International support lent to install surface at Witter Farm
With support from several industry leaders in the United States and around the world, the University of Maine’s J. Franklin Witter Teaching and Research Center installed a horse surface in its arena area.
The new surface was installed in October 2014 at Witter Farm, a facility used by animal science and equine studies students. The surface is used as a riding hall, as well as to quarantine horses when necessary.
“This surface is a unique opportunity for UMaine to be a leader in providing more consistent surfaces to enhance the safety of the horse and rider while minimizing the environmental impact,” says UMaine professor of mechanical engineering Mick Peterson.
The surface consists of 80 tons of sand, 15 bales of fiber and about 500 gallons of polymer.
Donors of the project were associated with the Racing Surfaces Testing Laboratory, which is led by Peterson.
Karen Leeming of New York-based FootingFirst, LLC, a leader in the development of synthetic equestrian footing, sourced and donated support for the the cost of the sand, as well as helped determine the surface’s maintenance, according to Peterson.
Michelman, a specialty chemicals manufacturer in Cincinnati, donated the polymer track coating, and Bacher Products in Bürstadt, Germany donated the fiber.
Wolfgang Bacher, owner of Bacher Products, is a leading supplier for the industry and provided fiber for many arena surfaces including some that were used in the Olympics and World Equestrian Games to many of the home and club arenas located throughout the world, Peterson says.
“This is a state-of-the-art surface which will be used as a part of ongoing research on the durability and maintenance of the surfaces and the materials used in the surfaces,” Peterson says.
This year, a mechanical engineering capstone design group is working on the design of a new piece of maintenance equipment for the experimental surface. The design of the arena at Witter is now the basis for a larger and more high-profile experimental arena surface at Myerscough College in England, according to Peterson.
Several speakers attended the inauguration of the new surface including Peterson; Sarah Jane Hobbs, a reader in equine biomechanics at the University of Central Lancashire in the United Kingdom; and Jeff Thomason, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at Ontario Veterinary College, at the University of Guelph in Canada.
The first author on the Equine Surfaces White Paper, Hobbs’ research interests include the kinetics and kinematics of equine gait, equine surface mechanics and hoof-horse-surface interactions.
An instructor in equine anatomy, Thomason’s research interests include the biomechanics of the mammalian musculoskeleton and mechanics of locomotion in horses.
Peterson, the senior author on the Racing Surfaces White Paper, studies experimental constitutive properties and characterization of materials, as well as biomechanics of animals.