If you’ve ever owned an arena of any sort, you know there’s a lot more to maintaining it than just plowing and dragging. Being a 4Hearts client means year-round access to our fabulous (and rare) fully indoor arena. (Check out our original renovation here!) Rain or shine, hot, cold, or windy (which in Texas can all occur in the same afternoon), the 4Hearts indoor arena is a great place to ride.
As it turns out, maintaining an arena of this magnitude is both art and science—and a lot of plain ol’ consistent and dedicated hard work. One of the first things I did when I took custody of this fine old (and tired) indoor arena was completely scrape it out and laser-level its base.
Footing to suit Riders of Many Disciplines
To meet the needs of our broad scope of riders here at 4Hearts, our arena experts SC Bell Construction recommended a three-and-a-half-inch layer of cushion sand and a half-inch of asphalt sand as our initial mix. Cushion sand, as its name suggests, gives the horses a little bit of “cushion” because it has some clay in it to give a horse greater stability. They explained that some clay is necessary so you don’t feel like you’re walking (or galloping, as glorious as that may be) on a beach (aka pristine white asphalt sand).
The big news for 4Hearts is this week’s visit from our friends at SC Bell has brought about a slightly different mix that I think our riders and horses will appreciate. We chose the lighter, fluffier asphalt sand because the SC Bell team advised us that the mixture we initially went with was a little tight. (That is, it had more clay in it than we needed for our particular tractor/drag combo.)
Refurb complete and ready to ride!
Check out our TikTok on the arena footing refurb project, now complete! (This post got 685 views in the first 20 minutes! Who knew?!?) So now I’m encouraged to start posting more regularly there in addition to our other platforms. Follow us to keep up with the neverending happenings at 4Hearts Ranch!
@4heartsranch Arena Maintenance… no different than changing the oil in your car! Next to horse care our arena is our top priority! #4heartsranch #arenacare #horseboarding #horsefacility #ridingarena
♬ Work Work Work (feat. Twan G) – Dee McGhee & Hydrolic West
To keep our arena in tip-top shape, SC Bell Construction returns regularly to keep us level and at the appropriate mix and depth of footing. And between visits from our arena gurus, our team is tasked with this continuous maintenance checklist that includes regular dragging, watering, and other special measures to maintain its level topography.
I don’t know about anyone else, but I can’t wait to get out there and enjoy the difference this professionally mixed and graded footing makes in this enormous indoor riding space.
Take a look at this awe-inspiring process and get ready to enjoy one of the biggest perks of being a 4Hearts boarder!
