Best Method for Spreading Sand in Horse Riding Rings?

[LDowney]

Hey guys. I recently had a horse riding ring job. The customer wanted their 15,000 square foot riding rink re-sanded. I just completed the job yesterday. I had 7 dump truck loads (15 yds each) of sand brought in and dump in different locations around the ring. I used my FEL to spread the sand in straight rows then I put my bucket in float mode and backed up dragging the bucket which helped flatten the sand. It worked ok but wasn't as level as I had hoped. Although the homeowner was pleased with the results, I thought to myself, I could have done a better job at leveling the sand. I also have a 6' scrape blade that weights about 600 lbs. I tried turning it around backwards and dragging it. It actually did a worse job than using my bucket. Just left too many humps (high and lows) behind.

I updated my Craigslist tractor service add this week to include horse rings and have actually got two more calls to do horse rings nearly double the size of this first one I just did. Is there a better 3 point implement for smoothing and spreading sand? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

Here are some before and after shots of the riding ring.

 

[ironpony]

A piece of chain link fence makes it look pretty. I would guess it is going to be subjective to the owner, after all the first time a horse runs around it will be pretty ruff again. They are probably more interested in getting the sand spread out evenly around the riding area.

 

[ironpony]

Did you just dump the sand? or have the driver tailgate it out, that would save a lot of spreading if the driver is good.

 

[mendonsy]

What you need is a "float".
Do you have a drawbar for your 3pt hitch? You can make a simple float by attaching an old railroad tie to your 3pt drawbar with two short chains. You want them just long enough for the railroad tie to clear the ground when the hitch is all the way up. You can control how much sand the float moves by the height of the drawbar.

 

[ironpony]

neat idea I will have to try that

 

[LDowney]

Yes. The dump truck drive just dumped each load in a pile at different areas of the rink. I used the bucket to spread each pile out.

Chain link seems like a good idea.

Yes, I have a draw bar for my 3 point hitch. Do you have a picture of the rail/chain method?

I did some research on another tractor forum and found a tool called a Land Plane. The price tag is $1000 though. Seems a little steep for a sand rake. Here are a few pics of them thought. Thoughts?

 

[LDowney]

Did you just dump the sand? or have the driver tailgate it out, that would save a lot of spreading if the driver is good.

My drive is NOT good at that. Trust me. I had him try with some gravel driveways I was putting in a while back. He has great prices for me but spreading product as he dumps is not his strong point.

 

[ironpony]

next time ask the driver to tailgate it. they set the chains on the tail gate to about 2 inches open, raise the bed and drive forward. It puts down about a 2 inch layer fairly even, will save a lot of spreading for you. don't think I would spend a 1000 dollars on one of those, chain link is cheap and mendonsy's idea sounds good too.

 

[LDowney]

What you need is a "float".
Do you have a drawbar for your 3pt hitch? You can make a simple float by attaching an old railroad tie to your 3pt drawbar with two short chains. You want them just long enough for the railroad tie to clear the ground when the hitch is all the way up. You can control how much sand the float moves by the height of the drawbar.

If I can't located on old RR tie, could I just pick up a short 6x6 or 8x8 treated post at Lowes and use it?

And you mentioned the height of the float would determine how much sand moves? Do you mean that effects the leading edge of the rr tie or 8x8 post I'm dragging that's attached to the chains? Not sure if I completely understand that.

 

[mendonsy]

No pictures of that float, sorry. We used that method to level out a couple of horse rings about 15 years ago. I haven't needed anything like that since then.
As I recall we just connected the railroad tie to one end of the chains with big lag screws then bolted the chains into the outside two holes in the drawbar. Having the lag screws spaced about a foot wider then the drawbar seemed to work the best. You have remember to lift it up before you try to use reverse because things get complicated quickly if you don't.
Raising the hitch takes some of the weight off of the rail tie so it moves less sand. A big post would work also, probably even a very straight log too.

 

[Ramos]

A Parma arena groomer or similar, there are many copies, work very well at leveling and incorporating new material. Google it and see what they look like. Usually, they have Swedish tines in front, followed by an adjustable float bar and a pipe roller in the back. Hit the arena from several different angles using a fairly high rate of speed. I would imagine many of your potential arena customers already have this implement.

http://www.parmacompany.com/arenagroomer.html

This is the original as far as I know and, very adjustable.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Spreading any material is better done with a box blade.
Arena groomers are nice, but I like my tools to have multiple purpose.

Here are my three picks:

Land plane: I made mine for about $150 copied this one.
Mine is at another forum members house right now being copied and reproduced.

