Arena Sand?

How deep should sand in a riding arena be? I have a 50ft by 80ft arena and I was going to look into getting sand in it.

I would make sure to have a professional look it over for you to make sure its ok. I know that horses can slip if there's not enough sand to cover the ground underneath. Especially if you're jumping.

Sorry, that probably wasn't much help... but I'm not sure myself how deep exactly it should be. Maybe you could find insight in a barn magazine or on google?

I would have about 6 inches of sand and a good kick plate around the edges to keep the sand in. If at all possible, dig out the arena before putting the sand in and that will help with sand retention.

Too little sand and it's useless, too much is no good either.

We have about 5 inches and it's too much! I would say go with 3 1/2 - 4". Not enough and it's too much concussion and not very good for traction. Too much and you can hurt their tendons and cause them to trip. Heck, my friends horse even fell on her when she was jumping - he landed and couldn't get his front feet out of the deep sand in time for his back feet to land. I would rather have too little than too much.

Agreed with too little than too much, you can always top up later if you aren't happy with the depth.
Have you considered a sand/rubber mix?

Depends on what you're doing. Different disciplines will have different answers for you. For jumping, footing too deep is one of the worst things you could do to your horse. Pulled suspensories on the top of the list. Also, there's no formula or exact measurement. Moisture, flatness, kind of sand mix, etc etc all will affect your footing. I'd get someone knowledgable out there to tell you what needs to be done to yours.

Ya I would have to agree that it depends on what you are doing. I have 6 in my arena and its perfect. I have no idea how much you would want for like jumping or any thing like that...

Good advise. I checked with a friend who is a cutting horse trainer in TX and he was telling me that some trainers use deep sand to condition their horses but, at the same time, there was a "daily vet visit" due to the troubles it caused.

I agree that the depth has more to do with your discipline and purpose then what one answer can give you.

We are contemplating the same thing, what depth to put the sand. I have a 60 x 120 that is currently lawn grass. We are up on top of a hill so drainage is generally not a issue. We are thinking about 70 yards of sand, that would give us roughly 3" depth. Its a dirt "sand" (its not like beach sand) its finer and not so loose. My daughters instructor has it and it works pretty good.

Our only thing is we are thinking of dumping in on top of the grass due to climate issues. If we wait till its 60+ degrees to "round up" it first to kill the grass, we won't be able to get the dump trucks over to the ring. We would have to drive through the lawn and the 15 yd dump truck would get stuck or rip up the yard! If we wait till summer the trucks weight could damage our new black top driveway. So, we are thinking to get the sand early spring, when the ground is still slightly frozen and just covering the dormant grass. The weight of the sand should kill off a lot of it

My husband laughed and said the planets will have to all align to pull this off!

The soil/sand we use in Rodridge 100ft x 50 arena is a special compound designed for indoor arena's full of nutrients. Its roughly 1ft deep.