# Wood chip surfaces - any good comments?



## Magicmillbrook (12 December 2007)

I am hoping to move next year and by way of compensating me for loss of lovely stables, hacking and ok sand school OH has agreed that we will try to sort finances to allow us with enough to build new stables and an all weather arena.  We are moving to allow him to run his business from home.

Any how, having read some past posts and doing a bit of research I now feel sick at the potential costs!  Wood chip seems to be the only affordable option.

Our arena would have good drainge (I would make sure of that) and would have light usage, probably an hour or two max per day.  Has anyone had a good experience of wood based products or does anyone know of a good surface supplier in the wilds of East Anglia.

Thankies


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## Tierra (12 December 2007)

The problem with wood chips is that they get incredibly slippy when wet


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## Law (12 December 2007)

I'm afraid I can't say anything in support of it either 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 I now can't canter unless I trailer out to a non-wood chip arena.  Wood 'peelings' (as I call them) are just as bad 
	
	
		
		
	


	




  Seen lots of horses slip and fall on this kind of surface 
	
	
		
		
	


	





Sorry


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## DuckToller (12 December 2007)

Yes, I'd second that.  They also rot down so they have a shorter life span.


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## Magicmillbrook (12 December 2007)

At  our RC dressage league last year the warm up track was large wood chips, they were terrible, they slid abput and my mare lost her confidence - just tensed up.

I was thinking along the lines of cushion ride or a similar shredded type that would knit together more.


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## dill (12 December 2007)

I'm interested in this post as a friend of mine is just about to take on a yard which has an indoor Pasada surface arena and an outdoor 60x30 woodchip one.  The woodchip arena is a bit of a home made job so far as the landlord chipped everyones Christmas trees but the resulting chips are more like the size of the decorative bark that is used on flowerbeds.  The surface now rides very deep and can't really be jumped on.  Can anyone suggest a good remedy that doesn't involve removing the existing surface and starting again?  It's a rented yard so she doesn't want the expense of renewing a surface from scratch.  Could she mix sand in with it or maybe rubber?  Or would larger 'chips' on top be a solution?


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## Law (12 December 2007)

This is what we had in one arena... I think it is the same as cusionride but i could be wrong... 





Ignore the horse! 
	
	
		
		
	


	




After a winter it mulched down to look like this... 






In the autumn/winter it stays like that and then dries out again a bit in summer.  Depending on what is under it it seems ok and you can canter on it.  It's the bigger bits and peelings I have more trouble with.  And that is partly because of what is underneath it


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## carthorse (12 December 2007)

I have had my cushionride for 5 years.
At first it was amazing but after 3 years it stared to be a bog in one area and I asked them to come and have a look to advize me.They did not come or reply,I saw them at your horse live and they said they would look but never heard anymore .I know it needs a top up and I would have one if I knew it would work[ about £1000] I can use the middle still fine but the ends are deep now.
They don't seem interested in after service but it is not slippery just deep.Mine is 20x 50


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## Bounty (12 December 2007)

We've had cushionride for 7 years and have just (yesterday!) had a top up. 
I've been really pleased with it, and chose it after going to see a surface in use. I chose it as I wanted something with spring, but stability as schooling for polocrosse (big stops, 180degree rollbacks, 360degree spins etc) is fairly traumatic on a surface.
It's been really good. The key is to level it regularly and to make sure that it is REALLY rolled in when it first goes down.... that makes a huge difference IMO.


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## Rowreach (12 December 2007)

If you are on a budget I would go for a good quality (silica) sand by itself to start with, and then save up for something to top it up with in a couple of years' time (like rubber chip, pvc mix or fibre).  I had just sand for 5 years, I can think of about 5 days in total when I couldn't use it (because of heavy frost), it was good for all disciplines - we have now added fibre (cost about £2k) and it is fab.

At my last place I put in a woodchip surface, it was next to useless, and the people who bought from me had it all taken out and put in sand.


