Guess what. My sister in Montana is building a riding ring and was telling me about just that. I'll get the details and follow up.

 

The bad news: At those distances you'll never get any sprinkler to adeqautely cover head-to-head from the edges as even golf sprinklers will fall a little short.

The good news: For dust control you don't need to be head-to-head since you're just trying to control some of the dust and not grow anything.

The unfortunate news: It will depend on your water supply's PSI/GPM as to actually what might be able to be accomplished. Be prepared to increase your water supply if you don't already have enough availability.

 

The farm has a 2 1/2 hrs vfd pump with a 2" main near the ring

 

The farm has a 2 1/2 hrs vfd pump with a 2" main near the ring

Doubtful that it will put out the type of pressure you'd need for golf sprinklers as you'd be limited to around 55 GPM with a 2" main line. Some golf sprinklers put out better than 100 GPM.

IF you had the pressure you could ring the fence line with large turf or impact sprinklers (12-15 GPM each divided into zones) and get 50' or so out of them which would leave the very center of the riding ring without water.

I know of one riding ring that does this and then sets out a large portable sprinkler in the middle (moved a couple of times) when the ring is not in use. I also know of another one that has four permanent sprinklers mounted on galvanized risers in the center that are protected by cutting barrels placed over them for the safety of the riders. Guess it will all depend on how the ring is used as to what you might accomplish.

Then there's indoor arenas that have the sprinklers in the rafters kinda like fire sprinklers.

 

The fire sprinkler method is the way to go in my opinion. All you are trying to do is control dust.

 

We did this some years ago, we ran the lines on the outsite and used the rainbird brass impacts mounted about 10' high on copper risers to get more distance out of them.

We installed the about 3' so it could be run in the winter and used yard hydrants to drain the heads after use.

just keep in mind that you don't want anything sticking out by the riding areas that a horse might get caught on. we ran the copper behind the support beams they were mounted on and piped them around so the only thing sticking out was the head itself.

 

You could draw up a design for a 125-foot-wide ring, using big ag impact heads, but you might only have enough water for one head at a time.

 

You could draw up a design for a 125-foot-wide ring, using big ag impact heads, but you might only have enough water for one head at a time.

This would be my thought as well. For dust control you wouldn't really need head to head across the ring, just along the sides. Given that, you would only need to cover a radius of about 65 feet with any one sprinkler.

 

Nelson Big Gun SR-100 Ag rotor. Available in adjustable model.
Using 0.5" nozzle 50.0 psi at base of head - 50.0 GPM 205' diameter
They are not cheap, but they are designed to be moved from one location to another like a quick coupler. You could do it in four moves - two on each long side and cover the entire arena as long as they have no heartburn with the ends outside the arena getting wet.

 

I have done several..none quite that large...

Copper risers...large impacts....one at a time.....short run times.....fun to watch....PITA....good money......instead of using RB brass impacts...find someone who can get you WestAg brass impacts.....big money savings...

 

We reworked a horse ridding ring last year. Rain Bird Brass impacts mounted on the outside of the fence. They ride the horses mostly on the outer part of the ring along the fence so the setup worked just fine.

 

Large nozzle irrigation heads used on golf courses will throw to 80' or so at around 35 gpm.
Install a two wire system with each head on it's own station and you should be alright for dust control.
Another thing, talk to the golf course rep at the supply house and give him your layout and specifications. I have had some really odd irrigation requirements on courses I have built and maintained in the past and especially Toro and Rainbird have designed nozzles for these weird applications.
And at no cost too.

 

The Underhill Mirage M-160-FP will throw 164ft... as long as you can provide 320gpm @ 120psi. :clapping:

 

Why not Galv. risers straped to posts w/ a large rotor on top why does it have to be impacts it's just for dust.Go above posts 3'-5'.IF it is a covered ring overhead would be the way to go

 

I did one of these about two years ago.

