Customer Reviews

The Equine Arena Handbook: Developing a User-Friendly Facility

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

... [T]he book is a basic starter that someone interested in building or maintaining their own riding ring would find useful. The most important aspect of the book is to indirectly point the reader to the USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service in order to obtain soil survey and soil type analysis. The book lacked any information on the new footings being marketed (shredded rubber, dust free materials, etc.) citing lack of research conclusions at time of publication. But overall, it tells you what kind of soils and conditions you need to have to build a good to excellent riding ring.

This entire book is about footing....soil testing, issues, management,.....
What I thought I was buying included guidelines as to how big to plan an arena for various uses, .... and that was never covered.
So, if you want to know dirt, soil, ...it's great. If you want more, it's lacking.

I got this book because I was planning to build my own arena and was very disappointed with the lack of practical advice it contained. The author is a soil scientist and it shows. The book is about soils and sand, and has very little to do with the practicalities of arena construction, nor is it even very clear about the range of surfaces available. Its lack of practical orientation can be illustrated by the(very brief)section on drainage where it states that: "Drainage refers to the potential of a soil to acquire an optimum level of moisture for a particular purpose." That really wasn't much use to me. In fact I found much more valuable information on equestrian arenas, including surfaces, but just searching the web.

The Equine Arena Handbook: Developing A User-Friendly Facility by equestrian expert Robert Malmgren is a no-nonsense, practical guide to building and maintaining proper arena grounds for one's horse to train and exercise. Building an arena is a costly business, and avoiding anything that could risk injury to a horse is even more important, so that anyone contemplating such an undertaking must read the practical guide first. The Equine Arena Handbook is also highly recommended for sincere horse lovers and horse fanciers everywhere, whether they own one of their own or not.

Deserving of ongoing mention is a guide horse owners will relish: a slim but detailed account of how to build and maintain an equine arena. You can save thousands of dollars and horse injury by learning what makes for a good arena, how to clean and manage it properly, considering drainable spots, and more. EQUINE ARENA HANDBOOK: DEVELOPING A USER-FRIENDLY FACILITY appeared in 1999 but remains virtually the only in-depth book on the topic today.

In common with some other reviewers, I was disappointed by the lack of specific practical information in this book - drainage designs, depths of base & footing for specific disciplines, fencing, arena size by discpline, crowning & slope - to mention but a few. The focus of this book is soils and it useful as far as it goes. By the time you buy and read this book, however, you have probably moved byond it just by having researched on the internet. For the more practical information, I recommend "Under Foot", an inexpensive small volume published by the USDF, which I found very useful, together with advice on arenas provided by Cherry Hill on the internet.

Not being a rider myself, I was totally confused with the need for a sub-base and how the unique impact of a horses hoof can cause failure to the surface.

Now that Robert Malmgren has explained the soil mechanics involved in horse hoof impacts, I can now utilize local sub base, base and surface materials better.

And now tractor drawn grooming can be done better as I now understand that the B and C horizons need to be addressed as well as the obvious A.

Thank you for saving me countless yards of material and wasted time. Dan Lauzon, Rockport MA

I purchased this book because it had rave reviews. I immediately read the book when it arrived and was a bit disappointed because it has so much scientific jargon it was hard to follow at times. I couldn't help but notice that the author has patents on rubber footing products which he advertises throughout his book.

This is the best book I could find when researching HOW to build my own arena. there is so little info out there, everyone can tell you what not to do, but few give instructions on how to do it correctly.

Interesting facts on soil chemistry, If you are looking for parctical guidelines to designing and building an arena this book is not it.