The Northeast Equine Journal, Francis Rosser Taylor,
March, 1997 issue.

BENEATH EVERY GREAT HORSE - On a scale of 1-10, how would you rank the quality of your practice arena? If this is a spring project for your farm, read on!

Are you tired of not being able to ride because your arena is a mudhole? Tired of both you and your horse eating so much dust that you can't do ring work safely? Tired of worrying about rocks and potholes and their effect on your horse's soundness? Tired of "dead footing" and having to trailer to be able to work your horse on decent footing?

If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, maybe you are ready to build (or rebuild, as the case may be) a riding arena in your own backyard. Before you start, however, you might benefit from some of the things we discovered about how to create a riding surface that’s easy on your horse, easy to maintain, as easy as possible on the budget, and that will stand the test of time.

In some parts of the country, building an arena is as easy as clearing away the brush and rocks, leveling the ground a little, and getting on your horse. Unfortunately, here in the Northeast, with factors such as rain, snow, frost, and rocky soil, building an arena is not that simple. Nor is it cheap. But there are many choices along the way that will allow you to create a suitable surface that will fit your needs and your budget. The most important step is to do your homework before any digging begins.

Building an arena is actually a five-step process, the first and most important of which is Planning, which goes hand in hand with step two, Site Preparation. Next comes construction of the Base, followed by installing the actual Surface. Last, but not least, is Maintenance, which will allow you to keep your wonderful new arena alive and well for years to come.

PLANNING
The choice of where to locate your arena will be one that has an impact on everything else, including the final price tag. Remember that you will need an area slightly larger than your actual riding surface. If you have a choice between locations, drainage should be your number one priority. There is nothing more frustrating than having a beautiful ring that you can’t ride in half the time because of the puddles, or worse yet, watching your newly constructed masterpiece flow downstream with the first gully washer. High ground with natural drainage away from the riding surface would certainly be ideal, but when that is not available, providing artificial drainage is the next best thing.

The most simple form of drainage that you can build is a ditch, or swale, around your arena designed to divert water away from your precious surface. If underground water flow is a problem, more complicated French drains should be considered. Although these vary in type, a French drain, in its simplest terms, is basically a trench lined with rock and possibly a pipe to establish underground water flow away from the area.

Another consideration affecting planning will be getting a realistic idea of who will be using the arena and how often. Are traffic, access, and parking issues to be considered? Usage can determine what you decide to do in all of the following stages of the project. "The simpler you can achieve your goals, the better off you are," says Bill Greaves of Agricultural Land Management, a designer and builder of equestrian facilities.

During this planning phase, decide who will be working on the project. Contractors specializing in arena construction are becoming more common and may be a wise choice, especially since you can probably visit some of their projects and talk to former clients. At the same time, take advantage of the Soil Conservation Service and the county extension office of the U.S. Department of Agriculture for services such as soil testing and soil maps.

SITE PREPARATION
Once your site has been chosen, the first step is to strip the topsoil from the area. What you find underneath will determine what you do next. You may have to add fill, the more consistent the size of the fill you use, the better your end product will be. What you want to end up with is a well drained, compacted sub-base with no voids that will turn into future potholes. For an outdoor arena, it should be either crowned or tilted with a 1-2% grade to encourage run off instead of puddles. Using an experienced professional at this stage of the game is highly advisable, as mistakes made here will haunt the entire project. If money is a serious consideration, you might be able to stop at this point and ride on this surface for a while, or cover it with a thin layer of sand. Depending on your needs, this might suit your purpose, and it is certainly the cheapest way out. If continuing, some builders suggest a sealing layer of geotextile fabric at this point. However, others will tell you that the next phase, the Base, if done correctly will serve the same purpose.

THE ALL IMPORTANT BASE
"The most important part of the ring is the base," says Scott Evans, a specialist in arena construction. Have you ever seen a newly paved road that within no time turns into mountainous frost heaves followed by cavernous potholes? That is the result of a poor base, combined with poor drainage. You really don't want that to happen to your arena.

What makes for a good base if consistency of material. The Northeast is famous for growing rocks. Just when you think that you have removed them all, up pops another one. Frost causes stones to move if the earth above them is inconsistent in size and not well packed.