We used a 2.5" feed and Hunter I-25's. We ran one inch SCH 80 up the outside of the post to the head, and mounted it so the head was flush with the top of the post when retracted.

While the actual arena was not quite as large as yours, we managed to cover the entire thing in 3 zones.

 

I have done several..none quite that large...

Copper risers...large impacts....one at a time.....short run times.....fun to watch....PITA....good money......instead of using RB brass impacts...find someone who can get you WestAg brass impacts.....big money savings...

On another 1/2 mile training track we installed behind a guys house, we irrigated the inside first and the owner had us come back and do the outer portion. During the years of service we had replaced and cleased out quite a few of the brass impacts and they were very expensive at the time to buy.

Fast forward a couple of years and the guy quite calling us to change heads and just had us working his apt. complexes and strip malls, well it turns out that he started buying the rainbird plastic impacts from kmart at a cost of around $5 compared to around $20+ for the brass and in all honesty the plastic heads were just as good if not better than the brass.

 

the owner of the farm wants me to use the 4th head down on this page http://www.waterreels.com/Sprinklerperformance.ivnu
I was thinking of pulling a loop main with wire around the perimeter and one valve per head at the base of the riser. the manufaturer says we can get 70' out of them.

 

the owner of the farm wants me to use the 4th head down on this page http://www.waterreels.com/Sprinklerperformance.ivnu
I was thinking of pulling a loop main with wire around the perimeter and one valve per head at the base of the riser. the manufaturer says we can get 70' out of them.

Thanks for the link, I sure like to see big water work. :clapping:

 

Thanks for the link, I sure like to see big water work. :clapping:

I've just ordered a Komet Twin Max Gun to mount on the Airstream; look out
I.A.!

 

Greenmonster,

Did you look at Hunter's I-60 or RainBirds 8005 rotor?. When I worked for Hunter a few years ago, I speced out two horse arenas in the Santa Barbara area using I-60s on galvanized pipe coming up the back side of the fence posts. We ended up with a system that could run all 6 heads at one time. I don't recall the exact dimensions, but I think it was pretty close to your deal. This could all be mute if the owner has already given you the green light on water guns.

 

...find someone who can get you WestAg brass impacts.....big money savings...

Very unreliable adjustable impacts. We used them for years on our QCV systems but have had to change to the more expensive Rainbird models. The WestAgs have a tendency now of getting stuck and not kicking back.

 

There were not unreliable 15 years ago.....sorry for bad info.

 

So, it's not just the Weathertec impacts you've had trouble with? I always figured those big impacts as having a better chance to be trouble-free, since they didn't have any real size constraints getting in the way of their design.

 

My sister is buliding a riding ring on her place in Montana and is being advised by one of the top q horse breeders in the country who says he has made every mistake their is and this is his advice to her. Use roof top misters that put out a very fine even mist over the whole ring. The problem with impacts around the ring is uneven coverage and puddling. All you are trying to do is control dust not grow anything. He also mixes salt with the sand to prevent freezing. The warer drains after each application to avoid winterizing and freeze damage.

 

I was thinking the same thing about ponding and even some mud erosion using a gun. I don't think big impacts would be much of a problem but I grew up on a farm using lots of big guns and we use a couple of smaller 100gpm guns now. Guns don't spinkle, they slam the ground with big, fast, heavy slugs of water.

And guns don't water evenly in the first few passes. They skip big areas on each rotation. Each tick-tick-tick of the gun can send out a 5 gallon slug of water that's 10 feet from the last 5 gallon slug. Eventually the whole area will be evenly watered but that may not be until you've made a lot of mud.

And guns don't usually do a good job of even watering at low pressures. At low pressures, guns tend to water only the outside edge of the circle. That's fine on a traveling reel where the gun moves. Since the watering circle moves, eventually everything is on the outside edge of the circle and gets watered. Stationary guns need high pressure to break up the water stream to water evenly. Ag guns usually run over 100psi and 150psi isn't that unusual.