Dustless Arena

I've written about the ranch's dust control product several times already. You can read those posts here, here, and here. But for those who haven't seen this product before, I thought I'd share again.

It comes in large containers and needs to be pumped out and sprayed on.

Yesterday, the ranch owners reapplied the ArenaKleen. While it's a long-lasting product, it does need to be freshened up eventually. The last application gave us two full years before a small amount of dust started to form.

I first dismantled the dressage court and then the arena was smoothed flat.

While it's definitely not cheap, if you live in a drought-ridden state like California, it might be cheaper than a water bill. Here at the ranch, there's a well which means we use a lot of electricity pumping water to irrigate a couple of pastures as well as to control the dust in the sandy lots where the horses live, my two in particular. Watering an arena would both take up a lot of time and add a lot more more work for the well pump. With the ArenaKleen, we never have to water the arena which helps conserve water, something the ranch owners care about.

It's called ArenaKleen, manufactured by DirtGlue.

With the ArenaKleen applied, we have no dust. Zero. And no, I am not exaggerating. Over the past month, some dust has started to come up, but it's hanging very low, and hasn't been a problem. Once the dust started to form though, the ranch owner placed an order for the new containers. I don't blame her for stretching the product for as long as she can.

Once the product is sprayed on, it can be ridden on pretty much immediately. The way I understand it, the liquid encapsulates the grains of sand, weighing them down so that they don't float up into the air. The footing in our arena is a base of sand with DG on the top. I like it, but it's definitely a bit firmer than some of the fancier arenas in which I've ridden. It's rock free, level, and of course, there is no dust.

In the four years that I've been at the ranch, I've not experienced a single negative issue with the product. I ride in it every day and have never experienced a respiratory issue (and I do have asthma). My horses have not been bothered by it either. I only rarely use the arena for turn out - my boys live in large sandy lots so they don't need it, but when the horses have been free to roll, they've never developed any skin reactions. Although, I wouldn't turn them out on it the first few days after it has been applied as it does requires some time to cure.

Two thirds done.

I would not recommend the product for stalls or places where horses live and eat. The HMIS Hazard Ratings that are labeled on each container show it to be a non-hazardous product, but I would do more research before letting a horse live on it all day. Eating and sleeping on it might cause some irritation.

The guys use a small pump to extract the product straight from the container and then spray it on with garden hoses.

For riding, this stuff is the bomb. Before moving to this ranch, I spent so many years watering arenas myself. Here in California where I live, our summers are really hot and long, and we generally go for six to eight months without any rain. It's hard to keep an arena free of dust even for an hour's ride. I am so grateful to have landed at such a great facility.

I can't wait to put the dressage court back together and test out our newly freshened up, dustless arena!