Spreading sand on solid ground to make it horse friendly

[Super_Kat]

My friend and I are sat here with 60 years horse experience between us scratching our heads. On a solid ground what benefits are there to spreading sand rather than waterine? As far as we can see, the amount you'd need to put down to stop it jarring the horses legs would need to be quite a bit, more than could be put down without a barrier holding it in. All we can think of is that it will be slippery.
Can someone please enlighten us on this, neither of us have heard of it and we're stumped!

 

[bluehoofprints]

Rubber chips down? I really have no idea, you would think over 10 years riding experience would help but I guess I never dealt with competition or had my horse on a yard..

 

[*hic*]

I've seen a solution where nearly 10 inches of sand was put down over an area about 60 X 50m with no barrier and used rather successfully for jump schooling. I don't think it lasted very long but tided them over until a rather nice large surface was put in.

A solution that was suggested to me was to power harrow the ground and ride on that.

 

[Super_Kat]

It's gone down on a Polocrosse pitch and we're really curious of the benefits compared to watering as neither of us have heard of it

 

[vam]

The only time i have seen it is for take off's and landings round xc courses, even then i have questioned why they did it as it never looked enough to make any difference. I would have expected it to be deeper than an inch or 2.
Can't say i have ever seen it over a large area, not enough to say play polo or jump a course in but have seen it on race courses where a road or path runs through it. Again these seem to be small areas and not going to have the horse spend a lot of time on.
Also if its just gone down whould it not be really deep and likely to move about? I cant say that would be any better than going on the hard to me.
Would be curious to know thou.

 

[*hic*]

It's gone down on a Polocrosse pitch and we're really curious of the benefits compared to watering as neither of us have heard of it

How deep is it and has it been put down to benefit the horses or the grass?

If there's less than an inch then it would provide a little movement under the hoof as the grains compact and form to the contours of the hoof/shoe.

 

[DollyPentreath]

Oh, oh, me, me! I'm always super excited when I can contribute something technical.. I'm a geotechnical engineer and I've also done a lot of research into arena construction/hoof-surface interaction. You are quite right that a few inches of sand will do next to nothing. Only watering, creating voids (spiking), or laying at least 150mm of surface will make a difference when it comes to concussion.

 

[SillySausage]

It's gone down on a Polocrosse pitch and we're really curious of the benefits compared to watering as neither of us have heard of it

I've just seen the same post and was too unsure what difference it would make to us!!

 

[*hic*]

Oh, oh, me, me! I'm always super excited when I can contribute something technical.. I'm a geotechnical engineer and I've also done a lot of research into arena construction/hoof-surface interaction. You are quite right that a few inches of sand will do next to nothing. Only watering, creating voids (spiking), or laying at least 150mm of surface will make a difference when it comes to concussion.

Oh dear, that did make me giggle. I imagined you sitting there with your hand stuck up in the air, waggling with excitement and in my head as I read it I could hear an excited squeaky voice!

I bow to your superior knowledge and stand corrected though

 

[DollyPentreath]

Haha Jemima, spot on! You're not completely wrong though, sand may provide a little 'cut' to the ground i.e there is more surface for the hoof to interact with. The fact the grains of sand are loose will almost negate this effect though. Enough sand could help limit concussion, but when it comes to the biomechanics of it you'd need a fair thickness. Plus it would have to be proper surface sand with the right roundness, roughness coefficient etc. otherwise it could make matters worse in other areas of hoof/leg movement!

 

[Super_Kat]

Thanks dolly, we'd pretty much come up with the same answers (but in a much less technical way )

Sillysausage - ahhhh, another Polocrosse bod on the board!

 

[TarrSteps]

It makes people feel better, though.



I have an interesting observational tool in. a very 'horsey' dog who also runs for fun but has more free will than the average horse as I don't make him run. When the ground gets hard he gets much more particular.about where he runs, for how long etc. If he has access to a good school in weather like we're currently having he throws a complete spacky for 5 minutes. It's made me very aware of how well he knows his own body and how inclined we are to override horses' 'choice' in these matters.

 

[DollyPentreath]

I should really add, despite the little bit of knowledge I have on the subject, I'm not as precious about hard ground as you may think. Having competed abroad for the past 3 yrs (Aus) I'm a firm believer that just as much damage can be done due to going xc on sloppy, wet ground. It would have to be like concrete for me to withdraw (unless the horse had an injury history), I just try to adjust the pace of my round accordingly.

 

[SillySausage]

Thanks dolly, we'd pretty much come up with the same answers (but in a much less technical way )

Sillysausage - ahhhh, another Polocrosse bod on the board!

Yes My OH plays not me.... I stick to both hands on the reins