Constructing the Dressage Arena

CONSTRUCTING THE DRESSAGE ARENA

John O'Leary
Horseman
© 2004

This article is taken from experience, not from books etc. It is written to save you money. Like thousands

THE BASE

The base is the most important part of any arena or Round Pen. Mostly, people think or get told that they have to put down the most expensive blue metal, normally 20 dol rubble, but this is not the case.
It does not matter what stone or rubble you use as your base and it also doesn't matter how rough it is or how large the rocks are really. I have built magnificent arenas that have had rocks up to 300mm in truck loads of gravel but it all goes down flat when driven over, graded or rolled. You can therefore go to the Quarry and by the reject rubble for a fraction of the cost.
One of the arenas that I have at the moment was in fact built totally for free by using my experience as a Heavy Dozer driver in another life. You too can do this. Go to your nearest subdivision and look for the building site that has hit limestone, shale or similar. Approach the truck driver and he will almost tear your arm off to accept the offer of you taking the approximate 300 tones that comes out of an average house site if on a slope. Beneath my show jumping arena are rocks the size of small cars in fact. Limestone goes down beautifully and sets like a rock. (pardon the pun)
Recycled bitumen. Watch your local Highways Dept crew. When they dig up a road, ask for the bitumen. It goes down fantastically. Never mind the big bits. It does not matter at all.
The thickness of an arena base should never be less than 150mm but preferably 300mm. If you are on flat ground, you can have the base as thick as you like and you should lift the arena up as high as possible. Then you can have the top shaped to each side in a slight dome for water run off in every direction.
On flat ground and dryer areas that are not prone to flooding, shell grit can be used as a base and a surface as it forms its own base and goes hard beneath the surface. This is why it needs harrowing from time to time. Not to be attempted in a high rainfall area though.

DRAINAGE

This is the most important consideration and the base is the most important part of that. You must have a fall and that should slope away to where your water drainage direction will be. There should be ideally about 1% fall. As I said above, if on flat ground, the arena must be lifted and domed slightly by the grader when preparing for the surface.
Plastic agricultural drainage pipes can be installed beneath the arena and run out each side but I have not had much success with them. They block up. Nothing beats a proper, naturally draining arena.
One must take into account the relevant water and drainage regulations for your area and a lot of constructions must not be within certain distances from water courses.

SURFACE

There are many:

Wood Chips are dangerous, white ants love them, they rot, get water logged, do not drain and horses fall on such arenas regularly. Don't ever use one! It does not matter if they are hard wood or soft wood. Hardwood are dangerous on the legs of the horse due to splintering.
Shell grit is quite expensive but good. More dusty than sand and also more sun glare. Shell grit should be harrowed at least once a month, to stop it packing down and causing leg problems with horses.
I prefer the right sand. You can get darker colours which do not reflect, it is softer on horses legs, more so than shell grit. It does not pack down like shell grit does and doesn't need harrowing as much. The sand that you choose must be washed enough that it does not have a high clay content otherwise it will not drain.
Quartzite sand is sand crushed fine from rock. The most water resistant of all but expensive and more abrasive on horses stoppers etc.
Shredded rubber. Very hot if outside, nice to ride on but I am not a fan.
Winery castings of the grape bunches. The woody sections. Again, cheap, soft but rot and not a nice look.
Custom made surfaces include sand, sawdust, salt, woodchip and all kinds of combinations. Mainly used for indoors and are all ok. Soft, less dusty etc. Advice should be taken on that one.
There was a fashion of having a carpet liner beneath an arena. Didn't work so don't try it.
Find your local sandy suburb. Every time you see a truck driving out of that suburb, run him off the road, and..... If it is sand, "follow me" Carton of Beer later and he is yours :)
Want lawn around your arena? Follow the trucks. City folk are always getting rid of lawn and with it comes their topsoil at $100 per tonne. Yay.

THE SURROUND

The retaining timber, to keep the surface from falling out of the arena, can be all manner of things. Popular is the timber called 'Permapine' and usually they are 2.4 metres x 300mm x 50mm. Looks lovely, lasts a reasonable amount of time but I am not a fan of the product. Horses eat it if they get near it, I have seen white ants in it and it cracks and weathers far worse than the other treated pine called 'Creosote' That is stronger, white ants don't like it and horses don't eat it. Wear gloves and eye protection.
Creosote timber as the permapine above
Dry stone walls. Here again, watch your building sites. I got 500 tone of it out of one site. It was valued at $85 per tone. Truckies have to pay stupid prices to get rid of anything with rock in it. (see the photo's and weap)
Brick walls which should have cement and rounded curves or a rounded brick on top for safety of horses.
Large logs made out of tree trunks or telephone poles......and so on.

