Grading Finally got the grading done!

[To20Chris]

I've been working all summer to do the grading around the riding ring. First I had to do some major water diversions, and then we had a guy with a dozer come in and level it out. He also rolled it out and dumped the fines in. As agreed, I was left with a large pile of topsoil to move. Unfortunately, he also changed the swale I put in in the feild behind, and so it no longer worked. A separate swale he installed along side also was not done right, so as a consequence, given the many heavy downpours we had this summer, the ring was heavily damaged about 4 times. I kept fixing the swales, and trying to get grass to grow, but every time the heavy rains would come and wipe it out before it could get established. I feel like I spent the whole summer doing the same projects over and over! I did, actually ! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif

Well, I finally got to moving "topsoil mountain", as we've been calling it. I used the FEL and my cheapo KK 5' BB. Both were flawless, as was the LK3054. After I had moved the soil around, I let it sit through a couple of rains to settle it, and then I had to go onto the bank with the BB. It was a bit nerve wracking, but I went slow and careful - no problems. I wish I had taken more pics along the way, but here is a shot of the pile about 50% gone:

 

[To20Chris]

A shot as I was repairing the damage after the first storm. The ditch in front I cut through the mud in the driving rain to try to save as much of the fines as I could. The pile to the back right is where I piled as much clay as I had left to try to make the ring the size it was SUPPOSED to be, and at least symmetrical.

 

[To20Chris]

And here is the pile all gone! I'm really amazed at how well the tractor, FEL, and BB worked. I got pretty good at using the FEL. I found having the BB on the back to be very useful for smoothing off the ground in front of the pile when it got too many ruts in it - made it much safer to work on.

 

[KiotiJohn]

Good going Chris. I can sure understand your feeling about doing it over and over.
I had spent so many hours here trying to get my outside cleaned up and in shape, and the hurricanes just kept coming, tearing everything apart and leaving terrible messes all over the place.
Just imagine not having your tractor and how much work you'd have to hire out or do yourself.
Oooo what a thought! John

 

[SteveH_CT]

Looks great. You're about 1 year ahead of me, as I'm clearing pasture right now. A Riding ring will be my next project (after the barn is built).

It's tough to take pics while you're working - but the ones you took look nice.

 

[NHRich]

Nice work, looks like a job well done! I agree 100% about the regular use of your back blade to smooth out the work area as you go along. I just finished moving 35 ton of large boulders and rip-rap from the piles the dump trucks left over to a steep 5' stream bank for erosion control, and the area in front of the rock piles looked like a war zone after I was done. Big rocks and rip-rap are a challenge to do with the FEL (at least with my level of expertise), because everything wants to lock together -- exactly the reason it makes a good erosion control barrier, but I ended up digging a lot of good-sized ruts with my wheels while getting the material into my bucket.

Looks like you're going to have a really nice ring there, and thanks for sharing your pics.


--Rich

 

[To20Chris]

Thanks guys! I really debated on getting a lanscpe rake, but I decided to do without. I still wonder how much it would have helped. Instead I waited until it was good a dry (not a lot of opportunities like that this year!), and then just dragged it over and over with the scarifiers up. I found that every now and then the BB would get popped up by a large stone, and then all the junk in it would get dropped out in a pile. So I ended up with piles of trash (sticks and stones), which I picked up by hand & shovel and threw into the FEL. Once it was pretty clean, I seeded it and then raked it all in by hand with a spring rake. It rained today, so I hope it germinates soon! It didn't take too long to do the hand work, but if it was much bigger I would have wanted an implement! My next project is a water line to the barn from a nearby spring - gotta put the backhoe back on - I'm running out of time!

 

[Mark4510]

Chris,
Really good job on getting the arena done. We had the same problems getting the drainage right so I know what a challenge it can be. It can be really difficult to get the arena done correctly and the drainage right but once its dont it tends to stay done for a long time.

What a beautiful setting for riding. I would be pretty happy looking at that even if I was not on a horse.

Great job.
Mark

 

[KiotiJohn]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( It rained today, so I hope it germinates soon! )</font>
If you have my luck, what will germinate are more of those little sticks and stones!! John

 

[To20Chris]

Mark - Thanks, it is a pretty and peaceful spot, but at first the ring looked more like a parking lot, rather out of place! But as I get the grading done and more grass growing on it, it is getting more integrated into the surroundings. I will put a nice fence around at least three sides, which I think will set it off nicely.

John - I can't tell you how much seed I have put down this year! I assume most of it is growing somewhere, I just have no idea of where that is, other than downhill from where I put it!

We just got another flooding downpour yesterday /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif ! The bank seems OK, but the ring took a beating again. It is quite frustrating, as all my water diversions seem to be working very well, but that still leaves a lot of surface area on the ring itself, and the old line fence above it, and basicly all the area "below" all the diversions. That collects on the ring, and I've tried to find a way to keep it from washing it out. By now, I know I cannot keep it from collecting a lot of water in these rains, and now my only goal is to keep the fines from washing off. I can easily re-distribute them with the BB if they're still on the ring. If I let the water just run off down slope, it carves channels and washes the fines off. I have put boards all along the bottom edge to form a fence, and that is sort of working, but I will have to redo it and set the boards down into the clay. What is happening now is that the water pools, but it finds a channel under the boards somewhere, and then in all runs out like a tub drain, taking a lot if fines with it. If I could get it to pool and run out the top, I think the fines would mostly stay on the ring. The key seems to be to keep the velocity of the water down, and then it won't carry the fines.

By now it looks like I need another truck load, and they cannot drive over to the ring, so the only place I can have them put is on my driveway - requirening many hours of loader work - again. Oh - and every time I have a load of anything delivered, they take out the lawn in the corner of my driveway, so I'll get to grade and re-plant that for the 5th time this year! Just roll that big ol rock down the hill, and I'll move it back up to the top again - and again - and again -and..........