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dusty arena, any ideas?

Last post 09-16-2009 11:41 AM by wedwards. 8 replies.
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  • 07-05-2009 7:03 PM

    dusty arena, any ideas?

    I live in the 2nd driest town in Western Washington state--17 in of rain a year, compared to Seattle's 44 in--and I can't water my 20x60 dressage arena without draining my well too much. Winters are fine--that's when we get our rain--but during the summer, when it rarely rains, the arena gets PRETTY dusty. What is the best product or technique you have used to keep the moisture in your footing for the longest? My footing is natural soil: sand, some topsoil, a lot of small rocks. I've seen chemicals that are purported to hold the moisture in, but have not heard which is the best, or if any of them actually work. I suspect other forum members have the same problem, especially those who live in the south and southwest.

    While we're on the subject of footing, tell me how you deal with the rocks. I've gone over my arena with a rock-picker machine, but rocks continue to rise to the surface. Every time I harrow the arena I pick up the larger rocks, but the smaller ones are too numerous to throw out. Is there a better rock-picker on the market that I haven't heard of?

    Any thought on these subjects would be greatly appreciated.
    Megan

    "A good rider can hear her horse talk to her. A great rider can hear her horse whisper."
    Anonymous

    /˚)__≈
    _((_))_

  • 07-05-2009 7:59 PM In reply to

    Re: dusty arena, any ideas?

    I think my trainer uses one of those gels in the Cover-All arena, and it works pretty well when used with minimal water I believe. I will ask her what the product is during my lesson on Tuesday and get back to you : ).

    You can have some of our rain, here in NE Ohio we've been getting nothing but that for the past couple days! Good luck finding a solution : ). Riding in the dust = no fun.

    every awkward colt becomes a beautiful horse.
    - irish proverb
  • 07-06-2009 4:42 AM In reply to

    Re: dusty arena, any ideas?

    I've been playing with the idea of shredded rubber.


    Horses give us the wings we lack.
  • 07-26-2009 10:44 PM In reply to

    Re: dusty arena, any ideas?

    We use waste vegetable oil on our sand surface.   my arena is 100x200 and i use approx 150 gallons,  Works excellent on sand, not sure how it work on your mix, but it can be a free solution! and safe for the enviroment.

     

  • 07-27-2009 12:33 PM In reply to

    Re: dusty arena, any ideas?

    We used a product called MAG in our Indoor Arena, but apparently it works well outdoors as well. It is basically Magnesium Chloride, in pellet or flake form. It is used for de-icing in Winter here in Canada, but it is the most wonderful and effective product for controlling dust.

    Go to http://www.meltsnow.com/products-mag-dust-control.htm for more information, and to also locate a dealer near to you.

    On dealing with rocks, we just pick them! We have regular rock picking parties where everone comes out and gives a hand with the rock picking after we have harrowed. In a while, you should have no more rocks left. 

     

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  • 07-27-2009 3:49 PM In reply to

    Re: dusty arena, any ideas?

    Yes, it WOULD work in an outdoor arena, but you wouldn't want to use it there: every time it rains, the MAG gets washed down into the footing, reducing or eliminating its usefulness. Or so I derived from info on the MAG website. MAG is only for indoor arenas. Thanks for your suggestion, though. I went to the site ASAP, but right away I saw that it wouldn't work in outdoor arenas that are subject to rain, even a bit.
    Megan

    "A good rider can hear her horse talk to her. A great rider can hear her horse whisper."
    Anonymous

    /˚)__≈
    _((_))_

  • 07-31-2009 12:10 PM In reply to

    Re: dusty arena, any ideas?

     You should look at this product. A few years ago when I had my horses at home, I looked at getting it for my outdoor arena and the price was around $1000.00, but I thought it'd be well worth it.

     http://www.watersorb.com

     

     

  • 08-13-2009 11:58 AM In reply to

    Re: dusty arena, any ideas?

    When we had the natural arena, we just removed the rocks by hand, which is a pretty thankless job. 

    For moisture w/o having to go the chemical route, and slightly less expensive, my friend has a lovely natural sand arena.  While she does have plenty of water w/her sprinklers, the ring often needs more spring (lots of horses go in this ring), so she has a large dump truck of green wood shavings come and then she mixes/drags them together.  The spring in the arena is very nice and the bonus side effect is that she does not need to water nearly as much since the wood shavings hold moisture.

     We are getting ready to finish the final layer of my arena since the base has finally set.  Although still debating, we are going with 1/2 stone dust + 1/2 sand with a mix of filler for 2 inches of footing.  I'm not sure which route I would go if the parameters that concerned me was strictly dust.  Depending on the amount, the wood shavings eventually will break down (of course) and then they too will get dusty (which is when you add more).  The rubber is fantastic, great to ride on, but is expensive. I don't know how much it would cut down on your dust either, I would think if you put enough in it it would.  The one I've ridden in was just always perfectly groomed (including between horses).  Do you know if the rubber would reflect heat?

  • 09-16-2009 11:41 AM In reply to

    Re: dusty arena, any ideas?

     At the stable I ride at they have treated the indoor with a product from Petro-Canada call Dust Suppressant Fluid 65  ( http://lubricants.petro-canada.ca/resource/download.aspx?type=TechData&iproduct=714&language=en ).

     It is odorless and non-toxic and there is not a speck of dust in the arena.  It also doesn't seem to stick to everything like other oils


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