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Discussion on Arena watering system reccommendations
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Member:
Hmfarm
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Posted on Wednesday, Dec 13, 2006 - 4:37 pm:
I have an 80'X220' indoor arena that I currently water via hose and lawn sprinkler. It is very time consuming and I'd like to find a better solution. I'm not really interested in a permanent watering system that attaches to the wall or kick wall. I'm looking for recommendations for other products (such as Rapid Rain Portable Arena Watering System or Equi-Master Water Trolley). I'd like to know how well these products work from people who actually use them, not sales people who need to make a sell. Thanks for your advice
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Member:
remmi
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Posted on Friday, Apr 18, 2008 - 11:58 pm:
Does anyone have any recommendations for watering an arena? I am looking at a Micro Rain system and wondered if anyone had any experience with it?
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Member:
ekaufman
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 19, 2008 - 9:27 am:
Hi Heidi,
Here's a vote against watering indoors....
I looked at this issue for my indoor, and spent a lot of time in various arenas that had different kinds of footing. I decided against watering-- makes the arena cold in the winter, and humid, and generally less than pleasant. I have seen it work in outdoor arenas, but water inside is less than optimal. Water is also a big deal here in the west, and the labor was a consideration.
I chose to use white mineral oil on my sand for a dust suppressant. So far, it's working beautifully-- no dust, very little maintenance, no odor. It isn't cheap the week you put it on, but will pay for itself over time against water or the more expensive artificial footings.
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Member:
dres
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 19, 2008 - 2:53 pm:
Elizabeth, can you tell me more about the white mineral oil you use.. ? We are on a very low producing well... so we have built a water trailer and have a city permit for water on they hydrant.. they charge us construction prices per gallon.. more or less is raping us.. If i did not have to wet down the arena every day it would be time savings and $$ ...
As we have pointed out before on other threads.. WATER is precious and the more we can conserve the better over all..
On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots..
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Member:
ekaufman
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 19, 2008 - 3:11 pm:
Hi Ann,
But of course! I had my local feed store order me white mineral oil in 55 gallon drums. I used 8 drums for a 160x70 indoor sand arena. It probably would have taken 10, but you can't remove it if you over apply it, so I'd rather go easy and add more later if I need to do it.
I had designed an elaborate sprayer, but by the time my barrel-lifting help arrived it was late and cold, so instead of messing with the sprayer we just rolled the barrels 2 at a time onto my arena drag and the guys drilled holes in the barrels as I DrOve. It worked out great, with a few wild moments.
Not sure how that footing would hold up in the rain. My indoor was getting like the OK corral, and the dust is now down to basically nothing. I got the idea from my trainer. She oiled her footing more than ten years ago, and it's still quite good under heavy use.
Fun facts--
55 gallons of mineral oil weighs approximately 400lbs
Mineral Oil is slippery, and more so when the help has had a few beers!
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Member:
dres
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 19, 2008 - 3:46 pm:
Slippery drunk barn help... got video???? I am visualizing men straddling on top of these slippery barrels with 'drills' in hand making holes in tanks and sliding off .. 
I have heard of folks oiling the arena.. never thought it was reg. white oil .. Ok nother question.. how often do you drag your arena ? It must hold up to that.. ? Does it change the consistency of the sand / clump like kitty litter? Rain and oil don't mix..<smirk> but I wonder if the oil will help me save the sand run off I have every rainy season.. ?
Today I am indoors as the winds outside are awful, I can see sand blowing off my arena as we speak..
On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots..
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Member:
ekaufman
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 19, 2008 - 8:39 pm:
Well, a couple of times I thought we might be headed for fame on Redneck Videos, but no one got crushed by a barrel.
People use all kinds of oil in arenas-- I've even seen folks use diesel (back when it was cheaper than truffle oil). I like the mineral oil because it's inoffensive.
It doesn't clump, and the sand just acts like very slightly damp sand. Similar footing has held up at my trainer's place to ten years of maintenance and an average of ~5 hours riding/day (indoors). I'll take some photos of mine and e-mail them to you.
