Ring Maintenance

I haven't been in the saddle since my fun lesson last Sunday. Since then the weather has decided to be totally awful. Friday we had snow, sleet and torrential rain. I opened the stall doors and both horses just looked out. Carmen turned her head to me as though to say 'you need to fix this'. 

Flatly refusing to come outside. 

Irish has changed from a horse that must be out no matter to what to a fair weather horse.

Since I have no riding to write about I thought I would talk about how I maintain my ring. You may recall my post about how we installed the ring.

Alas, once a ring is installed it requires regular maintenance to stay useable. Weeds and grass are always trying to encroach and, once established, can be really hard to root out.

from this summer- you can see the grass along the edge

I tackle the grass by dragging my ring frequently- especially after a rain. I also weed whack around the sides a few times. I really should do it more but, by god, I hate that machine. It's a torture device I swear. I hate everything from starting it, to holding it, to replacing the $@#%# strings. I have dumped a strong vinegar solution on the grass along the edge- which kills it for a while but it always rebounds. I find dragging the ring is very relaxing. I also drag every few rides because I like to smooth out the lumps. I just love how it looks and feels when freshly dragged. 

from last year

Every year I buy a load or two of sand to put in the ring over the year. I lose some over winter with the snow and rain. Usually every spring I find a few rocks that I have to dig up with the tractor and then fill in the hole. I am very fussy about my sand. After a few bad loads I now go and pick it out myself and then order the sand from a specific pile. I have learned to not simply request what I got the year before. It can be very different from year to year. I get some weird looks and sometimes comments from the people who work there. I do not care. I know what I want and what I don't. I look for sand that has mixed sizes of grains. If it's all the same (manmade) then it will pack. Sometimes it has too many rocks. Once, we got a load that was essentially dirt and rocks. Ed spread it in the ring before I came home (thinking he was doing me a favour). I freaked out when I saw it and spent hours getting the rocks out. 

I love my little drag. It doesn't look like much but it does an awesome job. It was also (relatively) cheap- around $300. One side has longer tines which gives me the lines. Flipped over it's smoother and good for moving sand around if I need to. It also is great to drag the pastures and break up the poop piles. 

You may think I'm crazy but I listen to the drag when I'm dragging- if it sounds like it's clanging then I know that the sand is a bit thin there and needs to be topped up.

The best investment we made was adding rubber crumb to the sand. It helps keep it from packing and keeps the ring useable longer over the year. When the sun hits the rubber it warms up and thaws out the ground below.

from this morning- it looks like a sheet of ice but the ring is actually rideable,
it just has a crunch top. 

When we installed it, I wasn't able to get as much rubber as I wanted. Then there seemed to be no one selling it for a few years. This year I found a source in our province so we went and bought another ton of it. 

such an exciting sight

I carefully spread it around using my tractor and a shovel. I made sure to not put it right to the edges. Which sounds counter-intuitive- why wouldn't I want it on the rail? That's because the movement of footing in the ring is from the inside out so I was confident it would make it's way there. Which is exactly what has happened. 

This addition has made my ring 'perfect'. At least for now. 

I have my footing where I want it and wonderful drainage. Now I just need the weather to improve so I can make use of it.