Tarps to cover outdoor arena sand so I can ride...?

[Boomer]

Obviously a covered arena would be awesome, but I can't afford it.

So.... any creative ideas on covering at least part of my arena with tarps (or something?) so that I could pull said item over the arena before rains which would enable me to ride right away?

My gelding is coming home from 4 months of training and I don't want to lose it due to rain...

The trainer has a covered and I don't. They are also 3 hours 1-way from me, so driving there several times a week isn't going to work (unless I win the lotto....then I could build a covered!).

[mjrtango93]

Wait its almost June, do you really get that much rain to render your arena useless this time of year? If so can you send some our way, we won't see rain again until November, good rains closer to Christmas. We already look like kindling for a wildfire.

[Boomer]

Wait its almost June, do you really get that much rain to render your arena useless this time of year? If so can you send some our way, we won't see rain again until November, good rains closer to Christmas. We already look like kindling for a wildfire.

Normally by now we're drying up... but this year.... we are way above average for rainfall this month! And rain scheduled again Friday-Tue! If I could hook the rain clouds to the truck and tow them to your place, I'd be on the way!

Ah, you must be in SoCal? I used to live there.

Mississippi is like Seattle: rain but with the added bonus of heat & humidity! I'm pretty sure I live in a swamp :lol:

[gloriginger]

what about a pool cover?

[MistyBlue]

That was my first thought when I read the thread title too, Gloriginger!
An inground pool cover...you can get them with a cover roller and roll it out as needed and roll it away when not needed.
The problem might be that the cover will be filled with water after it rains and as you roll it up that water will probably run onto your footing. :no:
Maybe a cover o a roller like that and attach it at the top of the ring fence on one side and when you roll it out to the other side attach/weight it down on the ground on the opposite side so rain runs off?

[mjrtango93]

Ah, you must be in SoCal? I used to live there.



Actually live in NorCal by San Fran. We got hardly any rain this year :(.......the grass barely turned green and now it's already brown. We actually had a small fire at our barn on one of the hills in February that how dry it was.

[MistyBlue]

Hope you guys get some rain. As annoying as it can be to have too wet a season...it's a TON worse to have a too dry one. :no:

[susanne]

How about a baseball diamond rain cover, like they roll out for rain delays? I didn't check prices, but a google search for "baseball diamond rain cover" brought many results, and this company says they can cover any size field.

Covermaster
http://covermaster.com.ismmedia.com/ISM3/std-content/repos/Top/Downloads/BBRC%20Literature.pdf

[mares tails]

You need to hire the baseball stadium grounds-crew (http://blog.mlive.com/sports_impact/2008/10/large_081027-ap-phillies-grounds-crew-rolls-out-tarp-world-series-game-5.jpg) too :)

[Boomer]

Thanks for the help!

I was hoping the photo of the crew would be these really hot guys in cowboy hats.... but...

I did look at baseball field covers, but I may need to keep contemplating this. I really like the automatic pool cover thing, but when they have a button to click for "financing" I got a tad worried!

Tarps will be heavy, no doubt about it. That's why I scaled down to only covering 1/2 the arena, that way I can at least lunge.

I had ordered a used billboard tarp earlier in the year for another project. Those suckers are heavy! But for the size and thickness of material, the cost really isn't too bad.

[Evalee Hunter]

Here are a couple of prior threads that you might find helpful as far as economizing on tarps:

http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=199134

http://www.chronicleforums.com/Forum/showthread.php?t=196985

[Jeannette, formerly ponygyrl]

I've wondered about sinking a couple telephone poles, say at A and C, and stringing a cable between them. Then clip tarps to the cable, and set ground anchors along the rail - basically making a large tent. Probably easier to make the cable relatively low, and have a winch at one end to get it taut enough to support tarps.

I haven't DONE this, mind you, but I've pondered it. :) Good luck! Probably if you spend a bunch of time and money and make a good system, you can at least make the unusual amounts of rain stop. ;) AFTER you write a couple large checks...

[Boomer]

I've wondered about sinking a couple telephone poles, say at A and C, and stringing a cable between them. Then clip tarps to the cable, and set ground anchors along the rail - basically making a large tent. Probably easier to make the cable relatively low, and have a winch at one end to get it taut enough to support tarps.

I haven't DONE this, mind you, but I've pondered it. :) Good luck! Probably if you spend a bunch of time and money and make a good system, you can at least make the unusual amounts of rain stop. ;) AFTER you write a couple large checks...


Wow - great minds think alike! I was thinking the billboard tarps have a "pocket" at the end... put a metal rod in there, tie to a winch secure to the light posts I have at "A" and "C", use winch to pull tarps....

Ha-ha! You're right about the $$ - all I have to do is sink some cash into it and we will go into a raging drought!

We're supposed to have pouring rain from today until next Sunday :no:

[Puddin Pie]

We tried the baseball mound covers-dismal failure. They weigh a ton, even dry. Could not roll them straight. Any low spot in the arena would pond up-tried to compensate by putting the "blocks" from the jumps to force it to drain away. It would take at least 5 people to roll it back off. It was a great idea, but did not work.

[PNWjumper]

Does dragging make any difference in your arena? I have coarse sand footing and as long as I drag my ring before it rains (and I've tested it up to 12" in 24 hours) I can ride on it as soon as it stops (undragged it turns really soupy). I'm sure you've already thought of that, but I thought I would offer the suggestion just in case! :)

[ohear001]

Boomer, I think I live right up the road from you! Don't have anything constructive to add about tarps, but can definitely commiserate about the weather. By this time of year, we should be complaining about too little rain! I've ridden my horse 5 times in the last 3 weeks, which is just depressing. I really wish the MS Horse Park was available for schooling :(