The Construction Process...
One of the things Kathy needed to school and exercise her horses was a manége ( a sand school) We did look for property with one already built, but had no luck, and anyway, 'Windfall Farm' was exactly what we wanted. With enough land to utilise and advice from the planning department we found a suitable company - and put one in.
We had thought of doing it ourself originally - boy am I glad we didn't toy with THAT idea for too long! The company was father and son business
C.J.Arenas and we 100% recommend them!
So here we are, in pictures, from start to finish ....
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Middle Field, looking towards where the manége will be
(along the far side of the central fence) |
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| Bottom Field |
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The slope can be seen clearly here - the manége will run
along beside the wire fence in the distance behind the pony
There's quite a drop in the level! |
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| A BIG hole appears.... |
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| The spoil from the hole builds up the other end.... |
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| Lots of levelling is involved |
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| The sand and stones arrive |
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| Baz absolutely ADORED his very own private beach! |
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| The stones weren't so much fun though |
Baz's little face when he first discovered that his private beach had gone!
He was SO disappointed!
However he is now delighted with his very own football pitch! He loves playing ball in the school! (and of course, we built it just for HIM! LOL )
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| more levelling.... |
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| The fencing arrives |
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| and the posts are put in |
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| more levelling |
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| and the channels are made for the drainage |
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| the stones have gone down - and then the sand |
Our construction was more difficult because of the slope of the field
The school drops about 6 feet at the north end (ground going down into the school)
then drops about 15 feet at the south end (away from the school)
so to get it level that involved a lot of digging down one end a
nd building up at the other. B
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| then the top rubber and fibre mix surface |
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| finally the gate and the track up to it |
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| And the manége is ready for.... |
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| Lexie to enjoy! |
And how it is today (5th September 2013) fully in use
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| the western slope from the direction of the main gate |
and round to the south
you can see the height of the southern slope here
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and back towards the main gate
~ ~ ~ |
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| The depth down at the north-east corner |
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| looking over the end rail |
The south-west corner
it's so high up it's a bit like having your own hill fort!
Our thanks to Chris and John Gill for their hard work
(in a sweltering heat-wave!)
(couple more photos of the complete finished manége to come - call back in a couple of days!
Fascinating to me. We built one very similar but we have heavy clay soils and didn't use the rock base, so of course we still have the mud in the upper end, despite the drain and the expense. A question--what sort of fiber is that you used? It looks like shredded paper?
ReplyDeleteThe slope also helps with the drainage, so hopefully we'll be OK with that. The surface was sand, then rubber and fibre mixed together on top. Gives a lovely springy surface and shouldn't freeze in winter (if it does, it will still be easily raked.) It does take quite a bit of bedding in though. We rake/roll once a week.
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