Again, no idea what it would do outside. My outdoor arena is sand roto-tilled into clay, so it doesn't have the dust problem I had indoors.
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 19, 2008 - 9:13 pm:
Elizabeth could you take a pic of your outdoor arena footing? I'm still trying to decide what to use and that sounds interesting. TIA
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Member:
remmi
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 24, 2008 - 4:04 pm:
Elizabeth,
Thanks for that suggestion. I love the idea, but since it's a permanent solution I wonder if there are any issues I would come to regret? Do you ever find the oiled sand is slippery? Would this be a good solution for both dressage and jumping footing? I wonder why nobody in the midwest does this?
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 24, 2008 - 8:13 pm:
This is interesting! We just got our permit to build an indoor arena and I was trying to figure out a sprinkler system or how to water, esp. in the winter when it's freezing. This sounds like a great solution. I'm passing this on to "the hubby."
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Member:
ekaufman
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 24, 2008 - 8:16 pm:
Hi Heidi,
Nope-- not slippery. Though I wouldn't want to eat anything I DrOpped in the footing.
I'll take a photo. It really is a nice mix-- the oil just seems to coat the sand, so there's no dust, and you just rake it or whatever as you choose.
Maybe people don't like the one-time cost of applying it? Or they've never thought about it. I wouldn't have considered oiling my sand if I hadn't ridden so much in my trainer's arena.
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Member:
remmi
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Posted on Friday, Apr 25, 2008 - 10:48 am:
Thanks for your feedback Elizabeth. I am very interested in this option. I called my local coop and they had never heard of oiling an arena but are game to find a source. I also did some surfing and found a couple of midwest arena dust control companies that use vegetable blends, or glycerin. They said mineral oil is twice the cost. Anyway, I am starting to research options. The first quote I got was about $3400 for 17 drums of a glycerin blend, and that is without freight factored in.
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Member:
ekaufman
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Posted on Friday, Apr 25, 2008 - 2:01 pm:
For reference, I used 8 x 50 gallon barrels in a 160x70 indoor. I've never seen glycerin used, but you could experiment with a test corner and a bit of glycerin from the store. Sounds... soapy... but I don't know.
Here are some shots of my footing:
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Member:
wgillmor
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Posted on Friday, Apr 25, 2008 - 7:41 pm:
Elizabeth,
That looks good. How long has it been on and how much use does your arena get?
Thanks,
Wiley
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Friday, Apr 25, 2008 - 8:02 pm:
I like the looks of that ground also. This is good info as we are about to put up and indoor arena. I've another sort of related question: are you happy with the 70' width? What kind of riding do you do? We are restricted to 70' useable width if we put the arena where I want to put it (near the barn) so I was wondering. We can go as long as we want. thanks.
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Member:
dres
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Posted on Friday, Apr 25, 2008 - 10:29 pm:
How often do you drag it.... how long ago did you put it down.. ? Ball park figure on how much it cost ??
On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots..
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Member:
ekaufman
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Posted on Friday, Apr 25, 2008 - 10:51 pm:
Ok, now I feel as though I've hijacked Heidi's thread. Sorry Heidi!
I put the oil down about 2 weeks ago. It will improve with use-- you can still see places where it isn't well mixed. My trainer's arena (her footing is ten years old) is beautiful. Her footing is a bit softer than mine, and there are no "clean spots."
I drag my arena probably once/week. I paid $350/barrel for my oil, delivered, and a case of beer (after the fact-- they self-lubricated during the spreading party).
And Sara, I like the 70' because it really does discipline me to work on a shorter line. If I had been able to afford it, I would have gone longer-- ~250' in a perfect world. If it were longer and wider, you could allow people to warm-up "around" a full-sized dressage arena, but that isn't much of an issue for me. I school dressage and some jumps in this arena, and it's big enough to hand gallop a large horse. But of course, you rarely hear someone complain that an indoor is too big. It really depends what you want to use it for. Mine is too small for driving (except minis, carefully). I think putting it close to the barn is a good idea, especially for bad weather.
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 26, 2008 - 12:28 am:
Thanks, Elizabeth. When the time comes I'm going to look into getting the oil mix; really like the idea.
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