THE FENCE

I suppose money dictates this but whatever you use, it is a good idea to put your posts in at an angle of about 5 degree to the outside. This will stop a rider having their legs hit on the rails if the horse gets too close, which is often the case. Just make up a wooden template which you use with a spirit level held against the post and so you get the same angle on the post each time. Looks good then.

Heavy rope.
Borderline Plastic wire. (It is not wire and there is no wire in it. Do not put any strand closer than 750mm from the ground. Two strands is ok. I would have 3, set at 300mm apart from the top.
The height should be approx 1.2m from surface to top of post.
Place the rails on the inside of the posts for safety.
Counter sink the bolt heads inside the inside of the posts with the nuts on the outside of the arena.
Creosote rails and post look fantastic and have the benefits as explained above. You cannot paint it though.
White painted hardwood is find with Hardwood Posts or permapine.
Galvanized square tube 50mm is good too or whatever suits you really. Minimum 2.5mm wall thickness though. 100 x 50mm.
and it can be other things of course.....

SLOPES

It is amazing how much earth moving work you will have to do if you start dealing with slopes. A slight hill could cause the removal of up to 3 metres cut into the hill to level you off. This costs plenty. Rather than attempt this, allow your local trucks to dump clean fill and fill up the low area. Strike a deal with them that they knock it over for you after, which they all will as it saves them at least $3 per tone in dumping costs and up to $700 per truck load if there are any rocks over 90cm in the load, as dictated by the 'Rock Police' at your local dump. Normally named Barney Rubble.

It does not really matter what is in those loads either as it all goes down and rock is good not bad. Organize your fall going away from the hill. I have seen arenas built with the fall to the hill and a drain cut around the hill side and it has been a disaster. The entire arena had to be re-done.

Remember that the fall should only be ever so slight otherwise it will detrimentally effect your riding and your water run off will happen too quickly and therefore take sand with it in a heavy rain. You only want water trickling across an arena. From memory, I think it is about 1 degree that you are after.

COVERAGE

Base: 60 x 20 metre arena..................150 tone

Base 40 x 20 metre arena....................100 tone

SAND SURFACE

60 x 20 metre .........150 cubic metres

40 x 20 metre..........100 cubic metres

There is between 8 and 9 cubic metres in a 15 tone truck.

THE GATE

Due to litigation these days, the arena should be fenced if other people are going to be riding in it. It also should have a gate and that should be sited in a location to allow tractors and trucks to enter in the future. The gate should not be obvious to horses as this can give learner riders' problems in the future.

AGGREGATE BENEATH SAND SURFACE

I have had emails from a lot of people lately regarding being advised to place 300mm of large aggregate (rock 50mm) beneath the sand surface. This is a waste of a couple of thousand dollars and the horse will eventually dig the stone into your sand. City Folk The 50mm or the 20ml gravel, never welds together into a surface and always retains looseness. Therefore, a waste of money for both. 20 dolomite rubble however, same sized aggregate though, is different. The fines and every other size, goes down like bitumen and creates a surface beneath your surface. The hoof may dent it but you won't suffer the damage of pure aggregate mixing up with your sand.

click on photo's to enlarge

New Stable Site with Fill

All Rock out of a House Site at Spring Hill ()

Our Dressage Arena

Show Jump Arena Retainer Wall holding fill. All rock from a house site. Silly Boy, he went and purchased bricks hahaha

ROADWAYS

Once again, scour your Housing Development Sites until you find where they have hit rock, shale or limestone. The heavier rock can go below, the shale second and the limestone on top. Then you only need 50mm of 20 dol rubble or 20mm gravel and you have it.

If you are cutting a road in around a hill face, do not cut it so that the water falls back towards the hill and runs along between the road the the hill face as a drain. Cut the fall sideways with about 2 degrees fall to over the edge of the hill. This also saves you the time, expense and on-going cleaning of the under road water culverts.

Domed roads look nice. They do not work like the sideways falling cut when hills are involved.

home

Mail: horseproblems@horseproblems.com.au