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## OWLIE185 (12 December 2007)

Never ever use wood chips as a surface to an arena.  They are just not suitable and are potentially very dangerous.  A well built 20 x 60 arena will cost in excess of £26,000


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## kirstyhen (12 December 2007)

The yard im at now has a woodchip surface, think its a bit of a homemade job, i was a bit dubious at first about using it but my boy loves it. He works really well through it, ocasionally he slips but thats more to do with him being a moron and rushing than it does the arena! It rides quite deep but thats what seems to suit him. At home we have a sand/rubber mix and i hate it!! So does the pony!
I would choose the surface i wanted and wait for it rather than making do with a surface you might not be happy with!


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## wizzi901 (12 December 2007)

NO!!! use something else!!

THey are evil, I have never had so many near falls or misses as when we had woodchip school lethal when dry, lethal when wet, evil to lunge on!!!

Sorry nothing nice to say about them, would prefer to school in a mud bog!!


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## shadowboy (12 December 2007)

I honestly think it depends on how an arena is maintained more than what is on it. Woodchips need more maintainance- the arena should be heavily rolled when they are first put down, it should then be watered and re-rolled. It should be levelled daily, if this is done it should last for 7 -8 years without problems, I was given lessons for a period of 8/9 months on a woodchip arena when i first broke my last horse in- it was the instructors own arena and was beautifully maintained- he never slipped, it was never deep or slippy. I later moved the horse over to a livery yard which was just sand. In summer it moved, became deep like being on the bumpy bit of a beach and he seriously lost confidence and his paces deteriorated. This was because the owner of the yard never looked after it. Then I moved to a yard with woodchip arenas this yard used cushionride (same as instructors arena) and it was not well maintained/had a poor membrane and became almost like mulch in the winter. So if you are prepared to roll/level your arena after every use then woodchippings are actually a super surface for all diciplines as its soft, has give but does not become deep like sand on a beach.  If you want an easier life you will need to go for a sand/pvc mix. At home we went for sand only because we could not afford a mix at the moment but it still rides well and has drained beautifully. Its all about maintenance.


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## charlotte1 (12 December 2007)

We've got a woodchip at my yard and my horse hates it.  It's gets very slippy when it's wet and we've had lots of horses slip over on it when it's been wet, and no one ever jumps on it, but it's fine to do flat work on when it's dry.


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## catherinep (12 December 2007)

Well said Shadowmonkey!  if you look after it, wood chip should be fine - my OH has done loads of them for "domestic" use - before all these posh new surfaces, wood chip was all there was, after all! If you are not a "power user" on it day in day out with countless horses, you ought to be OK - I have not heard of this slipping about before - if you roll it in deep to start with and drain well (lots of hard core underneath) you ought to be OK.

If you ride irresponsibily and hare round corners as if in a jump off every day, you will need to do a bit more maintainence.....

Common sense really....


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## Bananaman (12 December 2007)

Magicmillbrook, you are welcome to come and see, or ride, in mine if you'd like.  
	
	
		
		
	


	





If I won the lottery I would definately NOT have woodchip but as everything I do has to be on a tight budget then that is all I could afford.
I have a 20 x 60 arena and initially I put down I think about £650 worth of woodchip from a local tree surgeon. I top it up annually with about another £200 as it is important to keep it deep enough.
I would echo the others that have stressed the importance of regular maintainance.

I loose school and lunge carefully, I don't think I'd want to jump on it but canter pirouettes are no problem! 
	
	
		
		
	


	




  Actually, it's more likely to be the less well schooled horses that have problems with it. If they pick their feet up and put them down vertically they're fine but if they have a tendancy to 'motorbike', then they're more likely to slip.

I used to have a sand surface, it was wonderful when wet but deep and very dusty when dry. It also froze badly whereas the woodchip doesn't.


