Around the Barn: A Freshly Leveled Arena
If the arena looks a little different this week, there’s a good reason!
Maintaining good arena footing is an ongoing process. Twice every day, our arena is watered and dragged by tractor as part of its regular maintenance. This daily care helps keep the footing consistent and ready for our horses and riders.
Even with regular daily maintenance, however, footing naturally shifts and accumulates unevenly over time as horses work around the rail, through corners, and across different areas of the arena. Periodically, the arena needs a much bigger reset to redistribute and level the footing from one end to the other—and that’s what happened this week.
It was a big undertaking! On Sunday afternoon, eight people—including several members of our IEA team—helped completely empty the arenas so they would be ready for the work. Then, throughout much of Monday, the LAEC crew worked on dragging, redistributing, and leveling the footing.
A huge thank-you to everyone who pitched in to clear the arenas and to the LAEC crew for all their work keeping our riding surface in great shape!
It’s easy to overlook how much work goes into maintaining a good riding arena. Regular watering and dragging make a big difference, but periodically leveling the footing properly must take quite a bit of effort from the whole team. I appreciate these behind-the-scenes updates because they show how much care goes into keeping the facility safe and comfortable for both horses and riders. Outside the barn, I enjoy learning about different plants too, and this plant collection https://botanapp.com/plants is a useful place to explore different varieties and learn more about them.
Great to see the care that goes into maintaining the arena! It's easy to take good footing for granted, but posts like this are a nice reminder of how much behind-the-scenes work—and teamwork—goes into keeping things safe and consistent for both horses and riders. Thanks to everyone who pitched in!