# footing for riding/winter paddock



## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Hey folks. So I have a dilemma. My daughter was riding in our paddock yesterday, as usual, and conditions have been wet so there's some mud. Harley slipped at one point, and my daughter fell off (she was cantering bareback). This is the second time she comes off him lately and both times it has been a footing issue. Harley has also slipped and fallen down in this same paddock when he decided to tear around it like a young colt. Don't worry - rider and horse are both fine. 

But I've been thinking for a while now that we really need better footing for what my daughter is doing with Harley now (jumping and cantering a lot more). Essentially, we ride in my winter paddock, which is about 125 x 75' of relatively flat ground. I even had some stumps mulched to reduce the risk of tripping. There is some grass that grows in there, but as you can imagine, not much. There are no other areas on the property that are flat enough and big enough for her to ride in. Well, there is an area, but it's a heavily wooded swamp so would require a ton of money to flatten everything and bring in fill. More than I can afford at the moment. 

I can probably afford to bring in some gravel and sand in to dump in the winter paddock/riding ring though. That would solve the mud issue, and would provide a softer surface for Harley's joints when he jumps. We do haul out for lessons when she is getting ready for a show, but can only do that a few times a year since the coach is an hour away and I have to rent a trailer. With better footing, even though we wouldn't have a show-size ring, they could at least continue to work on the canter and do one or two jumps. However, my barefoot trimmer advised me not to use sand because in her experience, it can cause cracks in hooves. BUT, they wouldn't be standing on the sand very often - only for about a month in the fall and a month in the spring. In the summer, they are on pasture full time and in winter, the ground is covered in snow from December to April (that also means I get poor footing during those months too, but the spring thaw should be a little easier without all the mud). 

I know it's bad for them to eat on sand because of the risk of ingesting it. I use haynets inside hay feeder boxes, and sometimes just hang the haynets in their stalls (they have dutch doors facing out into the paddock so they have access to their stalls at all times). But other than that, what would be the downfall of using a sandy arena as a holding paddock? Is there anything else I'm not thinking of that would make this a problem? In an ideal world, we would have a separate riding area, but it's just not feasible at the moment. 

Alternatively, does anyone have ideas for something I could use to add texture/improve footing in my winter paddock?


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## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

The problems you speak of are exactly why my horses get the winter off. ;-) Good safe footing becomes a problem in the winter months. (and the lack of daylight hours) If I do happen to ride, it's usually a relaxing ride out on the trails mostly at a walk or slow trot. The outdoor arena is pretty much off limits because it is HARD when the ground freezes, and slippery/slick before it freezes.

Your BEST bet would be to save your money for trailer rides to and from an indoor arena. In a northern climate, I don't believe there is anything you can spend money on that is going to give you SAFE footing for cantering and jumping outside in the winter. Sand is still going to get clumpy and hard and covered in snow and ice. And plus you'd also need a way to work it (tractor with appropriate attachments) and keep it smooth. To be effective, you'd be putting down a lot of sand ... and then your going to want the proper base under the sand so your sand just doesn't go to waste .... it's going to be a lot more expensive than you think!

So I guess my advice would be not to waste your money with trying to improve the footing, instead use that money to haul somewhere when you can. She can do slow things at home, and then do faster things safely in an indoor. I know cantering is her main thing she's been working on, but safety comes first of course.

I don't worry so much about the horse's slipping and falling on their own (they'll be more careful next time!!) but it's different when they are packing a rider who is dictating what they do.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

Sand can be an issue when it freezes as well. Out outside pens have an Ag Lime base but it gets compacted hard like cement. We had sand at one time but it becomes a weedy mess and I hate to spray where I ride with a ton of weed killer. Where I live this time of year faster riding kind of becomes out of the question in any outdoor space.

I know this is not much help - I would not suggest sand - not for the reasons your farrier says but because we tried it in our sacrifice area and the amount of weeds it promoted was a huge hassle. Ag lime is great but it compacts hard. Did you say that the place you used to board is within riding distance? can she ride down there and use their arena?


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Thanks @Beau and @carshon. To be clear, I am not expecting sand to improve winter riding, just summer riding. In the winter, everything is covered in compacted snow, so she is limited to walk/trot. 

Yes @carshon, our neighbors have an indoor, but they use it as shelter for their horses so there's always a horse or two in there. Seems like a waste - no one rides there anymore. And we have ridden there a couple of times last spring to get a headstart on show season, but it's always a huge headache. First, we have to ride along the road quite a ways (I do this rather than let my daughter do it because Harley isn't very good about going off-property). Then, our neighbors have to round up their horses, and clean all the manure from the indoor (I do this for them). There is usually some farming equipment in there too, which shrinks the area further. It works when we really have to ramp things up and there's no way to do it at home, but not for riding twice a week the way we are now. Maybe once in a while. They won't let me pay to use it, and I don't want to inconvenience them too often. They are the type of people who will say it's fine, but then make you feel bad about it. Oh, and then there's the fact that the arena is extremely dusty and that there is a huge pigeon population that poops on us while we're in there. 

