In floor Heat in a riding arena?

[Salemgrrl]

For all those "up North" - does anyone have experience with using in-floor heat in a riding arena? How did that work for you? Was your flooring concrete with your footing on top or was is another type of base? Thanks!

[SMF11]

I don't have an indoor, so I really shouldn't even be anwering!

But -- most indoors are not heated.

And I've never heard of using concrete as a base for a riding ring. I thought most indoors have some kind of a dirt base (whether it is dirt, gravel etc) -- in fact the same base as an outdoor ring, though perhaps with different footing on top.

[deltawave]

What a god-awful waste of energy! I wouldn't want a heated arena for air quality purposes, and sure wouldn't want the power bill or the carbon footprint, either! :eek:

[2DogsFarm]

My only questions is: WHY? :eek:

For any size arena it would have to be godawful expensive to transfer heat through several inches of footing enough to make any difference in the atmosphere inside your arena.

Plus how weather-tight is the place?
Unless all walls & ceiling are airtight you'll be paying to heat the Great Outdoors.

You must have won the lottery to be considering heating a space that size....

[SuperSTB]

I wouldn't imagine it'd be worth the cost to put in a radiant floor heating system.

First of all the heating system would have to be fixed- which means set in concrete or other hard substance. I guess you could embed the heating system in concrete and apply some sort of rubber/synthetic surface over but you will in essence trap the heat energy.

Radiant floor surfaces typically would be harder to operate and maintain the larger the area. I recall a radiant floor surface on a former project in MA- private residence who had a 'show room' garage for his prized autos. Required many zones, etc etc etc but the surface didn't have to handle the logistics of riding horses.

I'd rather spend the money on optimum arena footing or look into industrial HVAC options if building new.

[4Martini]

I agree that a cement underlayer sounds like a bad idea. Also having to heat all of the footing does not sound efficient.

I do have to say I miss the barn I was at with a heated indoor. It wasn't hot - maybe 45 degrees in the barn and indoor. It was aweseome! My horse lived outside and I could bring him in, strip his blankets and ride. Maybe I cooled out a little longer- but my feet were not frozen bricks so it was nice to hand walk him. The owners had some agreement with the natural gas well company that had wells in the pasture that they got free natural gas for heating the barn and indoor.

I had radient ceiling heat in a condo I had and there were lots of issues with it. I know technology has improved a lot, but it seems like any issues would be hard to deal with.

[Simkie]

The barn I board at now does have a heater in the indoor. It's mounted on the ceiling/wall and is a hot air blower type thing. It's only turned on when it is VERY bitter out and just takes the chill off the air. Sort of a nice thing to have.

[Mallard]

For all those "up North" - does anyone have experience with using in-floor heat in a riding arena? How did that work for you? Was your flooring concrete with your footing on top or was is another type of base? Thanks!

This is a joke....isn't it?!?!?!?

[Evalee Hunter]

I don't think heated indoor arenas & heated barns are THAT uncommon in the northern U.S. & in Canada. I do agree that I can't imagine putting the heat beneath footing.

However, barns are definitely heated with in-floor heating. An expensive option to install, although inexpensive to operate, is geothermal heating & I think it has been installed in barns.

I can certainly see having one's own gas well(s) as an option. One of my brothers used to work at a Seventh Day Adventist academy in the Finger Lakes of NY & they had a gas well. They used the gas to generate electricity - enough to run the school & sell back to the power company.

[CrazyDog]

Yes, many indoors in Canada are heated... -25C is very cold to ride in, even if you are indoors!

There are football and rugby pitches in the UK with under-pitch heating. I don't believe it is set in concrete and perhaps something like this could be adapted to a riding ring. This must be a very expensive option, though, and liable to failure especially when subjected to the force of galloping and jumping.

However, I'm not sure why you would want both...If the idea is to keep the footing from freezing, surely either covering the indoor or putting in the heating would suffice. I expect that building the indoor, with or without heat, would be more realistic.

