42 April 2017 • USDF ConneCtion

From the USDF’s footing

guide, how to protect

your arena-surface

investment

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A DIFFERENT KIND OF GROOMING: Careful tending will help keep footing (pictured: at Dressage at Devon) performing optimally for years to come

Arena Maintenance Shouldn’t Be a Drag

USdf ConneCtion • April 2017 43

footing knowledge and technology have made great

strides (so to speak) in recent years. We know a

lot about how to prepare arena surfaces for opti-

mal dressage performance. but sometimes, as we

deal with the day-to-day demands of horse care and facil-

ity maintenance, tending to those surfaces becomes a low-

priority item—and that’s a mistake.

even if your footing is perfect, it won’t stay that way

without regular maintenance. Left untended, surfaces be-

come uneven, compacted, dusty, or worse. This exclusive

excerpt, adapted from the USdf’s guide to arena surfaces,

Underfoot, is a primer on how to keep your indoor or out-

door arena-surface investment performing at its best.

Does Your Arena Need Help?

here are common indications that an arena surface needs

maintenance, listed from least severe to most severe.

• footing has shifted to reflect traffic patterns. Some ar-

eas are deeper than others, and there is less footing on

the track. a circular pattern is forming where horses are

lunged.

• footing is dry and dusty.

•arena foundation is uneven.

•a trench is forming along the track.

• it is difficult to see through the dust.

•Wet or slippery spots have become chronic.

• Stones or dirt clods are appearing.

•potholes or gopher holes are appearing.

An Ounce of Prevention

it’s easier to prevent problems than to treat them. to keep

footing problems from developing, you’ll need to redistribute

and level the material regularly, using a tractor and drag. foot-

ing material that has migrated out to the edges of the arena

will need to be pulled back in. you’ll also need to develop a sys-

tem for watering your arena, to keep dust down and ensure the

right amount of “spring” and particle adherence under foot.

Dragging

drag your arena regularly, before footing shifts significantly

or the surface compacts and hardens.

here’s how to determine how often to drag: notice when

the footing begins to shift (e.g., there are circular wear areas

from lungeing, or a “track” begins to form along the rail).

drag slightly more often than it takes to develop those wear

patterns—which can range from daily to weekly, depending

on how heavily the arena is used.

Choose harrows and drags that are a foot or two wider

than your tractor so that there are no wheel tracks after

dragging. too wide and you’ll have problems steering; six to

eight feet wide usually works best.

a disc harrow (sets of concave discs that can be set at

variable angles) is good for breaking up the soil of a hard-

packed surface, such as clay. it’s not recommended for use

on an arena with a prepared base, however. follow it up

with a tine or spike-toothed harrow to aerate the surface

and further break up the chunks of clay. finish with a chain-

link harrow to smooth the surface. The goal is to produce

approximately two inches of soft footing.

for use on surfaces containing sand, stone dust, saw-

dust, or shavings, choose a short-tine, adjustable harrow on

a frame, a spring-tooth harrow (usually also adjustable), or a

chain-link harrow with short spikes (spiked-link). take care

that the spikes or tines do not penetrate the base material

beneath the riding surface, or the base layer will sustain per-

manent damage.

a chain-link harrow without spikes is the tool of choice for

leveling surfaces containing shredded wood and bark. Unlike

sand, wood-fiber footing is best when matted down so that

horses work on top of the footing, rather than in the footing.

you can make a basic chain-link drag by attaching heavy chain-

link fencing to a 2" x 4" board. raising the edge closest to the

The USDF was the first US

organization to publish

a comprehensive guide

to dressage-arena construc-

tion, maintenance, and re-

pair. Sponsored by Premier

Equestrian LLC and newly

revised in 2015, the 74-page

illustrated Underfoot contains

detailed instructions on how

to prepare the base, choose

materials, solve problems, and care for the finished

arena. Chapters focus on footing materials, footing’s

effects on equine soundness, the environmental im-

pacts of various footing materials, and selecting and

installing arena mirrors.

Underfoot: The United States Dressage

Federation Guide to Arena Construction,

Maintenance, and Repair is available for $10 from

the USDF store. To order, visit usdf.org/store or

download via the USDF app, USDF: Your Dressage

Connection.

Get the Footing Bible

UNDERFOOT

The United States Dressage Federation Guide

to Arena Construction, Maintenance, & Repair

Sponsored by Premier Equestrian, LLC

44 April 2017 • USdf ConneCtion

tractor slightly off the ground will prevent the footing from

balling up behind the leading edge. Use a log or steel beam, if

necessary, to smooth the footing after harrowing.

rubber-mix arena surfaces don’t require dragging as

frequently because rubber doesn’t compact. When you do

work the arena, a chain-link-fencing drag works best. Most

commercial drags, which are designed to aerate, are too

heavy for rubber. if the footing starts to buckle up, the drag

is too heavy.

grooming textile-based footing (synthetic textiles and

fibers) requires specialized equipment. Simple drags and

rakes tend to clump fibers together, disturbing the surface.

groomers for textiles typically feature tines, a leveling bar,

and a roller. each component provides a specialized func-

tion and, depending on the groomer, may work together or

be used individually.

The illustration below shows proper dragging tech-

nique. if possible, start by removing the corner fencing or

the entire short end of the arena rails. if you can’t remove

the fence, begin by making one pass around the track, next

to the fence and as close as possible. When you come to a

corner, elevate the harrow if possible, back into the corner,

lower the harrow, and pull forward a couple of times. if you

can’t remove arena fencing, you may need to hand-rake the

corners.