Still, I am hearing both of you. I was hoping this was something I could do... what about just adding something to the soil to make it less slippery when it's muddy? We have clay soil which does compact pretty hard in dry weather, but is a slippery mess in wet conditions. We won't do anything until next summer, but maybe if I mix in a bit of sand or gravel, it would improve the texture?


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Also, as for keeping it smooth, I have a pasture drag that does a great job and my husband has a farm tractor and more attachments for it than I can count. Maintenance would not be an issue. We were able to ride all of last winter, except for about a month in the spring when it was just too muddy. We ride on snow, but only walk/trot. My husband clears the snow out with a snowblower, and I drag it with the pasture drag which breaks up any ice. So again, the sand would not be to improve winter riding, but rather summer riding. However, I don't want to pour thousands of dollars into something that's not going to hold up, or that will be bad for the horses to stand on when they're confined to the winter paddock.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Unless you're going to need it to be surfaced for a good amount of time then I wouldn't bother doing it if its OK and more practical as it is for the bulk of the year.
Once it snows and freezes here our riding arenas are pretty useless even though they're sand over well drained ground. You can use a snow blower to remove snow from them but we found that the slightest thaw or rain followed fast by freezing temperatures just turned the surface into a skating rink
A dedicated riding area is useful so probably wiser to put some money to one side and invest in levelling an otherwise useless piece of ground and putting a sand/fibre surface down. If your DH can do a lot of the work himself it can lower the costs by a lot


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

jaydee said:


> Unless you're going to need it to be surfaced for a good amount of time then I wouldn't bother doing it if its OK and more practical as it is for the bulk of the year.
> Once it snows and freezes here our riding arenas are pretty useless even though they're sand over well drained ground. You can use a snow blower to remove snow from them but we found that the slightest thaw or rain followed fast by freezing temperatures just turned the surface into a skating rink
> A dedicated riding area is useful so probably wiser to put some money to one side and invest in levelling an otherwise useless piece of ground and putting a sand/fibre surface down. If your DH can do a lot of the work himself it can lower the costs by a lot


Yes, I agree that this makes the most sense, but it is also expensive. However, this land is useless right now so it would be nice to use it for something. Oh, to win the lottery!


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

Here is a satellite image of our property. The blue rectangle, which would give us a riding ring of about 100 x 200 ft, is the location I'd use. But it would require not only cutting the trees down, removing the stumps, and bringing in a fair amount of fill, it would also mean having to build road access so heavy machinery would get in there. So probably another driveway and culvert. Probably more than I can afford, sadly.


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## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

My DH and my son plus a farmer friend who owns the right machines did all of the work on ours. We paid him for his time but that didn't work at anything like as much as if we'd paid a company that build riding arenas.
That involved removing large boulders and trees and taking them off site as we don't have enough land to 'lose' them on
We then hired a small machine to put gravel down, level the ground, lay a membrane and then had a load of sand delivered and spread that out. We put post and rail fence around ourselves
We've probably spent around $15K to get two surfaced riding areas - the one's smaller than the other but still big enough to work in.
I'd really like to put one of those fabric type structures over it so we can use it in wet and snowy weather but not sure how much longer we'll be here


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## george the mule (Dec 7, 2014)

Hi AA!

Coarse sand is what I see used most in outdoor arenas around here, and if done properly, they drain nicely, and don't seem to get too many weeds. People use them all year around as long as they're not under snow, but probably where you are, the "under snow" thing is an all winter long reality. I have also seen a chopped rubber product in an indoor arena at a really zoot equestrian facility, but can't comment on it's long-term effectiveness. It seemed pretty nice; cushy and low dust.

Just FWIW, there is a US company called "Clearspan" that makes "fabric" buildings, with one of their products being a riding arena. I've been in one; they are quite nice, and much brighter inside than a regular indoor arena. They are fairly expensive, but far less than conventional construction, and you may not be required to pull a building permit to instal one.

Horse Barns and Riding Arenas | ClearSpan if you want something for your Christmas letter to Santa Claus ;-)


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## Acadianartist (Apr 21, 2015)

george the mule said:


> Hi AA!
> 
> Coarse sand is what I see used most in outdoor arenas around here, and if done properly, they drain nicely, and don't seem to get too many weeds. People use them all year around as long as they're not under snow, but probably where you are, the "under snow" thing is an all winter long reality. I have also seen a chopped rubber product in an indoor arena at a really zoot equestrian facility, but can't comment on it's long-term effectiveness. It seemed pretty nice; cushy and low dust.
> 
> ...


Hahaha... funny guy. Yes, lots of people use those types of structures here. Not in my budget anytime soon and I don't have a Santa that will provide it for me either! 

I wish! But no way I could justify that. Guess I should start buying lottery tickets.

And yes, I've seen that rubber product. Someone sells it locally. But I wonder how good it would be for horses to be on it all the time since my riding ring is also my winter paddock. Does it smell? Wouldn't there be chemicals in it? It's one thing to use it for riding, a whole other for horses to live on it 24/7, even if it's only for part of the year.


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