[sisu27]

I was at a barn with heated floors...I didn't like it as I think it is nice for humans but unhealthy for horses. I would feel the same about a too-warm arena. Would radiant heated floors (footing??) even work in a space that size? I have had heated arenas before but always some sort of forced air type system and only to take the extreme chill off...not to be "warm". I also think a concrete base sounds really dumb. Are you just curious or actually considering this?

[CatOnLap]

The only privately owned heated indoors I have seen in Canada are in Saskatchewan and Alberta, where the owners have agreements with oil companies for using the natural gas for free. On our little part of paradise, we counted 27 indoors and not one of them is heated. That doesn't mean there aren't others, but the only heated facilities I've seen are the big publically funded arena facilities used for the larger indoor shows. However, even in Winterpeg, once we got 3 or 4 people riding in a low ceiling, insulated indoor, the atmosphere quickly warmed up to above freezing and we could take our jackets off to ride. Working horses produce a lot of BTU's. You didn't want to be in the first lesson of the day tho...

[bhrunner06]

we are at a barn that is completely heated...barn and arenas. however...radiant heating from the floor? dont think that will work so well!

[silver2]

I've boarded at a barn with radiant heat in the concrete floor and the ammonia smell was godawful. No matter how they matted the stalls and how clean they kept them they basically had a heated cement pad with gallons of urine on top of it. Stinky. If you're gonna do it, pay attention to draininage or only heat the aisles or something.

They heated the arena too with the blowers and by connecting it to the heated barn. The heated arena wasn't warm but it was above freezing and therefore quite nice in the winter! You need fans to blow the warm air down from the rafters.

[Ibex]

The barn I road at in Ontario had infrared (??) heating in the indoor. It wasn't meant to keep it hot, just to take the chill off.

We have heat in the barn, but it's only on for a couple weeks every winter when it's REALLY nasty.

[Carrera]

I've ridden at barns with heated indoors and they are set to keep just about 0*C, not HOT be any means, just warm enough to keep the coach from freezing.

Another barn that i know has radiant heat in the floor of the barn, but not the stalls, just the hallway. And when it gets to -40* its nice to have!

[SuperSTB]

Radiant flooring in aisleways can be nice to have and done affordably/efficiently to take the edge off the cold and not kill the pocketbook.

Radiant flooring in concrete stalls. Ugh- disgusting really. Concrete will absorb water unless it is continually sealed. So certainly will concrete absorb urine. Add in a 'heat' source to warm up that lovely urine and you've got a horrible smelly problem on your hands.

[TrotTrotPumpkn]

Never seen a heated indoor that had underground heating...lots overhead. Watch the ventilation/moisture issues.

Re: heated concrete in the barn--pee smell was terrible

[FootPerfect]

Radiant heat in the aisles and grooming areas, yes.

Arena and stalls? No.

Generally, the heated arenas here keep the temps at about 40 degrees. Not a balmy 72 or anything like that.

[Ajierene]

A mini had an unfortunate accident at my barn in high school and ended up dying of hypothermia (slipped in the night and got caught under the fence). The center of the indoor, no insulation-just metal walls and ceiling, was the only place warm enough that he could be buried deep enough without trying to get through frozen dirt.

While a heated indoor farther north than Central New Jersey may be nice, I don't think a heated floor is a necessity and may be more trouble than it is worth in smaller barns.

[Mozart]

Heated indoor arenas are pretty common in my neck of the woods (Manitoba). Most are done either with infrared lamps or electric blower type heaters. They are not on all the time, often they are just turmed on as needed, a couple of hours before the evening lessons start. If the arena is well insulated they do not even have to be on that long, just enough to get the temp up and then the heat given off by the horses does the rest. IMO it is less of an issue for the riders than than the poor coach who has to stand there freezing their butt off for several hours on those long winter nights.

However, I have never heard of an indoor with with infloor heating. The only indoors I know of with concrete floors are shows where the arena doubles as a sports arena. In Brandon the arena at the Royal Winter Fair hosts a hockey team. At fair time the ice is melted and replaced with arena footing after which it hosts an "A" level hunter/jumper show.