Water Systems
Both indoor and outdoor arenas and lunge pens are likely to require watering systems. In fact, they are often are an essential addition to ensure year-round best use and help maintain the condition of your arena. This is never more important than during the summer months when higher temperatures and lack of rain can quickly dry your arena footing out.
To see if your arena needs watering without an exact moisture content reading simply collect a handful of the surface and try shaping it into a ball, like dough. If it holds together the moisture content of your footing is probably good.
Without the correct amount of moisture, minimum 4%, your footing will become significantly unstable. The fibre will begin to migrate to the top of the surface, and the silica sand will become loose and deep, making riding conditions difficult, often referred to as ‘riding deep’ and increasing the risk of strain-related injuries. Adding moisture to the arena is the safest and easiest way to control this and the dust.
There are several options available and arenas are normally watered using systems located around the perimeter. The sprinklers can either be completely buried underground with the supply pipe and ‘pop up’ when necessary, or can be clipped to the perimeter fencing. Our fully automated systems will operate on most sizes of arena.
Having watered your arena, the surface should be graded without disturbing the lower half of the footing. This will help to spread the water evenly throughout and re mix any fibres that have become separated.