| Author | Message | ||
     Sue Bushell Member Username: Sue_bushell Post Number: 3 Registered: 10-2011 |
Our arena is about 10 years old, this winter is the first time the frost has stopped us useing it!! Top up time? | ||
| Carole Redgrave Member Username: Caroleredgrave Post Number: 31 Registered: 03-2008 |
I can totally agree with Trevor. We've had a Belvoir surface for about 3 years now- we just laid it on top of our old sand/rubber surface which had become deep and heavy but has good drainage/membrane. Frosts have to be very extreme before it is unuseable ie minus 10 or more! | ||
| Trevor Wear Member Username: Trevor_wear Post Number: 27 Registered: 02-2011 |
We have now had our arena for 2years with Belvoir surface (interlocking rubber srip)we highly recommend this surface, but you must have a good base to start with i.e. membrane, sand base etc. | ||
| Jess Hine Member Username: Jesshine Post Number: 1 Registered: 05-2009 |
There are 3 choices of top surface you can use for your arena: - Rubber chips from tyres can vary in quality depending on where you get it from, but it's very difficult to get all the wire in the tyres out which is a must as it can harm horses and vehicles. - Rubber flat strips and tubing from car trimmings and wipers. More expensive, but great for driving on as wheels don't bed in. Has no wire in it. Belvoir sell this type. - Sand / fibre / wax mixture - the best surface now used in big arenas but very very expensive. For you other question... A rubber surface can't go straight onto a membrane as the horses and wheels will catch it and pull it up to the surface. It needs to go on top of a sand base. But, if your hard surface is sand there is no point in leaving the membrane on top - so just remove that too! Or, is the taram under the hard surface? The membrane is meant to go between the draining layer and the sand to prevent sand from filtering into the draining layer and clogging it up. So, if your hard surface is crushed concrete with a taram membrane on top then you need to add a layer of sand before putting the rubber on top. On the indoor driving forum you wrote that your surface is firm sand - if so, there's no need to add more (sand is silica- it depends on what impurities it has in it and the type of granules as to how well it drains). If your arena drains well and has hard sand then the rubber can go straight onto the sand. If the membrane is on top of the sand, just remove it as it serves no purpose now. (It did stop the wood chips rotting down to soil and mixing with the sand which would inhibit drainage, but rubber can mix with the sand with no problems) | ||
| Fiona Powell Member Username: Fionap Post Number: 104 Registered: 03-2007 |
I know of a couple of carriage drivers in East Anglia who are very happy with the surface, price and service from Belvoir (UK) - see www.belvoirequestriansurfaces.co.uk - Neil Ferguson is your man. 07785 966271 They do a variety of surfaces including rubber strip + special sand. | ||
| Sue Bushell Member Username: Sue_bushell Post Number: 2 Registered: 10-2011 |
Hi Helen We use rubber stips on sand which is great for riding and driving, but we have never found a machine to flatten it and do the edges, we just drag an old gate, the other problem is if it rains hard after a very dry spell we get craters where the sand washes through the stones and pulls the rubber down into the craters! You have to dig out the rubber and put new sand in the crater or it is dangerous to work a horse on !! We dont have a membrain so that might solve the problem. It is still a good surface for Driving. The rubber is only a thin layer it would somthing underneath. | ||
| Helen Bridges Member Username: Dobbin Post Number: 15 Registered: 08-2009 |
i have just had the old woodchip taken off my school,for driving is rubber the best?do i need a sand base to put the rubber onto ,or can i put it straight onto the taram and hard base i already have? any help would be great! |