You’ve finally found a footing that won’t freeze!! Finding an arena footing that can handle a wide range of temperatures is hard. One of the most common questions is “does your footing freeze in the winter?” The quick answer to that is no, it doesn’t freeze in the winter, colder temps can bring on a stiffening to the footing, but it doesn’t freeze!
Being located in Upstate NY in the Finger Lakes Region, we had to create a product that could withstand our harsh, snowy winters, as well as, be able to handle the temperatures across most of the country. We created this footing with all of these obstacles in mind. When choosing what polymer we wanted to use as a binder and dust suppressant for our footing, we chose wax because of the ability to handle the broad range of temperatures. Wax can withstand temperatures as high as 90-100˚F degrees and can go as cold as negative temperatures which means footing that won’t freeze.
Footing typically freezes with increased moisture in the footing. With traditional sand, water particles constantly sit inside the footing layer, especially when drainage is not ideal in an arena. Once the temperature hits 32˚F, these water particles will freeze in your footing, and your sand will become hard. It makes it seem like your entire footing layer is frozen, when it is the water particles in that layer. When our footing is installed correctly, 85% of rainfall will actually wick right off of the footing surface because of the wax. Only around 15% of moisture will be absorbed through the footing. With the proper base, the small amount that does go down into the footing drains straight down to the base and out of the footing.
Although there will be some moisture in our footing in an outdoor arena, the footing will not give you the “frozen” feel that sand often does in cold temperatures. The footing may be a bit stiffer than in warmer temperatures, but this will not affect your horse’s performance on the footing! Our footing allows your horse to train longer and harder than any other footing, and you will be spending much less time on maintaining it! Oh and don’t forget you’ve finally found footing that won’t freeze!!
Let IGK Equestrian know, how do you prevent your footing from freezing?
