[Fi]

We are just getting ready to surface our outdoor school and wondered if anyone can offer any advice on types of surface, what's best, best suppliers etc. I have heard so many different things I am confused as to what to do.
We get our fair share of snow and frost so guessing some rubber of some sort is a good idea. But how does it need to be built up. Do we need a membrane?
We are keen to do this properly first time so that we are not having to rip it up again. Any stories of experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks for any help

[AengusOg]

If you want to do it properly, you will need to consider the water table and whether you may need to put drainage in. You would do well to at least put down a membrane with a layer of 'type one', to a depth of about six inches, on top. Then another membrane, and your top surface on top of that.

My employer has a mixture of sharp sand and plastic shreds in the outdoor school (and in the indoor as well, which is watered and graded frequently), and that stands up well to all weathers. The plastic shreds came from a firm near Dundee (can get details). It is coaxial (sp?) cable from the telecom industry. They take the core metal cable out and shred the plastic outer coverings, so you get a black and white mixture. It looks good and, mixed with the sand in equal parts, forms a firm surface which doesn't compact or freeze. In the outdoor school it doesn't need much maintenance other than an occasional grade and a bit of weeding (or spray) round the edges.

These surfaces have been down for about five years and haven't given any trouble.

[lachlanandmarcus]

I would echo AengusOg on this one, if you can get hold of the wire casing tiny plastic shreds, they are very good indeed. Our old livery yard had that (with a well built well drained proper bases as AE suggests, and there was probably only one or so days a year when it was not really usable.

Try and avoid bark chippings,altho cheap they need replacing more often and can get very slippy which kind of defeats the object.

Rubber can also be good but proper horse grade sand(ie fine silica not the stuff from the local beach) plus the plastic shreds poss with tiny plastic granules too is fab IMO. Not that we have been able to save up for a school after the major civil engineering project of building a mini barn stable block on a slope!

[Fi]

We have had the area levelled over the winter and know we need drainage. We actually hit a spring, so that will be fed into our pond. Sounds like some sort of rubber/ plastic is a must to keep off the frost etc. But what are the pros and cons for sharp sand or silica?
Does anyone know of any good suppliers, we're in  Aberdeenshire, for the sand and membranes?
Supplier for the plastic stuff would be great AengusOg.
And WOW Lachlanandmarcus, your stables sound fantastic. That will hopefully be our next expenditure, but don't think we can stretch to something as fancy as yours. Our ponies are natives anyway so they are fine outside!
Tomorrow i'll be measuring up for the drainage pipes and hardcore.
Fi

[lachlanandmarcus]

You def need to use the proper silica sand not ordinary sharp sand. The ordinary stuff has jagged particles not smooth and round like the silica, and hence can make the horses feet sore, especially if it gets (which it will) in between shoe and hoof and then act like sandpaper :-(

[AengusOg]

You def need to use the proper silica sand not ordinary sharp sand.

That's right...I made a mistake in saying sharp sand. Its silica we have too.