By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News correspondent
Earth at the indoor arena at Juab county Fairgrounds will
be removed one-foot deep and replaced with fine road base
and then topped with four inches of sand.
Jeff Banks, county extension agent, and Bob Day,
superintendent of the county grounds and buildings
department, will work to get bids on the project.
"Eight months ago," said Ashlee Kay, "I was in a serious
accident which was caused by the hardpan in the big
arena."
Luckily for her, she said, her brother was present and
saw her horse slide on the earth. He was able to summon help
for his injured sister.
Kay fell hard and sustained head injuries that required
her to be taken by emergency medical helicopter to a
hospital in Salt Lake City. She was unconscious for some
time and then had to be careful not to overtax her body
while she healed.
"My short term memory was affected and, when I returned
to school, I had to carry a tape recorder with me."
While she is now recovered, said Kay, it had been a
difficult time and had cost her school time and kept her
from riding until recently. She did not want to have anyone
else experience the same problem and thought that might
occur if the arena ground was not brought up to
standard.
Members of the rodeo club, their parents and advisors,
would be willing to help with any work that needed to be
done.
Several members of the Juab High School Rodeo Club met
with county commissioners to request the new base and sand
for the indoor arena. Present were Jeff Banks, DeEtte
Worthington, Catina Nichols, Larry Anderson, Jerry Shepherd,
Ashlee Kay, Rick Kay, Rolayne Kay, Tyrel Memmott, Kasey
Draper, Travis Park, Rick Wall, Karen Wall, and Shandy
Wall.
"I talked to the people in Salina about their arena,"
said Rick Kay. "They used four-inches of concrete sand on
top and underneath they used one-foot of fine road base." At
first, the Salina arena had been finished with six-inches of
sand but that proved to be too much and some had to be
removed.
Nichols said that she was a member of the state 4-H Club
board that oversees events dealing with horses. "We did have
an accident at state competition held in the arena as a
result of the hard pan," she said.
She urged commissioners to do all possible to see that
the problem with the arena was repaired as soon as
possible.
"We want to make the arena safe and good," said Robert
Steele, commissioner. "But we will need estimates of the
cost. Our new budget must be completed by the end of
December."
A lot had been done to try to remedy the problem, said
Banks. "They have done everything possible. They even
brought in sawdust in hopes it would help soften the ground
but it didn't."
In some places the hard pan is just one and a half-inches
under the surface sand and in others it is four-inches below
the surface. When a horse hoof hits the shallow sand and
strikes through to the concrete-like soil beneath, it can be
a great danger to both horse and rider.
In those areas, the ground can be as hard and slick as
concrete, said Ashlee Kay. Horses were valuable and cost
between $5,000 and $20,000 and those competing in events
valued the animals so much that some riders would refuse to
compete in the arena rather than risk the safety of the
animal.
The arena is heavily used in the winter months because of
the weather conditions outside. Riders used the facility to
practice for the competitions they would participate in
throughout the year.
"Get the best specifications possible and get them to
us," said Wm. Boyd Howarth, commission chair.
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