Sand, training, price?

Question

Im going to be teaching my mare new things. Im going to start with lunging, and soon jumping.

My dad said that we can build a ring for her. Would a riding ring be the best choice to teach a horse to jump. Or would a big square type thing be better. But with a square would it be hard to lunge a horse.

And how much does sand cost, and what is the type i need to teach her to jump in? And why do i need sand?

Answer 1

Oh my heavens have you asked a loaded question! Several factors are involved in all this...

Sand is used in an arena to cushion the horse's feet because you will be doing a lot of repetitive riding in the same area over and over. It also helps with drainage and to cut down on mud. You will definitely want an arena when jumping because even the best riders fall off occasionally (sand helps cushion the rider too) and you don't want your horse deciding that this would be a great opportunity to go back to her wild ancestry and running off into the sunset.

Then you have to start asking a lot of questions...

Is she physically sound to jump?

How much training has she had?

Has she ever jumped before?

Is she already trained English? Western? Trail? Roping? Barrels?

How big is she? (compared to you)

How much training have you had at lunging?

How much training have you had in jumping?

How big of a "square type thing" (arena) are you planning?

(another option would be to build an arena and then have a removable round pen for lunging)

What type of soil do you have?

Are you going to have to have the area leveled first?

Are you going to have to have drainage put in?

How expensive is sand per cubic yard in your area? (you can get estimates from landscapers or construction companies)

Are you going to need a building permit?

Without knowing what your setup is exactly, these questions would be hard to answer. Is there a riding stable near you that teaches jumping? The best person to ask would be the instructor. Another thing you might do is look up on the web and see if there are companies that specialize in these things near you. And then you have a lot of questions you have to start asking yourself. The more you ask, the more you'll think of.

I hope I have been helpful.

Answer 2

I always lunge in an open space as we have no round pen, and it works fine, although our guys respond very well to vocal commands.

As far as jumping, you would do that in an arena, for safety at least 25X50m. You can go smaller if you have to, but the smaller the arena the less jumps you can string together.

I would definately use sand, as hog fuel packs down pretty quickly.

Get a sand that is quite course, no clay dust as this'll cause the sand to pack hard once it has gotten regularly wet.

You should also put in as much drainage as possible. I would go with 4 inch weeping tile down the centreline and have branches coming into it at 45 degrees every 10 metres. This should be placed in a trench approx. 12-14 inches wide and the same deep. Wrap all pipe in a sock or wrap with commercial grade gardeners fabric. Cover all pipe with approx. 10 inches of clean drain rock.

Pack down approx. 6-8 inches of road mulch (spray with water whilst packing will improve the end result). Finally cover with approx. 4-5 inches of course sand (no deeper as your horse could start pulling tendons)

Once the sand has been in place for a few months you can add diced rubber if you wish, this just makes for a slightly bouncier surface, but it totally optional. Be sure to harrow your arena at least once a week, depending on usage.

Good luck!!!

EDIT: The bad news, done properly an arena of this size would cost your somewhere in the region of $25,000, but would add approx $50,000 to the value of your property!! You could skip almost everything apart from railing and sand for likely $5 or $6,000.

Answer 3

I think a round pen is the best choice for lunging and if its large enough should make a nice riding pen. As for the sand...I'm not sure, sorry if this wasn't much help :p