4 August 2023

Dry Arena, riding deep?

A short, but very necessary post about what to do if your arena is dry and riding deep.

We’ve had a number of calls over the last few weeks from riders concerned about the effects this long dry spell of weather is having on their arenas.

The important thing to remember is that arenas need to be watered to give you the optimum riding conditions, and by far the best way to do that is to have a professional irrigation system or to use a large, tractor mounted water bowser.

However, that’s not much help to you if you have neither of those things! We therefore recommend the following if you are in this situation;

1. Most obviously, only use the arena if you absolutely have to. If you can, enjoy this opportunity to ride out in our lovely countryside or explore our beaches and leave the arena work for the colder months.
2. If you must use your arena, at least water the track, using a hose or garden watering unit or whatever you have that will get that dampened down a bit.
3. Don’t use a rake with tines on the surface if it’s really dry! This could cause serious damage. Use a roller instead. If you have deep tracking, re-level this by hand until either you install a professional watering system, or until we get a good downpour.

Look after yourselves and your horses during this heatwave and we hope you are enjoying it. Soon enough, we’ll all be complaining about muddy fields, cold winds and heavy rain, and we’ll have a whole set of new problems to contend with. The joys of horse ownership, huh? But they are SO worth it!