SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/69161
FieldScience tions because of weather. The footing will drain if your base drains." The preferences of the rider will depend a great deal upon what they have trained on, what they are used to riding on, and what is a traditional surface for that disci- pline. Polo riders, for example, because they generally compete on outdoor grass fields, are used to surfaces that do not produce dust, or do not produce much dust. As al- ways, however, the climate of the area the rider generally trains will determine his or her comfort level. THE FACILITY ITSELF According to Jack Kamrath of Tennis mixture of some or all of these. Over time, however, there arose a demand for eques- trian-specific surfaces. After all, if the horse's feet aren't right, nothing is right. "There have been many changes in sur- faces over the past few years," Douglass notes. "Many facilities use a sand and clay mixture, sand and geotextile felt-like prod- uct, and also a manufactured synthetic footing made up of sand, fiber, wax or polymer coating. The surfaces that are not synthetic use water to get the consistency 10 SportsTurf | June 2012 that they need for the discipline they ride. Of course with a synthetic dustless surface, you do not have to ever water for com- paction or dust issues because they stay compacted and you will have no dust is- sues. Typically, synthetic surfaces are the same whether they are used in indoor or outdoor installations. They may have to groom the surface a little differently for race tracks as opposed to riding rings. You also need to be sure that you have a base that drains very well for outdoor installa- Planning Consultants, Inc. in Houston, the design of an equestrian-specific facility is more than just enlarging upon a barn or re- fining a pasture. TPC discovered this upon embarking upon the design of a tennis, equestrian and polo complex in Richmond, TX in 2008. The need to balance all aspects of the project, and particularly, to design a horse-sensitive and rider-friendly environ- ment, was a learning experience. "We learned some fundamental design parameters," Kamrath noted, "which we followed at nearly all times including allow- ing the horses to live with and be near other horses, keep spaces safe for the horses, pro- vide enough stall space to allow the animals to roll on the ground and be free to stretch and exercise, give horses good windows to allow them to smell and interact socially in their stalls, provide plenty of run out space according to land available and providing ample fresh air (without drafts) and as much natural light as possible. For the staff, safe and ease of access to boxes, open sight lines, dryness and warmth, easy access to water, feed and bedding material is impor- tant as a few of the basic design needs." According to Kamrath, the covered in- door equestrian building needed to be a minimum of 300 feet long and 150 feet wide to accommodate the events planned for the facility. TPC went with a pre-engi- neered covered building that had a mid- point of 25 feet to allow for adequate air circulation from a fan system. "In the south, summer heat and ade- quate air circulation is a major need which, as we discovered, was a major need even in northern latitudes of the United States www.sportsturfonline.com