From: Sandra
Dear Jessica, my husband (a farmer) has finally consented to let me use a piece of one of his precious fields as an arena! I am so very excited, but I know it is going to be a problem and I don't want to complain to Donald as this is his family's farm, and he has only just agreed to the arena, so I feel that this is not the moment to say that another piece of land would be preferable.
"My" corner of the field is actually quite convenient to our house and barn, but it is also sadly on the lowest bit of our property, and we do have some quite substantial downpours in spring and summer. I worry that the arena, no matter how well it is constructed and how much of a base installed, will simply become a lake as soon as our spring and summer "monsoons" begin. Do you know of any technique that would help me keep my soon-to-be arena dry and use-able? I do like the idea of locating my arena in that spot, if only I hadn't to be concerned about flooding.
Thank you ever so much. Your service is absolutely priceless, and I love the way you are always so very patient with questioners, I am sure that I would be whacking some of them with a dead fish!
Your devoted reader, Sandra
You're not alone in your worries about flooded arenas - water is almost always an important consideration, no matter where an arena is located. Whether your arena is on a hilltop, on a hillside, or in a valley, your aim is to get less water into the arena - and to get the water off the arena as quickly as possible.
Since you will have to have someone come in with earth-moving equipment to grade the land for the arena, no matter where you put it, you'll just have to schedule a little more work. If the arena site is the low part of the farm, you'll have to do three things: build up the arena itself so that it sits higher, dig out the surrounding area so that it will be lower, and be sure that the arena itself is designed to drain well. That is, the arena will need to slope; either one side or the center will need to be higher, and the slope will need to be enough to encourage the water to leave quickly.
A really good sub-base and base will go a long way toward helping your arena stay dry. A ditch around the arena (think "moat"!) and a few French drains will help a lot.
The real question, I expect, is How badly and how often does that bit of the field flood? Donald probably knows the answer to this very well, especially if the farm has been in his family for generations. But I do see that you might want to be careful about how you open this discussion. Still, you must find out - because it will have an effect on the cost of the arena construction, the number of days or weeks that the arena will be "not in use" because of water, and it may also have an effect on your domestic life. If your husband has found it difficult, as many farmers do, to "sacrifice" a piece of productive land for use as an arena, he is likely to be VERY unhappy later if you aren't able to use the arena regularly. The time to discuss arena placement is NOW, before you send heavy machinery into a field and compact the soil...
My suggestion is that you have a good long talk with whomever will be doing the grading and the arena construction, and get two lists of materials/equipment/time/costs, one based on the arena being put in where Donald has suggested you put it, and one based on the arena being put in elsewhere, on a higher, better-drained part of that field or another. If the figures aren't significantly different, you may want to consider the matter closed. If you find that using the low part of the field is going to be vastly more expensive, show Donald the figures and ask his advice. That way, he'll be prepared for the extra expense if he really does want the arena in that location and no other; he'll also have the option of suggesting some other location if that suits him better. But either way, get all of your facts and information, and have your discussion before you break ground!
Jessica
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