Case Studies
Case Study
Surface works for a private canter track in Florida
Back in 2004, we were delighted to travel over to the States to supply our famous Cushion Track Premier surface to a racehorse breeder with a private canter track at home. Almost twenty years later, we’re pleased to see the surface is still in place and performing well, with our team continuing to provide maintenance advice and guidance to keep it in top shape.
“This job was a really fun one to work on,” says Equestrian Surfaces Director, Tom Harper. “Due to the location of the track, an efficient drainage system was absolutely essential to ensure it remained safe to use throughout the year, and to help guarantee the track’s longevity. The team enjoyed getting involved with designing and installing a full foundation system, which we then surfaced with 1,500 tonnes of our Cushion Track Premier surface.”
Cushion Track Premier is phenomenal in any weather condition. We can train horses in pouring down rain and we don’t lose any days after a rainstorm. This track went through two hurricanes, and other than that actual day of wind, we never missed a day’s riding.
“The advantages to the horses to have the Cushion Track Premier as opposed to a dirt surface… it’s incredible in the way of saving the horses injuries,” says KiKi. “We’re legging them up without giving them injuries to their joints.
“The riders love it. They think that they’re getting more performance out of their horses and they’re much more stable on this surface because of its consistency.
“In maintenance alone, Cushion Track Premier will pay for itself on this track within 3 – 4 years. Just in the savings that you get out of lesser injuries to your horses – you can’t put a price on it.
“We never have to water it. The grooming of the track is minimal. We rarely have to even run the harrow over it – it’s a whole new way of thinking with track surfaces now.
“One friend of ours who has been using this surface has told us that he wouldn’t know how to treat a bucked shin now, he hasn’t had one in so long. I had a filly who broke her pastern and we gave her three months off, started her back on this surface and she just won a race last Saturday.
“Cushion Track Premier can take as much traffic on it as you would like to give it, again with very little maintenance. There’s absolutely no dust from Cushion Track Premier – none at all. We never have to water this surface.”
