Roundpen Surface

[Danae]

This subject has brought quite some mixed emotions.

I've asked several people what they prefered for roundpen surfaces. Some have said it depends on the work. I lounge them in it ,light riding, and cool them out. Right now, it's very soft sand.

Some people say that it's good because it makes them work harder, therefore building stronger muscles. Others say it puts alot of pressure on their tendons, and can bow a tendon.

A friend of mine said she prefered medium because it does make the horse work harder, yet it doesn't put alot of stress on the tendons. My question is, what do you think? The same friend recommended putting a sprinkler out to compact the sand alittle bit. I wasn't quite sure of this because of the problem of creating a mud puddle. Would this be the case?

Thanks :)

[Aly]

Any arena or roundpen needs good drainage, and a gradient that will allow for quick and effective removal of excess water. (not sure of the correct angle). Virtually all roundpens I have ever seen or used, have been sand based. For roundpens commonly used for breaking in horses, they tend to be deep sand, the common thought is that the horse has to work hard and become tired, therefore less chance of the horse bucking etc, when first backed. For roundpens mainly used for lunging or excercise purpouses I have noticed that they use more compacted sand, and therefore the surface is a little harder.

I know that in racing circles, many sand tracks are reknown for causing tendon, and joint injuries over a period of time. I am sure that the track itself is only a small part of the reasons that so many horses break down however, and that some of blame should lie on the trainers who often race and excercise horses that are not fit to be raced.

The minority of privately owned arenas in Australia are bark chip based, and if done correctly using the correct types of bark chips, they are soft, spongy, absorb water well and are not slippery when wet. A few arenas are made from grape seed, some grass and I have even seen an arena made of dolomite (oooh the poor horse).

When you look at the majority of private arenas in many countries around the world, they are sand surfaced. At home in Australia, my arena is sand, and I would say a medium type of surface. In the ten years I have had and used it, I have yet to ever have a horse suffer any injury at all, let alone any tendon injury caused from the surface. I actually irrigate my surface in high summer only, and this is more to prevent the surface blowing away, and being dusty, than for anything else. I have found that as long at it is maintained well and raked regularly, the surface remains "soft" rather than becomming hard and lumpy.

At the end of the day with the limited finances most of us have I am not sure of what the ideal solution is either. I believe that if you do the best that you can with the resources you have then you are already a step in the right direction. Work your horse, keeping in mind the type of arena or riding area you have, and then you really are on the right track. After all, any arena has gotta be a better surface than any bitchumen or even dirt road, and how often do we see riders belting along these...

[Maci]

We don't have a round pen, but our indoor and outdoor arena/paddock surface is sand and small, grainy dirt. If it ever gets really dusty, my instructor goes out with the hose, with a certain "spray gun" type head on it, and evenly waters it down to make it less dusty (not too little or too much water). If you do it evenly and not too much water on one spot, it will work. If you just put a sprinkler out, than eventually you will get puddles, so I wouldn't do that. Good luck!

Maci :)

[Danae]

The round pen does have good drainage. I was riding in it today and noticed one side was softer and lower than the other. The center is very high/hard (obviously) and it isn't very dusty. I'm assuming there's many types of sands..I don't have much problem with dust, well in Florida, I don't have much problem with wind :d

As for the sprinkler, I don't think this would be very productive in my case. First of all, it's probably not very cost effective, and second, there is that chance of puddles.

Thank you for you very useful advice!
Happy trails :)

Danae