Taking good care of your arena will ensure its performance and longevity for years to come.
Your maintenance schedule will, of course, be dependent on your arena’s usage and the type of surface you have, but doing little things consistently will prevent you having to do major, expensive things in the long run.
There are regular maintenance practices you can start to employ on a daily or weekly basis to ensure your arena is in tip-top condition and the rest, we can help with.
Maintain your arena Daily/weekly
Remove debris as soon as possible
You can’t control when or where your horses choose to do their ‘business’, but it’s imperative that you make their droppings your business as soon as you see any on the surface. Regular contamination like this will reduce the effectiveness of the arena’s coating, so clean up as fast as you can and stop the unnecessary spread.
Ensure the right amount of moisture
While waxed surfaces don’t require irrigation, if you have an unwaxed sand and fibre surface you will need to ensure the right amount of moisture if you want to enjoy maximum performance. Failure to make these checks will see the fibres rising and sitting on top of the sand. Windy and hot weather conditions can have a huge impact on your surface’s moisture levels so be extra vigilant during these times.
Carry out deep conditioning sessions
Again, this is very much dependent on your arena’s usage, but if you’ve had heavy traffic that week, the weather has been particularly rotten, or you haven’t had chance to carry out your daily maintenance practices, it’s always good to have a deep clean. If you have a fibre additive, deep grading once a week will help maintain the perfect blend. And hand raking corners and hard to reach spots is also worthwhile. If your arena has jumps set up, try moving them around so you can thoroughly clean the areas around them.
Expert maintenance required
We strongly advise the ‘turning over’ and relevelling of your arena every 3 to 5 years, and the changing season from Winter to Spring is the perfect opportunity. We can do this for you. Turning over an arena gives it a new lease of life, so even if you have not been able to perform the regular maintenance practices suggested above, this will certainly make a huge difference. Turning over involves flipping the surface over, re-blending it to perfection and relevelling to a uniform depth to provide a consistent riding experience.
If you’d like advice on the maintenance of your arena, contact us today.
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