Sahar Daniel Hirosh, an Israeli FEI dressage rider based out of New Hope, Pa., and Wellington, has a busy schedule showing, training and caring for 16 horses.
The last thing the young professional needed was to deal with poor arena footing. Hirosh’s Pennsylvania facility suffered from arenas that did not seem to hold moisture, no matter what he tried. Three arena watering and drags were needed daily. The footing became a big problem, until Hirosh found the solution by enlisting the help of arena footing expert Premier Equestrian.
“It’s an awesome story,” Hirosh said. “We only spend four or five months up north before heading to Florida for the winter, so a total reconditioning of an arena for such a short time didn’t make sense. So I called Heidi Zorn, president of Premier Equestrian, and she was awesome. We sent Premier some samples of our footing, and they looked at it and found a way to make it work for us within our budget.”
Premier Equestrian recommended that Hirosh add ArenaAid to his sand. The nylon and polyester fibers mix with the sand to give it structure, and this resulted in increased stability and grip. The ArenaAid fibers hold moisture while also providing cushion and rebound.
“The footing ended up better than some of the footing we have here in Florida,” Hirosh said. “It solved all the problems we were having — and they were bad! But Premier’s solution was affordable, and now I water it with the automatic sprinklers one time each day and drag it one time. It was amazing what they did.”
Hirosh left his arenas in Premier Equestrian’s hands while on a trip in Europe for a week, and when he returned, the footing was completely improved. “Premier really came through for me,” he said.
But that’s not the end of the story.
“Once I shared my story with other people, they came to me and said, ‘We have the same problem,’” Hirosh recalled.
He invited them to his barn to see the transformation for themselves. “Then Premier worked with them and fixed their footing problems, as well,” he said. “The new footing made a huge difference for me, my clients and the horses.”
With 16 horses in his care, including three of his own, the busy trainer will next compete experienced as well as young horses during the 2017 winter equestrian season in Wellington.
For more than a decade, Premier Equestrian has offered equestrians affordable, high-quality arena footing, dressage arenas built from advanced materials, dressage arena packages, horse jumps, and barn and stable equipment.
Request a catalog, arena footing sample or arena sand analysis by calling (800) 611-6109 or visiting www.premierequestrian.com.
ABOVE: Grand Prix dressage trainer Sahar Daniel Hirosh is happy with his new arena footing.
