Arena advice

[OriginalFloorboards]

Hi all,

We have planning and are starting to look into arena surfaces.

Has anyone got any recommendations for equestrian grade silica sand companies and fibre. We are having to add fibre and mix ourselves (well actually not us personally but the person doing it.)

Looking for recommendations of what you’ve got and where from if it is allowed on mumsnet.

My head is blown looking into it.

Thank you so much.

My friend has a waxed surface from Day Equestrian. Is brilliant, v easy to maintain and doesn't get too wet in winter/dry in summer, she's very pleased with it.

Thank you @Ariela

I have a 60 x 20 it's been down about 3 years ish now and it has a carpet gallop surface on it. We put the menage down in the boggiest part of our land as it was so waterlogged and unusable that we thought we'd kill two birds with one stone. In the 3 years it's been down we haven't lost one day usage due to the weather, flooding, freezing etc. Carpet Gallop weren't the best people to deal with however the surface rides well although we had to pick a lot of rubbish out of the bales. Our plan in a few years is to resurface and maybe even cover it (fingers crossed) that will most likely be with a waxed surface.

Following this as I want to build an arena. How long did your planning take if you don’t mind me asking? Also I have had real issues getting anyone to quote because you have to go through our garden to get to the land. Anyone else have challenges like this? At this rate we will try to build ourselves

@Nerdygirl pretty easy planning took 3 months. Straight forward access onto our own property. Only thing was we couldn’t get an artic down so we’ve had to have smaller wheelers for deliveries which changed the price a bit. We didn’t apply for lights as we don’t need them and our architect said it was easier to apply for lighting after the build if we found we wanted them. We are mid build at the moment. We’ve ended up going for a fibre and sand premix sports surface and they’ve been excellent about doing smaller deliveries as there isn’t much of an area to top it onto. Due to the way the arena sits in the field it’s tipped outside then ferried on the arena.

We have some something similar to you @ilovecatts so that’s good to know it’s all good for you. Ours was also unlevel so it’s had to be dug out and levelled at lot more before the start too. Nothing is easy our end! Bet you love using it! I’m so excited. Did it take long for the surface to ‘settle’?

Yes our planning was less than 3 months I was shocked as we were told we would struggle. It also came with planing for 2, 30
X 60 barns as well.

Surface was ready to go after a quick roll and apart from the first summer hasn't been dusty.

Thanks @ilovecatts we couldn’t afford it that large at this stage (you lucky lady) but we figured we can always extend at another point in the future. I hope I can get 5 jumps in the 20x40. I’ve never been able to canter the horses in winter apart from a weekly lesson so it’s so exciting to be able to do this rather than hacking out (especially when sharp!). I’ve been painting my jumps and making them pretty. I’ve got a room to decorate inside and I’m like yeah that can wait. Horses first. House later!