How Much Control Do You Need?
Figuring out the optimum application rate for a dust-control product is tricky. In fact, even the product manufacturer's standard recommendation is merely an estimate, because the amount of product you need to apply depends on the surface area of the particles in your arena.
For instance, if you have brand new sand, you might need an ounce per square foot. But a year down the road, after each particle has broken into four pieces, you'll have four times more surface area to coat, so you might need three ounces.
The best approach is to make dust control an iterative process, says Footing Unlimited's Wayne Gregory. "If you apply too much, it's a mess, whether it's water or vegetable oil or mineral oil or wax. Start with a little, add a little, and just keep stepping it up until you get it where you want it."
Petroleum-based Products
Many dust-control products on the market contain petroleum derivatives such as mineral oil and Vaseline. Believe it or not, both come from highly refined crude oil. Such products are effective at suppressing dust, they're clean, and they're good for hooves (and even your boots). On the other hand, they evaporate and break down quickly, and they're costly. You could spend as much as $10,000 a year to treat a dressage arena with a petroleum-based oil product.
Also in the petroleum category are waxes, which are sprayed onto the arena to form a bond with sand particles. In general, waxes can be pretty effective and may last five to 10 years in an indoor arena if you select a quality product with a good warranty. (Waxes are subject to evaporation, UV breakdown and melting, so a warranty is very important.)
Because of cost variances, you should look at wax you can apply yourself. A do-it-yourself wax coating, such as EuroWax, might cost around $1.50 per square foot. If you pay a vendor to apply a wax product, you could be looking at up to $5 or $6 a square foot.
One word of caution: Avoid black wax products. They're cheaper, but not as purified as other waxes. They produce vapors and smell bad, and they may blacken your arena as well.
Vegetable Oils
A number of dust suppressants rely on familiar vegetable oil products, including soybean oil, cottonseed oil and canola oil. These substances are safe and biodegradable, assuming you buy products that are properly refined and not previously used. However, they also evaporate quickly, so they might last only a few months even in an indoor arena.
Depending on where you live, these products might run $2,000 to $5,000 a year. You can buy such oils and apply them yourself, although at least in the Midwest, many companies will come and spray them on your arena for you. Products in this category include Dustkill, ArenaPro and Equestrian SoyL.
A note about oils: Petroleum-based and vegetable oils are effective when used on a footing that is all or mostly sand. Mixing oil with a footing that has a heavy concentration of silt and clay (or rubber) will produce a slick mess. When using oils, just lightly coat your sand. As with all dust-control products, you should start with a little and then add only what you need to get the results you're after.
Know What You're Getting
Sometimes it can be hard to tell exactly what's in a particular dust-control product. Terms such as "biodegradable liquid" or "synthetic organic fluid" aren't too illuminating. To get an idea of what the product contains:
- Check out the product's ingredient label (although not all products will reveal their key ingredients).
- Ask for a material safety data sheet (MSDS). The MSDS will disclose any dangers you should be aware of with the product.
- Determine what type of warranty is available for the product.
Water-absorbing Polymers
Products such as ArenaMoist and Terra-Sorb consist of crystals that are designed to absorb and release water. You may have encountered similar products in your garden supply store because they were created for gardening and landscaping use. These products usually say that they will absorb 300 (or more) times their weight in water.
The problem with using them in an arena is that to get them to absorb that much water, you have to flood it. Because most people are reluctant to submerge their arenas, they often don't fully hydrate the product and get its true value.
Although these products can help reduce dust, they're somewhat expensive. And problems may arise because they're rendered ineffective by hard water and they're sensitive to UV sunlight. In addition, the material is likely to become slippery if it gets clumped together when it's wet. Ideally, it should be evenly distributed through several inches of footing, preventing that problem, but that's not always the reality.
Coating/Binding Products
Another category of dust suppressants consists of emulsions that are intended to coat the footing material and fight dust by making particles stick together. In this group are products such as Dustshield, Durasoil and Arena Rx.
As a general rule, these products have a cumulative effect on footing, so they require light maintenance applications to keep the treatment effective. For example, a first application of Arena Rx on a 10,000-square-foot arena might cost roughly $1,200; a maintenance application a year later would run about half that much.
Additional Options
Arena dust control is a tiny aspect of the enormous dust-control industry, and new products and approaches are being developed all the time. In fact, quite a few dust suppressants are available that aren't designed for arena use but that might be worth investigating. For instance, an assortment of plant-derived products are on the market, including sugar beet extracts, pine sap emulsion, lignins (a sticky wood pulp substance) and electrochemical treatments that condition soil and change its water-holding properties PH*
