We have had our own barn for about two months..and it's absolutely lovely..except for our arena footing. It's sand, but way too deep. My horse sinks up to his coronet in it. I'm worried about possible injuries from this..especially since we are planning on jumping. If I had to estimate how many inches it is..I'd say 4-6. My trainer said to just keep dragging it with our little metal drag which we pull with a quad..but I feel like its not doing anything to solve our problem. I've tried talking to my dad to get the excavator to come back and remove some sand, but he doesn't have the money right now to do that. Is there any other way I can get rid of the sand, or spread it out so it's not so deep? Has anyone else had this problem?
your horse will adjust to the sand and it will help to build muscle in the legs of horses and if you do a lot of cantering it will soon pack down hard.
Yes, I have had the same problem. I had someone with a garden tiller for their compact tractor (It's like 7 foot wide...) come and till my arena mixing in some of the clay into the sand to firm it up. It has taken a couple years of this treatment to get it firmer. And, when it is wet, it is still quite squishy. But it has helped some.
Weigh down your drag, or do it the old fashioned way and shovel some out and keep dragging until its level. But sand that deep will blow suspensory ligaments so fast it will make your head spin, so it may be easier to convince your dad that a guy with a bobcat is cheaper than the vet bills it can cause.
It is important to drag sand arenas, but it is also important to compact them. My barn has an outdoor with sand and they drag it, then roll over it with a large metal thing (I have no idea what its called) I am going to assume that there is some sort of covering below the sand to keep from a horse sinking in (like rubber mats). I would say if the horse is sinking in the footing there is too much. *Barrel racing, cutting, roping - Deeper, thicker footing is generally preferred to reduce the stress on horses' legs. Some experts recommend as much as four to six inches of topping. Often, a soil/sand mix is used (for example, 75/25) because it can be watered and packed for firmness or fluffed up for a looser footing when needed. *Reining - Like other Western sports, reining requires a stable footing, but usually not as much depth-roughly 2? to 3 inches. *Flatwork - Recommendations are typically for two inches of footing. Dressage in particular will suffer if footing is much deeper. Crumb rubber or wood products are sometimes considered beneficial additives for flatwork because they make the surface springier. *Jumping - Footing that's too deep will absorb energy and propulsion, making takeoff difficult. The optimum footing will offer good resistance for pushing off without being so hard that there's too much concussion on landing. The depth may be similar to that used for flatwork, but the surface for jumping is usually firmer.
