The Ultimate Surface ?

Soya oil

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We've got sand and rubber at home and also use the covered outdoor at Warks college a fair bit, which is gel coated sand with rubber.
My mare absolutely loves the amount of 'bounce' it gives her and goes better on this than anything else - geltrack feels a bit 'dead' and she stumbles a bit while she won't really go forward on pure sand (which we come across quite a bit at indoor venues). A very particular madam who will let you know her preference!
In practical terms sand and rubber is great if you've got good drainage but does get very deep in dry weather unless you water it. Not dusty tho, even during our 'indian summer'.
On the plus side it will take no end of rain and hardly ever freezes.
I don't jump, but those that do at our yard say it is great for that, too.
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i think the mixed vastrack-type surfaces are about the best i've ever ridden on. Baydale's surface is just wonderful, like a springy carpet, doesn't go deep at all. i think it is a McArdle one that was used at NEC, not sure.
 
Ditto ironhorse, but I do jump on mine and its great for that as well. It does require regular levelling, though, and can drift into small humps, but easy to redistribute.
 
At home we have rubber, it was sand and rubber but they topped up the rubber and not the sand
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At warks college they have sand & rubber bouncy track thingy in the covered arena, thats sooo nice to ride on. In the indoor and outdoor they use enviorotrac, its not nice at all, and painful to land on
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Wax surfaces are good , we have that at our local EC and the stuff never budges. We have sand +rubber and it's great, its never frozen/ flooded

Don't ever get Poly-Fluff :/ Worst, awful surface ever. Well, at our school anyway!
 
Well, at home and at shows we ride on Andrews Bowen from the Pro Wax to the sand and fibre (outdoors) Mine at home is a sand/fibre/rubber crumb (but very small crumb) and is four years old in January. Soft, doesn't track, doesn't get deep, drains well and doesn't compact. It rides and jumps in all but the hard frost - and even then I only struggle with the area behind my barn which doesn't defrost as quickly as the rest.

The yard where my son works has a large Andrews-Bowen with a very similar mix and equally good riding/draining properties.

I think one should remember that often, the difference between a good and poor surface is maintenance. Although mine doesn't need much at all, I make sure droppings are removed IMMEDIATELY, leaves cleared and it is levelled and lightly harrowed regularly. It was a huge investment and is my life-saver.
 
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i think the mixed vastrack-type surfaces are about the best i've ever ridden on. Baydale's surface is just wonderful, like a springy carpet, doesn't go deep at all. i think it is a McArdle one that was used at NEC, not sure.

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It's secondhand and was used at Your Horse Live, but I can't remember what they call it. It needs v little maintenance either. We only had 2 or 3 days when it wasn't useable last winter and that was because the snow had thawed then froze before it had a chance to drain away. Even with snow on it it didn't seem to ball up in their feet, I guess because it's waxed it stopped it sticking to the sole.
 
If I had endless money I would def have a waxed surface! No question. But I got a quote for our 60 x 40 two years ago and it was £60,000
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However, we have silica sand and rubber and it is fab. Only time I've had 'problems' is when it got a bit loose on top a few weeks back when we had 5 weeks of no rain. But sprinklers soon sorted that out
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But when I have an indoor build I am most definitely spending the money and getting a waxed surface as I can't be doing with irrigation, etc.

As above a good arena has to be well maintained......levelled and all droppings removed at all times
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