What surface to put on existing surface?

[wanderersmelody]

Does anyone have any recommendations of a surface that can be placed over an existing surface? We have an indoor school which has a tree bark surface at the moment. Over time, this has basically broken down and is now simply dust and had no grip to oit. We wondered if there was a surface that can be placed over the top? Rubber or something like that. I have seen them advertised a while ago but can't recall what they were?

 

[vicster]

I think youo couold put rubber over it, we originally had sand but then put rubber over the top of that it works really well and doesn't get frozen either

 

[Parkranger]

Rubber definately - bark is horrible (and slippery)!

 

[_jetset_]

The only thing is you have to be careful with rubber. In 2006 it was banned from being placed in land fills etc and is becoming known as a toxic substance... For example if it gets into your waterways, if it gets hot it has an aroma and so on...

Good quality wood surfaces are used on many race courses but it does need to be maintained and have a good membrane before you start.

 

[vicster]

God never knew this - Thanks

 

[Lucy_Ally]

We have the same problem with our indoor, it was a rubber and bark mix. We are having the top surface removed so just the base is left and then flexiride put on top as it is meant to be dust free

http://www.equestriandirectltd.co.uk/flexiride.htm

We are getting this in the next couple of weeks so will let you know how we get on.

 

[_jetset_]

I only found out recently when YO was looking into changing surface to rubber... now changed her mind and going to redo it in good quality wood!

 

[wanderersmelody]

Brill - Can I be cheeky and ask what sort of price you are paying for the materials only?

 

[wanderersmelody]

Yeah -saw that on website about the rubber too......

 

[Lucy_Ally]

Think its around 6k for everything (taking away the old surface and laying new one down), no idea on individual costs I'm afarid as the YO is dealing with all that.

 

[Parkranger]

Mmmm, that's interesting.

 

[henryhorn]

I would contact the equine surfaces people advertised in H and H, they have a fibre product that they rotovate into your existing surface to stabilise it, in your case I think you would need some rubber chips and sand too, but it's a cheap option and one we considered and liked.

 

[dieseldog]

Bark isn't that nice as a surface. Wales and West had all their collecting rings with bark. It was horrible to ride on - very slippy and got deep. However that was with extreme use so not sure how it would work with normal use. They have though started replacing their warm ups with a sand mixture instead of the bark.