2manyhorses
Posted : 8/6/2010 4:27:50 AM
The amount of preparation put into an arena will have a direct impact on how well it will hold up to use and rain, how long the footing will last and how much enjoyment you will get out of it. Skipping on the base is the worst thing to do. The base will determine how good your arena will be. The second option doesn't work at all. First off just covering grass with sand will not stop the grass and weeds from creaping up to the top. How are you going to get rid of water from downpours? 10 inches of sand will lead to leg problems on your horses, it will be too deep to work, hard to walk through, require hours of watering to control dust... At $5/ton the cost for the sand alone will be $4.5K plus delivery. Unless the sand is free, that quote is incorrect. A normal multipurpose arena will have 2.5 to 3 inches of sand. A typical roundpen depth will be 3-4 inches. It's best to start with about 3 inches of sand, level and groom it than ride in it. If it needs more add one inch at a time. (one ton of sand covers 220 sq ft one inch) You also want the large irregular sand particles as they don't pack down like the fine sand does.
What is the dirt under the grass? If it's clay, you can scrape the grass off, grade and slope, compact the clay than add the sand. It will hold up for 4-5 years with just routine harrowing and adding an inch or so of sand every year. a 100X200 arena will take about 91T per inch of sand depth. So for 3 inches you'd be looking at 273T. At $5/ton that's $1365 just for the sand.