Stone dust, or screenings, seems to be the substance of choice for the base, although there is a great deal of variation in terminology and professional opinion. The United States Dressage Federation in its publication entitled "Under Foot", suggests crushed stone from 1/4 inch to 3/4 inch to dust particles. This material will pack very hard. It should be sloped in the same grade as the sub-base and compacted with a heavy roller several times so that it won’t shift. The thickness will vary by usage as well as the condition of the sub-base, but the suggested minimum is three to four inches. One note - if fencing, railroad ties, or a sprinkler system are to be installed, now is the time.

THE SURFACE: HIGH TECH OR LOW?
If you know horse people, you know that every subject is accompanied by strong opinions. If the base if the most important, then the actual surface is the place with room for the most personal preference. The discipline that you ride, English or western, dressage or jumping, barrel racing or reining, will have a lot to do with how deep you want the footing to be. The basic job of the footing, however, remains the same: to cushion the impact of the horse's hooves and to provide traction. It should be odor free and as dust free as possible.

Sand is still the most common substance for arena surfaces, since it is fairly cost effective and easy to obtain. But even in this area, you will find differences in both opinion and terminology. Most prefer naturally occurring sand as opposed to manufactured sand, but even there you will find disagreement. The sand does need to be medium to coarse, and angulated rather than round so that it will pack fairly well and not blow away. It should be screened and washed to eliminate large particles and dust.

A "lofting agent" added to the sand will make the surface more springy, and here's where the choices abound, but most fall into two major categories: wood product and rubber products. Wood products by themselves can be very slippery, but added to sand they not only hold moisture but provide cushioning and resiliency. Evans prefers a 1:1 ratio sand to "green" sawdust, pre-mixed off site, a combination that has produced many satisfied customers.

As far as rubber footings, there are more choices all the time, made from recycled products such as tires, balls, conveyor belts, sneakers . . . you name it. In general, the advantages include the fact that you are finding a new use for a recycled product and, at the same time, adding spring and possibly longevity to your surface, while the disadvantages vary by the source of the rubber. Complaints include "cupping" (getting stuck in the horse's hooves) as well as dust and premature breakdown. Depending on the source of the rubber, the results can be different.

One source of rubber footing that has been making a dent in the market recently is automobile tires. Because of the vulcanization process that makes tire rubber durable enough to last on the road, it also has a long life in your arena. PERMA-FLEX produces specially ground particles, guaranteed to be free of metal (something to watch out for because of radial tires), with a life expectancy of 80 years (guaranteed for 50) in your arena. They suggest using equal parts of sand and rubber for a total surface depth of three inches maximum.

You will also find some novel footings on the market these days with varying opinions on their suitability. There is shredded leather, chopped plastic, and polymer-coated sand. The best advice on any footing is to visit an arena in a similar climate and see how people like it, what the problems are, and how it has stood the test of time.

MATTERS OF MAINTENANCE
So you think you can build your dream arena and it will be wonderful forever? Think again. A twelve hundred pound animal with four steel shoes can do a pretty good job of grinding down most surfaces, and consider commercial facilities with a number of horses pounding the surface. Although some footings can be rejuvenated periodically by adding more "lofting agent" depending on what is used, the average lifespan of an arena is about 10 years. After that amount of time, the surface will probably be "dead" and need to be removed. If the base was built well and the arena has been well maintained, only the surface material will need to be replaced.

Good maintenance, including frequent dragging, can extend the life span of your arena greatly. If a track is allowed to form that wears into your base, you may be in for big trouble. Of course, the frequency of dragging depends on the footing and the amount of use the arena gets, but consider dragging as soon as the surface seems to be different depths, before you can actually see a tract forming. Some busy barns drag their arenas three times a day.

A word of caution about dust control. While more and more products are becoming available to cope with this problem, some of them can actually make your surface material compact and lose its spring sooner. The best product for controlling dust is still water. Maintaining a moisture content of 8-12% can keep dust to a minimum, keep your footing springy, and keep good traction.

THE FINISH LINE
With spring just around the corner, maybe building or renewing a riding arena is in your plans. Riding surfaces come in many types , sizes and price ranges. With the many choices available these days, consider taking the time to plan ahead and do it right from the ground up.