Woodchip as a surface

[sammyceeee]

Thinking of producing a small area for very light schooling and turning out on.

Will be ridden on about twice a week, I don't jump or do heavy work just general light schooling.

Thing is, the woodchip will be put straight onto grass. We live in a very well drained area and never flood or really get water logged. Would you bother? Can't afford to get a proper school put in so no point suggesting that! And if it doesn't work then hey ho I'll be about 50-100 quid down...

Just would like your thoughts on it?

[fanfarefan]

wood chip will degrade ,,, but for the time being it will give you an area to ride on ,,, be good for a year or two

[Philippa]

You can't beat a good wood chip arena. As long as you keep it maintained it will be fine. What I'd say is beggars can't be choosers and a small wood chip arena is better than no arena.

[flee]

Before you put your woodchip down ask around your local farmers for any old rolls of Growtech going spare ( this is the white fabric stuff you see placed over fields of young plants such as lettuce etc to protect them from birds , frost , insects etc ). Just about every farmer in the land seems to have at least one old unwanted roll lurking abandoned in the corner of a yard and are quite happy for you to take it off their hands ! And one roll goes a very long way !!
When we first moved to our current house we had no spare cash left for an arena but needed somewhere to ride . As a stop gap , until we could afford to do the job properly , we fenced off an area on our driest bit of land to use as a riding arena . Our farmer neighbour gave us an old roll of growtech which when spread out provided enough for three layers of membrane , which we criss-crossed in alternate layers to cover any rips and tears in the fabric , and this was just laid directly on the earth . It's very light and easy to handle . We then put our surface ( sand in our case ) directly on top .It proved very effective at stopping weeds coming through and stones rising to the surface .So good infact that we never got round to replacing it and are still using it nearly 20 years later - I don't think we could really improve it much to be honest !!
NB I should point out that we do have exceptionally well drained land .

[ceri1970]

Flee any idea where to buy the growtech from we don't have arable farmers around here
An hoping to build a manage soon and read before people have used growtech on a manage

[flee]

Jan 25, 2017 16:31:05 GMT ceri1970 said:

Flee any idea where to buy the growtech from we don't have arable farmers around here
An hoping to build a manage soon and read before people have used growtech on a manage

I've no idea where you'd buy it from , maybe you could google it ? Or alternatively if you would be able to pick a roll up from somewhere ( it's not massively heavy) let us know where you're based and maybe someone on HG could source some for you .

[Karen, garrettponies]

You can get it from builders merchants like MKM or Jewsons, it's like thick weed suppressant material, like a thick felt (not the plastic stuff). If you've got a local agricultural merchant/feedstore they'll probably stock it too.

[flee]

My local farmers tell me that it's generally marketed as' Frost Protection Fleece ' , although they use for a multitude of purposes , if that's any help .

[ceri1970]

I,m from Abertillery Gwent close to Abergavenny,Newport
Will pop down countrywide see what they got
As got a bit of time yet as too wet to get machine in