Relative Something

Just when we are beginning to see progress on improvement of our hay-field, we go and re-purpose a significant chunk of it for a riding arena. Cyndie has been planning all along to have an arena, and this section of the field wasn’t producing the greatest grass, so we think it is a good location. Per Cyndie’s request, I mowed the field short in that space, and yesterday I measured and placed step-in posts she purchased for a temporary fence.

It gives us a tangible view of what her desired dimensions look like in that spot. It is a little awkward for now, because the area isn’t completely flat. It took me a lot of tries to get it oriented the way I wanted, because so many of the visual references are not square. Combined with the hill, those features created quite a battle between my eye and the tape measure.

Next, I need to install fence polytape on the posts to create a visual barrier that will allow Cyndie to ride the horses in the space. Somewhere down the line, probably after we get a landscaper to install drain tile and improve the surface of the paddocks, we would like to get the arena graded level and then have a layer of sand put down.

I have contacted two different landscaper/excavators who we were referred to for improving our paddocks, and neither one of them has returned my call. It’s frustrating. Our window of opportunity could close for the season before I can get work scheduled, and then we will have another winter/spring of mud hassles to endure.

I might be forced to do some of the work myself, like digging out a better defined drainage swale. The issue I’m most concerned about is how to determine and maintain a proper slope. I haven’t the equipment or the know-how to execute establishing that critical feature. Is that going to become another thing I have to learn how to do myself?

I’m hoping not.

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