Another cheap tire version:

Flat blade with float wheels:

Box with float:

 

[aeronutt]

Once the rough spreading is done with the FEL, pretty much any straight, flat bar would work for final smoothing. Good results would be easy to achieve with a length of angle iron bolted to a simple tongue and set so the trailing edge was pointed down. You could build this yourself for under $100 and 30 minutes of work. Maybe 60 minutes if you paint it too. It would dig no deeper than the depth of the angle iron leg and drop off just a little bit of sand into any low spots while skimming off any high spots. Doing sand, this would take hardly any power so you could even arrange 3 drags where the outer 2 hitched to the outer edges of the center one, which is pulled by the tractor. After 4 or 5 passes from different directions, the whole area would be glass smooth. Add a cinder block for weight if needed.

 

[Ramos]

The best approach is likely a combination. A box blade to spread and a groomer to incorporate. Sand in an arena is usually used to aid drainage and to keep the soil from setting up so hard. A layer of sand sitting on top in an arena will result in poor footing if dry. If it is wet, the underlying layer may be as well. If that layer has any clay in it, it will be slick. That is why you want to incorporate the two, or at least create a transitional layer of four to six inches. My arena experience is limited to the Pacific North West. Generally, we have parent material with a fair amount of clay and we add blow-sand to keep it loose and increase its' ability to drain. We have played with volcanic sand but, for us it is expensive and it is more abrasive.

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Sand in an arena is usually used to aid drainage and to keep the soil from setting up so hard.

The other reason for sand in an arena is to keep you from breaking so many body parts when the horse tosses you!

The sand also gives the horse more of a workout as they have to work threw the soft sand.

 

[Ramos]

The other reason for sand in an arena is to keep you from breaking so many body parts when the horse tosses you!

The sand also gives the horse more of a workout as they have to work threw the soft sand.

Not going to argue with that first point. Not at all!!!

As to your second point: Makes perfect sense. Would not have occurred to me as all of my arena work has been rodeo oriented, as in 'game-day' conditions. This means creating conditions that allow animals to perform at their optimal level.

Guess the very first question to ask your customer is: What is the intended usage. Feel a little silly as providing a workout for the animal never even entered my mind. Makes things a tad more complicated. You still need a transitional layer so the floor (under the top dressing) is not slick, yet preserving a layer of unincorporated sand on top.

 

[zzsparky]

Ramos said: "Generally, we have parent material with a fair amount of clay and we add blow-sand to keep it loose and increase its' ability to drain."

I have a lot of clay in my neck of the woods, so it seemed like a good idea to add some sand to it for exactly what you were saying...better drainage. Unfortunately, the amount of sand I added only helped to mix well enough with the clay to produce what seems like concrete. Weeds are even having a hard time growing in my "new" soil. lol Live and learn, I guess. Just hate learning the hard way so often, especially now that I'm retired. I thought retired people are supposed to work "smarter!"

 

[North Idaho Wolfman]

Ramos said: "Generally, we have parent material with a fair amount of clay and we add blow-sand to keep it loose and increase its' ability to drain."

I have a lot of clay in my neck of the woods, so it seemed like a good idea to add some sand to it for exactly what you were saying...better drainage. Unfortunately, the amount of sand I added only helped to mix well enough with the clay to produce what seems like concrete. Weeds are even having a hard time growing in my "new" soil. lol Live and learn, I guess. Just hate learning the hard way so often, especially now that I'm retired. I thought retired people are supposed to work "smarter!"

Mix some lime and gypsum in it to break it up, those with the sand will make it quite workable.

 

[sheepfarmer]

Another consideration from the point of view of the horse and rider is that what's important is not how nice it looks from the top surface, but rather that it is the same depth all over. So the base should be either level or crowned uniformly before the sand comes in. Pay attention to the grade and the drainage at that point. Then you don't want the depth of loose sand to exceed about 3 maybe 4 inches or you are asking for bowed tendons.

The guy that has spread stuff on my arena has used back blade and a dozer on different occasions. I use chain link to smooth stuff out, but it won't make major thickness changes. I have bark on top of 2-3 inches of washed sand and you have to be careful not to mix the layers up once they are down. The bark is a bugger to spread evenly. However when done right, and given it is crowned with drainage on all sides, you can then ride very soon after the rain or snow stops, important in this area.

 

[zzsparky]

Mix some lime and gypsum in it to break it up, those with the sand will make it quite workable.

Thanks for the tip.

Will google my situation to see if I can get more insight as to how much to mix with what, proportion wise. I purchased some fine pebble like material which is specifically designed to help break up and aerate clay soil. So, hopefully it will help rectify my mistake. My neighbor insists on my adding compost. I am in the process of making compost piles from leaves and grass clippings right now.

When you said gypsum, would old gypsum drywall work or is that gypsum too fine? I have a lot of old drywall piled up. Would love to work that into the soil if I knew it would work.