What You Ride on Matters
Footing Products to Keep Your Horse at Peak Performance
Repetitive exercise on uneven, hard, or deep horse arena footing will cause a limb torque with associated improper use of muscle action, resulting into soreness and eventually lameness. But, stress on the forelimbs and hocks can be reduced by riding on horse arena footing designed to minimize concussive force. Synthetic arena footings have a greater damping capacity and provide a lower peak impact than turf, dirt and crushed sand alone.
At Footing Solutions USA, we provide the high-quality products you need to keep your horse at peak performance, from sand additives and dust-free footing to arena maintenance and more.
Explore Our Solutions
Synthetic Sand Additives
Designed with your horse’s health in mind, FSGeoTEX, our synthetic sand additive, consists of very thick and high fibrous geotextiles, adding excellent spring and cushion to sand arenas. A minimal amount is needed compared to other geotextiles.
Arena Drags
Offering a variety of models to suit your needs, our arena drags and levelers aid with time-consuming grooming and maintenance and enhance the safety of your facilities. They play an imperative role in preserving quality footing and the well-being of your horses.
HIT UnderGround Watering System
The HIT UnderGround Watering System provides even irrigation from the ground up, ensuring uniform stability of the arena footing so your horse is protected from take-off to landing and from stride to stride.
Dust Control
Dusty arenas are detrimental to both horse and rider health. Hydro Sand Binder is a 100% dust-free footing without the use of water. It stays perfectly consistent in even the most extreme environments, allowing you to focus on your ride instead of what you’re riding on.
Irrigation Systems
Even and proper watering in a horse arena is essential to maintaining its quality and longevity. We understand watering equipment is not one-size-fits-all, which is why we offer a variety of effective options to suit your needs.
Evaluating Horse Arena Footing
The proper riding arena surface gives the horse confidence and the ability to perform at his best. So, it is important to learn how to evaluate which horse arena footing is good and safe for your horse to ride on by recognizing hard, deep and loose footings and their impact on the soundness of the horse.
The perfect horse arena footing provides a cushion that helps the horse perform by absorbing concussion and therefore reducing the risk of injury. However, the arena footing should also be stable and give good shear strength so the hoof can push off from the surface. A good rule of thumb is to be able to see that the toe is able to penetrate into the footing by 1 to 1.5 inches. If you cannot see the indentation of the toe penetration, then you are riding on horse arena footing which is too hard and dead which will lead to injuries.
To the contrary, horse arena footing that is too soft and loose makes the horse work harder, which means more fatigue to the ligaments and muscles. Soft and loose horse arena footing causes an uneven surface for the horses’ legs to land on.
Consistency of the horse arena footing is another key element of an arena that rides safe. Even watering is the top priority. Only surfaces with an even moisture content can be dragged evenly. If the watering is uneven, then your arena drag will harrow-in differently and the surface will ride differently.