horse will end up with black legs!!!

 

[JillA]

I had wood chip (never again, it rots pretty quickly to garden compost) topped up with rubber (fine but the underlying garden compost still rode deep in the wet) and now topped up with shredded carpet. That has stabilised it quite a lot, still can be a little deep but that's the garden compost and the carpet does tend to hold it together somewhat.
I am at a loss though how to grade it - it only needs doing now and again and only because of the underlying soft surface, the carpet moves very little. Harrows drag it all away, I need something like tines on a wheeled axle, to keep it at a level to just even out the surface. Anyone got anything similar?

 

[twiggy2]

I have found carpet all blows to one place when it is dry and windy, also have never found anything that harrows it successfully

 

[Lulup]

I had carpet on top of old sand - it started off ok but it was quite big pieces and I found the horses seemed to trip quite a lot and eventually we had to take everything off and start again as the drainage wasn't good enough and we ended up with a mushy mess. Now we've put in new drainage and new silica sand so I'm also looking at what to add on top.. it won't be rubber, I'm not a fan. There is a high grade carpet fibre available from 'Equestrian Surfaces' which is mixed into the sand (you can pay them to do it or do it yourself with harrow or rotavator I think) which I'm going to look at.

 

[stencilface]

We put ours down on silica sand when we built our arena this summer. It was rotovated into the sand 3 times and as a result is very stable. It completely changed the sand on its own. It gets harrowed with a chain harrow which makes it lovely again.

I think it's a great surface very stable and firm with a bit of bounce. It does freeze as we've discovered (this week down to -7 though) but I don't think this is a huge issue.

Ours was sourced direct from Valley Equestrian who supply it as clopf to Charles Britton and others.

 

[Merlod]

I have carpet fibres mixed with silica sand, installed new by an amazing company (pm if you want recommendation) it took a little while to settle and lots of harrowing but now it's compacted it's brilliant - I jumped on it today and it was lovely. Not deep but soft enough, horses go really well on it.

 

[Gloi]

There is an indoor school near us that has this surface and my friend's regularly ride in it. However I can't as the carpet breaks down and the dust and mould spores badly affect my asthma. I can ride in most indoor schools but not this one.

 

[meesha]

JillA.....Really interested in this, I have had a second top up of cushionride but it is rotting too quickly. Was advised to let it rot down to couple inches then put carpet fibre on top! How have u found yours? Would you advise this is a good thing to do and if so what product did you use and how much would I need for 40x20m arena....sorry for the questions
Chocs on offer now or prosecco later !

 

[JillA]

JillA.....Really interested in this, I have had a second top up of cushionride but it is rotting too quickly. Was advised to let it rot down to couple inches then put carpet fibre on top! How have u found yours? Would you advise this is a good thing to do and if so what product did you use and how much would I need for 40x20m arena....sorry for the questions
Chocs on offer now or prosecco later !

Yep, mine was Cushionride, I really don't think they should sell it for outdoor use. I spoke to Emerald Trading, they were very helpful and I think they really are interested in getting you the best surface as opposed to just selling their product (their business is largely based on referrals). I had the rubber added to mine so really can't say what it would be like just on Cushionride, speak to them is your best bet http://www.emeraldtrading.org.uk/equestriansurfaces-staffordshire - I had a budget of £1k and they offered me a good deal from a cancelled order

 

[AdorableAlice]

Carpet Gallop ?
I am doing research on surfaces at the moment and had a lengthy chat with the owner of Carpet Gallop yesterday.

I have seen a riding school with it down and they are pleased with it and it gets plenty of work on it. Racehorse trainers are using it too both NH and flat. It can be laid just as carpet or run through sand.

Having spent all yesterday talking to surface suppliers I ended the day more confused than I started and totally befuddled as to what is the best.

 

[Tiddlypom]

I am at a loss though how to grade it - it only needs doing now and again and only because of the underlying soft surface, the carpet moves very little. Harrows drag it all away, I need something like tines on a wheeled axle, to keep it at a level to just even out the surface. Anyone got anything similar?

I've got an Arenamate type 1 with tines (and wheels), which is suitable for sand and fibre surfaces. I use it on my sand and rubber surface, theoretically I don't really need the optional tines but I opted for them anyway, it does a great job. The depth that the tines penetrate the surface is easily adjusted to suit individual requirements.



It was c£895 delivered, set up on my 4x4 and demonstrated before I paid for it. The arenamate peeps are very helpful, and have seen pretty much all types of surfaces for better and for worse, so would be worth contacting.

http://www.arenamate.co.uk/product/type-1-arena-leveller-with-tines/

 

[AnShanDan]

We put ours down on silica sand when we built our arena this summer. It was rotovated into the sand 3 times and as a result is very stable. It completely changed the sand on its own. It gets harrowed with a chain harrow which makes it lovely again.

I think it's a great surface very stable and firm with a bit of bounce. It does freeze as we've discovered (this week down to -7 though) but I don't think this is a huge issue.

Ours was sourced direct from Valley Equestrian who supply it as clopf to Charles Britton and others.

I've got the Valley Equestrian fibre too, we added it to silca sand and it does ride really well. I also put an extra dose of fibre on the outside track and it def. makes it freer and ridable in v frosty weather. I use an old harrow a couple of times a month to lightly level it, only issue is if it has been v v dry weather for weeks, eventually it does ride deep and the fibre starts to rise to the surface, I bought a huge sprinkler this May which did help.

 

[Britestar]

Thanks all.
Just as confused A friend has 8 inches of carpet, and it rides really nice, but I'm not sure how it would jump (he doesn't jump).
Sand + carpet means a membrane, just carpet can go onto the hardcore.

Big decisions....

 

[teapot]

Friend has a horse at livery with a carpet/sand mix and it's probably one of the nicest surfaces I've ever ridden on. It's regularly used for both flat and jumping with no issues.

 

[Imogen Rose]

We have a 5f gallop at work, gets heavy use with flat and nh horses everyday. Gets harrowed or rolled every day.
I think it was sand, and carpet went on top and it has mixed in. It is too fluffy when carpet is added in various places, but after a week it has worked in nicely. Its an excellent stable gallop,not heavy but not too fast.

 

[soloequestrian]

I have sharp sand (cheap!) and carpet and it is brilliant - very low maintenance and rides beautifully. I have ridden on much more expensive surfaces and not been as impressed. The more carpet you add, the more stable it becomes - I don't jump, but if I did I would just add about five more bales I think (possibly more, but you can do it bit by bit). I don't find it moves in the wind at all - I've barely lost any over the past three years or so I've had it.

 

[irishdraft]

I regularly jump on a sand/carpet mix but I find it quite hard / compacted this maybe it get s alot of use & isn't harrowed enough