Waxed surfaces vs sand/rubber?

ycbm

ycbm

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Has anyone else noticed a huge improvement in their horse's freedom of movement (and demeanour), and I mean really noticeable, when working on sand/rubber after only being on waxed surfaces for 6 months?
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I wouldn't touch a waxed surface if I had the option.

I don't think they drain well, they become patchy and they hold the foot too much. They can look flat when they are actually undulating and horses need to learn to go up and down more to account for this as they can't easily punch through an undulation.
 
The problem with waxed surfaces is that a lot of the time they're over waxed for the quality/level of horse using them, to the extent that for horses with a tendency to be on the forehand, or even built downhill, therefore ideally needing a surface to brush through, they are then unable to do so because it doesn't move, only compress, which can end up with the horse going arse over tit. Seen it happen where the surface was too pro for the quality of horses (and riders) using it.

I wouldn't have waxed on its own, but do like a good mixture of waxed and fibre surface which gives an element of something to brush through. Your average horse doesn't need the waxed level of the surface they jump off of at Olympia for example. Waxed also needs grading for different disciplines so require a lot of maintenance to get right.

Would be very interesting to see if your horse stops having his 'lost a leg' moments on a looser surface @ycbm!
 
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I have just bought a surface and absolutely specified no wax - twas difficult to find and i have had to install a complete sprinkler system to keep it ridable through the summer (for which we have a private water supply ) so I understand why people have wax on their surfaces but it seems to lame horses very quickly if they have any weakness whatsoever so i am keen to avoid it if at all possible

it is almost impossible to get planning for sand and rubber now
 
My New Forests regard waxed surfaces with great suspicion, not quite believing they are safe. As a result, I avoid arenas with them. Absolutely fine on every other surface…
 
Some years ago waxed surfaces were seen as the gold standard but my understanding now is that they are not so desirable especially as the hoof is ‘grabbed’ by the surface rather than being able to slide a little on it.

When I was looking at getting a school built a major constructor of waxed and non-waxed surfaces advised against getting waxed as their view was that they took an awful lot of maintenance to keep just right.
 
What are people buying /liking now? I'm looking at resurfacing my dog agility arena, put soiltex down 5 years ago. Have a new dog who doesn't like sand in her face so have to buy a lot of whatever fibre I pick.. had a chat with a guy who does a finely chopped carpet yesterday.
 
eggs said:
Some years ago waxed surfaces were seen as the gold standard but my understanding now is that they are not so desirable especially as the hoof is ‘grabbed’ by the surface rather than being able to slide a little on it.

When I was looking at getting a school built a major constructor of waxed and non-waxed surfaces advised against getting waxed as their view was that they took an awful lot of maintenance to keep just right.
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That’s interesting because in my experience they are slippery. Only surfaces I have had legs go round corners. Smaller ponies seem ok, but anything over 12.2/13hh has trouble if not careful. I got bucked off the last time we went to the worst offender. My mare slipped round the corner in canter, had had enough and bucked ‘till I came off to make her feelings clear! Her brother slips on those surfaces too. The best maintained one I have seen isn’t spectacularly slippery but isn’t grippy either and the ponies don’t push through from behind properly on it. Honestly, anything else is better.
 
I prefer rubber / sand and find the waxed surfaces rather dead. At a local competition venue they have a sand / rubber warm up and a waxed surface in the indoor and it’s really noticeable when you go from warm-up to test riding.

We’ve just had a lot of carpet fibre possibly car carpet with what looks like foam backing added to our sand/rubber arena (which was very low on surface) and that seems pretty springy. It’s certainly better to ride on than it was.
 
The Charles Britton team who constructed my (still lovely) sand and rubber arena 11 years ago were very scathing about waxed surfaces.

I'm in the same local council area for planning as BnB. Getting planning permission for a sand and rubber surface was no problem at all back then, it was waved through.

What is sand mixed with carpet fibre like? And are there any planning issues around it?
 
I read this thread yesterday and didn’t think much more of it, but today I took my pony to a show on a waxed surface (Andrew bowens pro wax) and he tripped a few times, nothing major but he never usually trips, at home we have a sand and rubber surface. But he is a novice pony and could’ve tripped as he was being nosey and not concentrating on what he was doing.
 
Tiddlypom said:
The Charles Britton team who constructed my (still lovely) sand and rubber arena 11 years ago were very scathing about waxed surfaces.

I'm in the same local council area for planning as BnB. Getting planning permission for a sand and rubber surface was no problem at all back then, it was waved through.

What is sand mixed with carpet fibre like? And are there any planning issues around it?
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Most of the arenas I hire are sand and carpet fibre. IMO it's very much like just riding on sand - the bits of carpet just sit on the top and the horse trips on lumps of sand and occasionally loses footing behind. The well maintained, level one is significantly better to ride on as you would expect.
 
I topped up with a cheap as chips carpet fibre, only it turned out to be fairly large chunks of carpet. Like, old carpet - patterned, fluffy... whatever!

However. 2 years on and it has ridden well, needs little maintenance and looks pretty much the same.

I think the rules have changed since and tightened up over what you can use. So, I have no idea what to use next time. that said, a local yard had the same topping done as a temporary measure about 10 years ago, and it is still going strong!
 
I hate it, won’t even pick up poles without gloves. The other way to tell is if a horse pees on it, it puddles for ages.
 
My horse is not a fan of waxed surfaces, doesn't trip, just doesn't move very well and is quite earth bound on them.
Shame as lots of competition centres have them!

We have a fibre surface at home, no sand, and it rides really well in all weathers. Never floods and never deep, even through the drought.

I did find it mildly amusing a few weeks ago when it seemed ALL big competition centres were cancelling or running with lots of standing water due to the rain- expensive waxed surfaces not so good then!
 
would never have one at home and wont compete on heavily waxed and compacted ones, think they cause soft tissue injuries to the foot by stopping micro slide.

i have silica sand with chunky carpet fibre topping and it ride beautifully in all weathers.
 
My horse doesn't showjump well on waxed surfaces. I won't run him at Somerford again as a result. Kelsall's surfaces aren't waxed and he jumps well on those. It clearly makes a big difference to him.
 
I'm finding it really interesting how many horses are voting, literally, with their feet. I'm glad now that I took him away from a choice between waxed and "dead" feeling grit, even though I did it for a completely diffeent reason.
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