Vision Becomes Reality- the saga of a dressage ring

Well in my last post I told you about my dressage ring dream and how reality did not quite match the vision I had.... well Hey Presto, my magician ( yes you guessed it, Francis) managed his usual magic and turned a soggy patch of unlevel ground into a wonderful 20x40 m dressage ring! And we had some rain after the base went in and no puddles or wet spots! Will have to see what its like after a really heavy rain but it is such an improvement from riding on grass! The round pen is great but it does limit what you can do in the way of exercises/training. Now the girl has options!!!

 The man who delivered the first load of sand  did a terrible job of doing a "tailgate spread" -( that is when they drop the material out of the back of the dump truck as they drive across the area); a good person can get a fairly even spread of a few inches which is what we wanted/needed. Instead we got a huge pile of each end of the "ring" and very uneven in between.So Francis had to scraped it all off to the sides so we could start again. I then contacted someone else on the advice of a friend who came and told me I would need a "base" of gravel that would pack and provide a firm footing and then put a couple of inches of sand on top. So all this was going to cost only a bit more than what I had originally arranged from the one gravel seller, I decided to go ahead.

So last weekend Francis levelled the "base"... a challenging task when he didn't have the best of tools/equipment. He has his old tractor whose hydraulics don't have any real "down" pressure, a borrowed blade that attaches on the back of the tractor( borrowed from my friendly ex-husband), Miss Piggy ( our little ATV) and a drag harrow and of course, last but not least- a regular hand rake!

Base layer down and levelled

First two loads of sand "tail dropped" on the base

Francis the "Magician" at work levelling the sand- Notice the markings in the foreground- that
is where he raked and levelled by hand to get it just right!

During the week this past week the sand for the top was delivered and Francis spent at least 10 hours levelling it.... it is amazing to see the transformation! Yesterday the three of us, Marina, myself and Francis measured the ring and put in a few markers. We still have to put a "fence" type structure around it to keep busy horses from exploring the new "sand box"...We are trying to decide on how to do this . We have come up with two options - each of which will be about the same cost: 

1) entails putting about 30 posts around the outside which will stand about 4 feet tall; drill holes in the posts at the top and about half way down, through which white plastic chain will be passed. This will be pretty and  quite traditional as far as dressage rings go ( except for the height), as typically the dressage "fence" is about 10" off the ground and is white in colour. The advantage the chain is removable to allow equipment into the ring, but the disadvantage is its frail and would not stand  up to horses crashing through it. However, so far the horses have not demonstrated these tendencies. We easily kept them out of fresh grass seed areas with pickets and tape/string.

2) for this option we are considering buying traditional split cedar rails fencing. It has the aged traditional look of farm fencing which would match the old barn and be about the same cost. However, it would not look like a traditional dressage ring... not could it be taken down to allow equipment in if we ever have to add more sand,etc

So if anyone out there wants to comment on which option we should go with please feel free to do so! We will show you the final construction...

Inaugural ride!

Every dressage arena/ring needs letters to mark the ring (A, B,C,E, F, H, K, M for a 20 x 40 metre arena).We are thinking of making out of little plywood "teepees"... so they can stand up; these of course will be painted the traditional white with black letters. My next task is to do a search online to explain why the letters are the ones they are....? Okay so I couldn't wait and had to do it right away.... So this is what I found:

One theory suggests that the letters indicated where each courtier or rider's horse was to stand and wait for their riders.

The "hof" (stable yard) was believed to be large enough for the horses and riders to parade around for their morning exercise or to assemble for ceremonial parades (20 x 60 m).

The markings found on the walls of the Manstall were:


A         Ausgang                   (Exit). 

K         Kaiser                       (Emperor).
F         Fürst                         (Prince).

P         Pferknecht                (Ostler or Groom).

V         Vassal                        (Servant/Squire/Equerry)

E         Edeling/ Ehrengast   (Chieftain or Honoured Guest)

B         Bannertrager              (Standard Bearer).

S         Schzkanzler                 (Chancellor of the Exchequer)

R         Ritter                         (Knight).

M         Meier                         (Steward).

H         Hofsmarshall              (Lord Chancellor).

The above list shows all the letters used for the larger size ring- 20 x 60... 

Another theory about the letters is that they represent the letters of cities first conquered by the Romans... so you decide which one you like best! I love medieval things so I liek the first version.

I'll post pictures again when the fencing and letters are up! ( but that may not be for quite awhile!)