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## Bosworth (12 December 2007)

I wouldn't ever again use woodchip. I hate the warm up arenas at Wales and the West and they are cushion ride - and are appalling and that from a seller of cushion ride! I also had to keep my horses at a yard that had a well maintained woodchip arena it was hopeless. You couldn't lunge in it as it was too slippy and deep in places. Jumping was too deep on landing and it froze in the winter. I have seen several wood chip arenas of different qualities but never have seen one I would waste my money on. As someone else said - just go with the good quality sand and top up with a rubber crumb or chip at a later stage. If you buy the correct silica sand it does not ride deep as it will bed down. However whichever surface you put down you need to level it


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## catembi (12 December 2007)

My cushionride is being put in as we speak.  I can ONLY have a cushionride due to planning issues, so it's good to hear that some people are okay with them.  I'm having the proper drainage put in etc ie not doing it on the cheap, so I'm hoping it will be okay for me &amp; one horse.

I am willing to keep you posted, if you're interested?  Or you could come &amp; have a look - we're in S Cambs near the Beds/Herts border.


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## _jetset_ (12 December 2007)

I am a bit biased against woodchip arenas. This is because the vet and I believe the woodchip arena is what caused Grace's injury to the suspensory... It has been done very well but nothing can prevent it being an unstable surface which causes them to slip and caused Grace to slip into the surface and cause the damage. 

I also find it causes them to lose confidence when stepping under and asking them to sit behind a bit more, especially with bigger horses.


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## JanetGeorge (12 December 2007)

There are SO many 'wood chip' type surfaces.  Most of them are recycled pallets and other 'waste' wood.  Many have oil and preservative in them.

I had Ransfords surface on my manege first time around and it was lovely until the base failed (cowboy builder!)  Drainage failed, membrane failed, rock came up through the surface - disaster!  So it was rebuilt - and I went with Ransfords again - because it was the ONLY part of the original manege I was happy with.  I also followed their advice re membranes - one below the drainage stone and a 'fluffy' one below the surface. 

The new manege rides extremely well - not slippery, not 'deep', and so far, minimal 'frosting' - it has remained rideable after heavy overnight frost.  We level it every day or two with a pallet towed with the ride-on mower - cheap, cheerful and effective.  And once a week we go around the tracks with a fork - as they do pack down a bit - but that takes about 10 minutes.

There's some useful information on the Ransford's site - http://www.ransfords.co.uk/equine_all_weather.htm


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## Ottinmeg (12 December 2007)

last yard we were on had a woodchip manage, as soon as october/november hit it was unuseable until the next april.


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## jenbleep (12 December 2007)

Frankie's school is wood chip and i hate it

slippery when wet, rides deep and i don't even like cantering in it half the time! slips all over the place


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## madhector (12 December 2007)

We have a woodchip menage and it is awful at the moment, you cant canter in it at all, trot is ok with most horses, but J has such a big trot I do find he slips alot. We are thinking of mixing some sand in next spring to see if that helps matters.


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## lcormack (12 December 2007)

Several of my neighbours have put down wood fibre, rather than woodchip and so far, seem pleased with it. I do not think it can go slippy, my concern would be as the years pass, it will rot down and will get mulchy and need a top up.
I used bark from the local forestry and found this very successful. Relatively cheap, rarely froze in winter, did not dry out in summer, nice and spongy to ride on. Only drawbacks were that it needed topping up every few years and also, not possible to use a normal harrow. I  needed to rake in the bark from the edges by hand then heavy roll it. 
If you go down the sand route, get silica sand and not builders sand which can takes years, if ever, to bed down!


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## LusoLover (13 December 2007)

My yard used to have a wood chip surface. It was ok once it had settled but after about 4 years it started to mulch down and got so boggy that my horse refused to do any more than walk in it. Now we have a fab turflo surface.


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## Wishful (13 December 2007)

Seem to remember seeing something about having to have chips that are cut in the right direction - across the grain or something, so that they are rougher and stick together better.

Does that make sense?

If I remember rightly - been a while since I was there - ClaireT's yard has a huge woodchip outdoor, which didn't seem to cause problems.


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