# Flexiride - opinions, costs, etc



## meardsall_millie (28 December 2011)

I know this has been done a few times but if anyone has any thoughts or comments on Flexiride, I'd really like to hear them please.

I have a 40 x 20 school in place and just need to replace the surface (footings, drainage, etc, all properly laid and in good condition).

Also - any ideas on cost?  (We've contacted them for a quote but haven't heard back yet) - I'd be looking at a silica sand base with a top dressing of Flexiride.

Thanks.


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## livvyc_ria (28 December 2011)

I have flexiride on top of sand. I love it. Easy to maintain and always rides nice. I'd say it took 12 months to truly settle but was still very rideable during that first year

One tip though, when they come to drop it off ask them to create multiple piles to drag from. They dropped all of it off in one corner in my arena to drag from there and 4 years later that corner has still got far more coverage than the rest of the arena. Doesnt really affect riding but i do wish it was even!!


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## meardsall_millie (28 December 2011)

Thanks livvyc_ria.  What sort of maintenance does it require and how often?  How many horses use your arena?

Cheeky qst -could you give me a ball-park figure for the cost of the sand and flexiride (PM if you prefer ) - I don't want to get my hopes up if it's way out of my budget!!


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## kit279 (28 December 2011)

Out of curiosity, do you already have the sand? Because I rather like the Combi-ride stuff - makes the sand ride like a waxed surface.

The Flexiride is nice enough to ride on but looks a bit unattractive and smells a bit odd in the flesh.


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## meardsall_millie (28 December 2011)

Kit - no we don't have sand.  We need to start from scratch with the surface.

What's the Combi-ride (where from, how much, how much maintenance....?!)

I think Solihull RC has Flexiride on their new outdoor - it seemed OK when I last went there but it was in the middle of a ODE in a monsoon so it was difficult to tell!


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## cptrayes (28 December 2011)

I have combi-ride on silica sand, down two months and absolutely brilliant on the track, still bedding in in the middle. I would agree, the track is riding like the waxed surface at a local indoor that came second hand from one of the big indoor horse shows.


For a 30x40 1 quote I had showed the cost of different surfaces:

Cheshire Equisand/Rubber-fibre Topping £29,110.00
Cheshire Equisand & Protrack or Clopf Fibre Mix £29,197.00
Cheshire Equisand with Premier Topping £32,914.00
Cheshire Equisand with Activ-Track Topping £35,974.00
Activ-Track full (a fully coated surface option) £47,633.00

I actually paid less than the lowest quote for sand combi-ride and rubber mix, but this will give you an idea of how much more fibre and waxed surfaces are.


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## MillionDollar (28 December 2011)

I have it on my round pen.....its ok. Much much much prefer the Clopf on my arena though, its amazing!!!


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## meardsall_millie (28 December 2011)

Santa Paws said:



			I have combi-ride on silica sand, down two months and absolutely brilliant on the track, still bedding in in the middle. I would agree, the track is riding like the waxed surface at a local indoor that came second hand from one of the big indoor horse shows.
		
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Have just Googled it and it's Nottinghamshire, so not that far from me!  How much use does your arena get and does it take much maintaining?  Is it expensive?


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## kit279 (28 December 2011)

The Combi-ride is a sort of fibre additive to be mixed in with the sand but has a small amount of rubber chips in it.  I really liked it actually - the surface really knits together and was very springy.  The sand was the really expensive bit of the quote but the combi ride was about £2K for 40x20.

http://www.combi-ride.com/


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## meardsall_millie (28 December 2011)

Santa - ouch to those prices (is that JUST the surface??!! ) - we certainly don't have anything close to that amount to spend!!

Kit - that sounds much more like the price I was looking for (obviously with the cost of the sand on top).


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## livvyc_ria (28 December 2011)

Sorry just been told ours is actually Clopf!

My mistake sorry.


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## sop366 (29 December 2011)

Based on my experience with flexiride I wouldn't recommend it. We put it on our 40x20 last year and it as taken 12 months to resolve issues including the surface being contaminated with sharp pieces of shredded metal. it's made of recycled car carpet and as such they cannot guarantee the quality. In theory it should be a good product but doesnot live up to expectations.


