Arena atmosphere

I used to ride around the stand of Christmas berry trees in the front pasture. It was grass and some uneven land but we made do. No diagonal lines or serpentines possible. One time Tera started bucking and my stirrups disappeared. I found them days later high in the tree tops. Around 10 years ago a contractor said he could build it for $7,000. During construction the stand of Christmas berry trees was removed. The south short end had a bank which had to be excivated. There were some major miscalculations. I wanted a base of compacted crusher waste at a minimum of 4 inches deep. The contractor brought in 4 inches of crusher waste and compacted it to 2 inches thick. Noooo... In the end the arena was more than double the quoted price but well worth it. The rail posts were milled from Ulupalakua eucalyptus. We added a observation deck above the short end which is pretty cool(literally) and a nice picnic area. Oh and hand raking is really hard so you need a tractor.( cha ching) Then you need a drag. (cha ching).I needed a windbreak and sprinkler system. For every foot of hedge height you get 10 feet of wind protection. The false olive hedge on the road is 12-13 feet tall. The plumbagia hedge of beautiful blue flowers down the long side is 7 feet tall. It took a good 4 years of watering constantly to keep the sand from being blown away. I rarely need to water to keep the sand in now, just occasionally during gale winds. Over the years I have needed truck loads of sand. Today the Koa tree shades almost half the arena in the afternoon making for enjoyable riding.