Horse arena rake

[Lone Wolf]

Just disc and cleaned up an area in my pasture for my wife to use for her barrel racing practice. I am looking at a King Kutter rotary harrow vs TR3 drag rake ($1200 vs $4000) Does any any body know if the King Kutter would work on a dirt arena to keep it soft and not so packed down? I have seen it work good on a sand arena but not sure about a dirt one. Can't do the sand thing right now for our arena and disc it every few weeks and trying to level it out is a pain in the butt. Thought about those drag gates that you get from Tractor Supple and hook to an ATV but not sure if the teeth would loosen the dirt up enough to make it softer? Thanks for any feed back.

 

[Luremaker]

You need a Jake Rake :thumbsup:.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/185508-jake-rake.html

Jakes Implements - Home

 

[Gizmo2]

I don't know about the harrow but every hear of Splints? What you need is sand or the like.

 

[ninefinger]

Know zero about horses or how deep you need to cut but a pulverizer may do the deed.

 

[Johndeere3720]

You need a Jake Rake :thumbsup:.

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/attachments/185508-jake-rake.html

Jakes Implements - Home

Yes, check out my Jake Rakes. They will cultivate, level, and harrow a hard packed arena with ease. Fill out a form on my website and we can get you set up for one. And you can get one in any color! :thumbsup:

 

[WM75Guy]

I used a 6' tiller to make my arena. I then had a doser come in to level it with laser levels. I use a 8' Red Master II harrow to drag it. I paid $2800 for the RMII. Keeps it broke up and level just fine. My soil is sandy loam.

Red Master Harrow - horse arena harrow for maintaining footings

 

[WM75Guy]

Just disc and cleaned up an area in my pasture for my wife to use for her barrel racing practice. I am looking at a King Kutter rotary harrow vs TR3 drag rake ($1200 vs $4000) Does any any body know if the King Kutter would work on a dirt arena to keep it soft and not so packed down? I have seen it work good on a sand arena but not sure about a dirt one. Can't do the sand thing right now for our arena and disc it every few weeks and trying to level it out is a pain in the butt. Thought about those drag gates that you get from Tractor Supple and hook to an ATV but not sure if the teeth would loosen the dirt up enough to make it softer? Thanks for any feed back.

The tractor has to go fairly fast so the King Kutter can dig in and spin at a fast enough speed. The rotary harrows do not do well on levelling ruts such as a barrel pattern unless you do it frequently. Notice how often they drag at a rodeo when they run barrels. Depending on how often and for how long she practices you could be doing a lot of dragging. I was not impressed with the workmanship on the KK rotary harrows I looked at. With hard dirt you may be doing a lot of welding of the teeth pins back on.

 

[donais]

this is what i made works awesome levels very well kinda looks alot like an arena-vator. s tine spring teeth dig real well the leveling blade smoothes it nicely and the roller firms up the ground.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Thanks for the feedback, looked at a few rakes and have to agree the KK rotary harrow is out of the question. There seems to be 3 different styles of rakes- with a roller (TR3 and Parma Groomer)to smooth the dirt, the non-roller (Jakes) which I can't tell if it smooths the dirt between horse barrels and the non roller but has a plate on the end to smooth the dirt (Frontier RA 1108).

 

[ustmd]

We are in a similiar boat to you.

We do have a sand arena, but have an issue with grass and the sand getting a hard crust on it.

So far, the best tools for my money has been a landscape rake to break it up and dethatch, followed up by a drag harrow to smooth it out.

Good luck.