How to Choose the Right Footing for Your Riding Arena

season upwards of 6000 gallons nearly 23000 litres a day. This poses the challenge of whether you will have access to that volume of water. Can you sustain and afford the amount of water you are going to need or will it put pressure on your water source whether it is coming from your well a ground water source or a city aquifer? What restrictions might be in place during times of drought? But as von Hauff commented if you cant water your arena surface it doesnt bind. If it doesnt bind you cant use the arena.
The climate can be a major challenge particularly if summers are hot and dry and winters are cold and wet said Dr. Sarah Jane Hobbs Reader in Equine and Human Biomechanics with the University of Central Lancashire UK and lead author of the FEI Equine Surfaces White Paper. Learning the best methods of maintenance throughout the year is important and maintaining the surface should also help to stop it becoming uneven. Riders should be paying attention to these changes as well. If the surface becomes very dry and deep for instance a horse will have to work harder to jump a fence compared to when the surface is firmer and moist. Too much movement can cause slipping which causes overstrain of tendons andor ligaments. If the surface gets too hard then horses are likely to experience much greater forces much more quickly through their limbs which can cause damage to bone or cartilage over time.
She added though that horses can be conditioned to many different types of surfaces as adaptations occur in their hard and soft tissues each time they are exercised. If riders consider the surface along with the current health and fitness of their horses together with the volume of exercise they
 intend to do on a daily basis the adaptations should help to make them stronger and fitter rather than increasing injury risk.