Questons about riding rings

[Gliderider]

I have been wanting a riding ring for sometime and hope by spring or sooner to have one. Will need to have a little dozer work done first to make a nice level spot. What have you all found to be a good footing and drainage stuff to put in it ? Is sand dirt mixture good or something else ? Also what type of fencing do you like ? My riding ring will be in the inside of one of my pastures. So the horses can get near it at times while turned out. I was thinking wood but was not sure since the horses can get near it and they might chew on wood. Was thinking maybe oak like what we used in there stalls but not sure.

[FredRock]

Could you use wood and then put electric tape on the outside so the horses would be apt to stay away from it? I think the one I ride in is just pressure treated lumber.

[mlle_beau]

For footing I've heard a lot of people suggest a mixture of dirt or sand and the shredded tire stuff.

[WashingtonBay]

A lot depends on how well draining your ground is to begin with. Around here, people actually put french drains under outdoor rings to help keep them from becoming mud... elsewhere, the problem is dust.

[Palogal]

I would avoid any kind of electric fence around an ring. You never know how you or someone else could fall and that would be very painful not to mention dangerous. My riding area is just dirt that we keep tilled when the ground is dry. As for drainage, here it really isn't a problem as WB said, it's dust, we hose it down when it's really dry.

[Gliderider]

FredRockYeah we could put electric fence on the outside. The rest of my pasture is electric. I just was worried if that would make them reluctant to stay on the rail. I am not sure they would mess with it being its a spot of the pasture they don't really go near now. It has never grown good grass its kinda woodsy.

mille_beau I was leaning towards sand and dirt mix. Not sure I could find the tire stuff here.

WB Well it just depends on the time of year here. This spot is a bit of a wet spot my husband says and he wants to put in french drains.

Thanks everybody keep the ideas coming :)

[Gliderider]

Palogal we must have been posting at the sametime.:) Here at times we to would most likely need to water. Which is another problem there is no hose hook up any where near this area. Its a little piece from my barn but hopefully since its a wooded area it won't get to bad. I guess I could haul water if need be with the 4 wheeler.

[mlle_beau]

I work at a hardware store and we sell it, I would offer to mail you some but I don't know how successful that would be! :p

[OwnedByOurHorses]

I'm in south texas where it goes from one extreme to another. and for our round pen and riding arena we used play ground sand mixed with our plain old pasture dirt and it did the trick...The play ground sand doesn't blow all crazy like it would if it were reg sand or plain dirt..so there is no need to soak on extreme dry times and when it is during the rain time there is good drainage and we don't have to wait but one day after the rains stop for it to be nice again

[Cat]

Ours is wood with hotwire on the outside to keep the horses in the field from getting to the wood. Haven't had any problems with this set-up. You could also do pipe-panel or that plastic vinyl horse fencing - all depends on the look you are going for.

[Gliderider]

mlle beau Oh so the shredded tire stuff you buy in bags ? Then you just mix it in with your sand/dirt ? Ah I see, what is its purpose ? Is it to help with drainage and to keep the dirt/sand from harden ? Sorry if I ask silly questions this is just new to me and I want to make a ring we will love and be easy to maintain.

Thanks ownedbyourhorses That sounds like a idea that would work here. I was worried over how I was going to be able to water it.

Cat Hubby says we could hook electric up to it easy the pasture fence is close we could hook it up to it. We are thinking we could hook it up for awhile then once the horses realize its there they will leave it alone. Then after awhile we could unhook it but if needed could re-hook it easy enough. They respect the ribbons really well might just be able to use the ribbons.;)

Thanks all for the good ideas. I am excited to get working on it but the new house roof has to come first. :(

[Blue]

Our arena is fenced with wooden posts with a single wooden plank (or whatever you want to call it) on top. The footing is sand/dirt. I really wish we had shredded tire! It's pretty dry here so we always have "arena dust storms" when we ride.