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## cptrayes (29 December 2011)

meardsall_millie said:



			Have just Googled it and it's Nottinghamshire, so not that far from me!  How much use does your arena get and does it take much maintaining?  Is it expensive?
		
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I ride on it for about 12 hours a week, some of it is really hard work with a 17 hand hunter interval training and young horses doing stupid things digging their heels in an spinning etc.  I am not currently needing to grade the track at all, and when the middle is cooked I don't think it will need grading more than once a month, if that. I have jumped a horse on it on the lunge and neither the lunge circle nor the jumping take off or landing needed raking out. The horses love it, it has matted together like a waxed surface and I definitely don't think that waxed is worth what it costs.

The combi-ride is delivered in bags (big ones!) so with a tractor you will be able to drag bags to different areas of your arena before you split them. You can probably even split them and then tow them around and spread most of it that way.


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## cptrayes (29 December 2011)

meardsall_millie said:



			Santa - ouch to those prices (is that JUST the surface??!! ) - we certainly don't have anything close to that amount to spend!!

Kit - that sounds much more like the price I was looking for (obviously with the cost of the sand on top).
		
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No no no  

Those prices were from a top name for a complete 30x40 including major earthworks with an 8ft drop and an 8ft bank.  The difference in the prices is the difference in the cost of the surfaces though.


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## Alison Goodey (8 February 2012)

sop366 said:



			Based on my experience with flexiride I wouldn't recommend it. We put it on our 40x20 last year and it as taken 12 months to resolve issues including the surface being contaminated with sharp pieces of shredded metal. it's made of recycled car carpet and as such they cannot guarantee the quality. In theory it should be a good product but doesnot live up to expectations.
		
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Hi
We put in an 18m round lunge pen this time last year with flexiride - it has been a nightmare.  It has never compacted and knitted together and we had to replace a lot of the membrane last summer due to damage from hooves.  We have not used it since.  I have been trying to get some advice from the suppliers to resolve the issue but over the phone I have been given a lot of conflicting advice so am loathe to spend any more time/money on it until I have something in writing.  They have failed to reply to three letters.   I am tearing my hair out and just about to threaten legal action - and I only want some advice!


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## algeredge (8 February 2012)

We put a new 20 x 40 arena in ourselves last summer and decided on sand and flexiride. Personally I love it. I looked at a few and didnt like the flexi ride only option as it looked a bit deep. 
I could ride on it straight away, it hardly takes any harrowing (harrow was £200 from Equest Direct too, far cheaper than ann expensive grader!) and it gives a nice bit of spring. 
I think it was about £2k just for the flexi ride. I personally have not found any metal in mine whatsoever. There is about 2 inches of flexi ride and 6 inches of sand. As long as there is no exposed sand, it hardly ever freezes. If it is very windy sometimes bits of the foam will blow over the yard, but I like that it doesnt really move, doesnt stain legs like rubber and there is no horrible hot rubber smell in the summer heat.
I visited Eq Direct at their farm. They have 3 arenas showing all of the laying options (all felxi ride, flexi and sand or flexi added to an existing arena) which they school on as they are an eventing team. Maybe take a look?


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## MadJ (8 February 2012)

My flexi-ride has been down nearly 4 years and I've had no problems with it. It was laid on 5 inches of silica sand and took about 4 months to properly bed down all over, but I only work a max of 3 horses a day on it. 

In hindsight I should've harrowed it alot more at the start as this really helped it knit. I was initially rolling it once a week. I now run the harrow round when it needs it.

In a 40 x 20 the flexi-ride cost approx £2300 and the sand was approx £4500.

I had a tight budget, collected alot of samples of various different surfaces and spoke with 8 different arena builders. 1 did give me a light bulb moment regarding the rubber chips that were originally at the top of my list.

Ulitimately it's down to personal preference but I feel i have a surface as good as the pre mixed fibre surface a friend has and mine freezes less.


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