Make one or two passes around the entire arena; then

turn down the center line. at the far end, turn in the same

direction and make a pass just inside, and slightly overlap-

ping, the passes you made near the fence, as shown in the

illustration. Continue making passes just to the inside of the

previous pass until you have dragged the entire arena. if you

do it right, the short sides of the arena will be patterned

with overlapping loops, where the harrow came just short

of the previous track in each successive pass. finish up with

a few more passes around the track, one inside the other,

until the loops at the top and bottom end of the arena are

smoothed out.

Vary the drag pattern so that you do not create low and

high spots in your footing.

The Rail-Side Rut

even the most diligent harrowing won’t keep an arena in

good shape all by itself. Whenever you notice a rut forming

along the track near the rail, special care should be taken to

level the footing. if you let horses wear the footing off the

track until a trench forms in the base itself, the arena base

will be permanently damaged.

on a sand arena, before you drag, use a shovel with a flat

bottom edge to pull footing material from the edges back

onto the track. in an arena with average use, this will need

to be done every fifth or sixth time you harrow (or about

every 10 days). edging attachments added to your groomer

can also help with buildup on the edges. if with average use

a rut forms sooner, your footing could likely benefit from

the addition of a bonding or absorbing agent.

on a wood-mix or rubber-mix surface, use a pitchfork

or a landscaping rake to pull in the footing. These surfaces

will need hand-raking less often than sand, but you’ll need

to determine the ideal frequency for your particular arena

surface.

follow rail-side maintenance with a thorough harrow-

ing of the entire arena to redistribute excess footing mate-

rial from the edges back to the middle of the arena.

Watering

Watering is probably the best arena-maintenance tool. it

does much more than control dust. if applied in the proper

amount, water firms up footing yet makes it more resil-

ient and springy. Water lubricates and reduces the break-

down of sand particles. on a wood-fiber arena, adequately

moistened fibers bend rather than break under impact from

hooves. however, water will aid in the decomposition of

wood fibers.

arena watering is an art. proper application, amount,

and frequency must be monitored closely. Make adjust-

ments based on the type of footing material; the intensity of

use; and the wind, humidity, and temperature your arena is

subjected to, all of which will affect the amount of water lost

through evaporation.

a general guideline is to water as often as necessary to

keep the riding surface damp throughout. if the top inch or

two are allowed to dry out, it will be much more time-con-

suming to re-saturate the footing, and some of the material

will blow away. The riding surface should generally be kept

to a moisture level of 8 to 12 percent. Use a moisture meter

(available from most garden- or forestry-supply catalogs) to

measure the level.

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FIRST SEVERAL PASSES

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DraG pattern: Proper technique for dragging an arena

USdf ConneCtion • April 2017 45

Using a hand-held spray nozzle, a movable sprinkler, or

a built-in sprinkler system, water all areas of the arena even-

ly. frost-proof overhead permanent watering systems are

now available for indoor applications. for outdoor arenas,

in-ground sprinklers whose range is large enough to cover

the entire arena surface can be placed outside the arena.

Whatever type of watering system you use, take care

not to create puddles or wet spots that could become boggy

and potentially harm the base. portable sprinklers must be

moved frequently, with any leaking connections repaired

before continuing to water.

Watering at night and allowing the moisture to soak in

completely can be very beneficial. dragging the arena be-

fore riding will help to distribute the moisture, as well. Un-

til the water soaks in, most of it is in the top inch or two

of footing and is easily lost to evaporation. particularly dry

arenas might require a few drag-and-water cycles to distrib-

ute the moisture deeply enough that it does not evaporate

too quickly.

Competition and Multi-Use Arenas

The needs of competition or multi-use arenas (used for

both dressage and jumping, for example) are more complex

than those of single-purpose surfaces. in addition to prac-

ticing the maintenance steps we’ve outlined, some arenas

may benefit from being rolled after dragging. rolling pro-

duces a firmer and more level surface that can be much ap-

preciated by both the dressage competitor and the jumping

rider. With sand or mixed footing, a heavy roller (nine to 10

tons) is usually necessary for optimum packing and level-

ing. Most equipment-rental services have rollers available.

note that arenas with stone-dust footing should not be

rolled, as they already have a tendency to be too hard.

Outside the Arena

to facilitate drainage, don’t forget to maintain the area

around the outside of your arena. piles of excess surface

material around the outside edges of the arena will block

runoff and need to be cleaned up periodically. Usually, this

is material that is pushed out of the arena during the course

of normal use and can just be added back to the footing. if

you have swales or drainage ditches, keep them mowed and

free of debris.

Footing Is Fundamental

protect your arena investment—and horses’ soundness—by

establishing the right type and frequency of footing main-

tenance. Consult your footing manufacturer for specific

maintenance advice for your chosen material.

a good arena-maintenance program also includes a

pitchfork and a muck tub. Manure not promptly removed

hardens or dries and crumbles, making footing dusty and

compromising the integrity of the material.

Well-kept footing is not only a pleasure to ride on; it’s

also important in helping to keep horses sound. The choice

of footing material, its depth, its moisture content, and

other factors affect the amount that the hoof slides forward

on landing, rotates when turning, and provides resistance

during push-off. for dressage-specific research findings and

arena-maintenance advice, see Underfoot. s

neceSSarY cHore: Removing manure isn’t a glamorous task, but it’s an essential part of arena maintenance

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