FAQ – Arena Footing
Q: How often should I groom my arena footing?
How often you groom depends on what type of footing you purchased from IGK Equestrian. We recommend that TruStride™ and LiteStride™ be groomed once or twice a month, while 5K Ranch™ should be groomed based on use, but around once a week.
Q: Why types of equipment do I need to maintain my arena footing?
IGK Equestrian is a dealer of Parma Coil Tine Groomers. These groomers are small, less aggressive and cost a lot less than traditional grooming drags. If you already have a groomer and would like to know if it would work well with our surfaces please feel free to give us a call!
Q: Do I need to water my arena footing?
NEVER! The special footing mixture is coated with a wax component that will eliminate dust and the time and labor spent on trying to keep dust at bay.
Q: How do I keep my arena footing dust-free?
All of IGK’s arena footings are naturally dust free. You will not have to water the surface or do any special maintenance to ensure that it stays dust free. The only way to make sure that your arena stays dust free is to NEVER mix any other footing in with your IGK Equestrian footing. It will disrupt the natural mixture and will create dust.
Q: How deep do I need to groom my arena?
The footing can be groomed at different depths based on what type of discipline is being performed in the arena. We do not recommend that you go any deeper than an inch into the footing when it comes to grooming. If you would like specifics on our recommendations to grooming depth based on discipline, please feel free to contact us.
Q: How long should my dust-free surface last?
IGK Equestrian prides itself on the fact that we haven’t had a single customer ever have to replace their footing. Our Footing is a very stable product. The components will last for many years with proper maintenance. After years of heavy use it may need to be replenished with the key components. It does not breakdown or become toxic in any way.
Q: What type of base should my dust free surface have?
The base of the footing is the most important part. We cannot put our footing over your old footing. The best base that works with our footing is a very fine limestone at least 2-3 inches deep.
Q: Can I put the footing over old material?
Unfortunately no, your old footing will have to be removed leaving only the laser leveled stone dust base. We cannot put our footing over old footing because it will mix and contaminate the formulated blend of materials that keeps your horse arena dust free.
Q: Can I put the footing outside?
Of course! TruStride™ and LiteStride™ are the best option for your outdoor arena. Our customers have had heavy rains of over an inch of rain and could immediately ride after the storm. 80% of the water sheds off of the surface. TruStride™ and LiteStride™ are truly all weather arena surfaces.
Q: Does the footing freeze in cold temperatures?
IGK Equestrian footing does not need to be watered and as long as your outdoor arena does not have any water standing on it and has proper drainage, it will not freeze. Proper drainage and base construction keep paired with IGK Equestrian arena surfaces keeps your riding longer and colder!
Q: What is the difference between TruStride™ and LiteStride™?
TruStride™ is our premium footing. It is mixture of pure silica sand, and a combination of synthetic fibers, shoe sole rubber granules and a specialized wax that creates the perfect grip for disciplines such as jumping, Western/Pleasure and Dressage. LiteStride™ is similar to TruStride™ in that it is made up of pure silica sand, a blend of synthetic fibers and a lower percentage of the specialized wax coating to keep it dust free. We normally recommend LiteStride™ for disciplines such as lower jumping, Western/Pleasure and Dressage.
Q: What is the best footing for reigning?
As you know, reining is a western riding discipline where the horses have to do patterns of circles, spins and stops. The footing for this discipline needs to be able to move with the horse and not have too much traction. For this reason we recommend our 5K Ranch™ footing. 5K Ranch™ is a combination of pure silica sand and wax. The wax helps to keep the arena dust free, yet gives you the loose top layer that you need to compete or train for reigning or barrel racing.
Q: What is the best footing for commercial facilities?
Commercial facilities have a lot of riders training in all types of disciplines. For this reason we recommend that commercial facilities install our premium TruStride™ footing to be able to accommodate such diverse training and the number of horses on the footing daily.
Q: Why choose IGK Equestrian?
IGK Equestrian LLC benefits from the 25 years of experience of its parent company, North Brook Farms, Inc., that has been marketing and manufacturing cow and equine comfort products since 1989. We started selling horse footing in 2004 and now have hundreds of happy customers all over the country. We love to take trips out to visit our customers and see how much they enjoy their dust free footing.
Q: Are there any health risks associated with synthetic footing?
Not at all! Customers also worry that horses will try to ingest the footing but we have never had any horses try to eat it. If they were to ingest it for some reason there would be no health risks, everything is inert and there is nothing in it that will harm the horse.
Q: Should horses be turned out on the footing?
We do not recommend that horses be turned out in the footing. Manure and urine needs to be removed immediately after training or riding. Manure is a fragile compound that can release particles into the air and therefore create dust in your arena.
Q: Do I need a drainage system?
Yes you do need a proper drainage system. Indoor and outdoor arenas should have the proper base with drainage and be assessed by a laser level. See our sub-base construction diagram here.
Q: Can it be rolled?
The footing should be rolled with a 5 ton roller during installation and then can be rolled at any desired time with a day to day small roller.
Q: Will the wax melt or need replenishing?
Our wax based synthetic footings are permanent dust free solution. The footing is not currently sold into arid climates where air temperatures reach consistently above 100 F. We would like to chat with you to see if your climate is the right climate for our horse footing to be located.
Q: How much depth do I need for my footing?
The depth of the footing depends on what disciplines you are doing on the footing. For training race horses we recommend 6 inches, for Grand Prix-style jumping we recommend 5 inches, for Western/Pleasure and Dressage we recommend 3.5-4 inches. See our depth chart by discipline here.
