Winterise your outdoor courts!  

There is no getting away from it, but winter is already upon us. For most people, winter is the season of ‘snuggling up on the sofa’. But for the horse groomers among us, this is a different story. With the Dutch showers, it can sometimes be quite a challenge to continue training as fanatically in winter as in summer. Especially when you only have outdoor accommodation, it can be a bit of a challenge. But with the tips below, you can make sure your outdoor courts are winter-proof.

Drainage
The first thing that is important for a ‘winter-proof’ outdoor riding arena is a working drainage system. Drainage allows you to keep the water level in the arena or paddock in order. Especially in seasons when it rains a lot, it is not desirable for the riding arena to turn into a swimming pool. Not only is training on a ground that is too wet bad for drainage, a horse also runs a higher risk of injuries. Besides wanting to prevent this, another consequence of a poorly functioning drainage system is that when it freezes, the arena will soon be unusable.

Antifreeze
Are you sure the drainage is in order and are you aware that it will freeze? Make sure the water level in the lanes is as low as possible. This ensures that the road surface is as dry as possible, which reduces the risk of freezing. What also helps is adding poly flakes (also known as Geopad). They contribute to the support and stability of the soil and keep it airy. Through this effect, the polyflakes act as a kind of antifreeze. For a soil with polyflakes, it has to freeze on average 5 degrees harder until it freezes compared to a normal sandy soil.

Drag
Is the soil thoroughly dry in preparation for frost? Then we recommend preemptively dragging the tray. The perfect way to do this is, for example, with a Equilizer. Due to its small size, this leveler is hugely suitable for towing a paddock or lunging ring. The Equilizers can even be fitted with different ground levelers, allowing any ground to be treated perfectly. Dragging makes the top layer finely loose and airy which reduces the chance of freezing. Should the outdoor track still freeze, at least it will be level. This makes it possible to turn horses loose without them running the risk of stepping into a pit.

Looking for a good floor leveler? We have a wide range at Equitrend. View the here.