photo: Bob Kiser

Footing is everything,” says Bob Kiser, the leading expert in arena consulting and construction and principal of NRHA Corporate Partner Kiser Arena Specialists. His advice has been sought after by most of the industry’s top money-earners, NRHA Professionals, and performance show management.

The proper footing, especially for such a highly skilled and exacting performance event such as Reining, can make or break the competition. Not only can footing influence performance scores, but it also can affect a horse for life.

“Over the years, lots of people have told me that their horses have serious soundness problems due to poor or inadequate footing,” Kiser states. “Footing in general is critical to the overall safety and performance of any horse. Research has shown that over 80 percent of all soundness-related injuries are a result of poorlyconstructed and poorly-maintained arenas that have the wrong types and amounts of material in them.

And there’s nothingmore disappointing than not being able to compete because your horse has soundness issues. It’s expensive, timeconsuming, and frustrating.”

So here we are, anxiously awaiting the Alltech ® FEI World Equestrian Games (WEG), where the crème-de-la-crème will gather in September 2010 to challenge the best in the world.

And that challenge depends upon the kind of spins, slides, and circles that get crowds rising to their feet and cheering. All those things in that very moment depend upon proper footing. Enter Bob Kiser.

THREE TIMES FOR FEI WORLD EQUESTRIAN GAMES
When asked about why he was selected for the footing job in the new covered arena (cost: $45 million; dimensions: 280- by 340-feet; capacity: 5,500) at the Kentucky Horse Park, home to the 2010 WEG, Kiser answers, “I was responsible for the footing at the last WEG in Aachen, Germany, in 2006, which is when they asked me to be in

charge of the selection and installation of the footing for the 2010 Games. I installed andmaintained the footing for the 2002 Games in Jerez de la Frontera, Spain. So this will bemy third WEG. “I think I’m probably the only person who’s ever done the discipline-specific footing formore than one WEG. (Author’s note: The first three World Equestrian Games—1990 in Stockholm, Sweden; 1994 in The Hague, Netherlands; and 1998 in Rome, Italy—did not host any reining competition.

Therefore, Bob Kiser has been responsible for the footing for all three WEG Reining competitions—2002, 2006, and the forthcoming 2010 Games.)

PREPARATION
Where does one start looking for 2010WEG dirt? “I’ve made five trips to figure that out. We started collecting footing and trying to find the rightmaterial for the new arena at the Kentucky Horse Park over a year ago. It took quite a while to find what I thought would work.When I found it, it turned out that there wasn’t enough at that location.

So I had to find another source because we’d already started hauling it fromthe original location, and then they ran out.” When asked if he creates a particular formula for the footing, Kiser answers, “Yes, I do. But a formula doesn’t mean a whole lot because it changes according to the type of material that’s available in that area. Actually the material came from Cincinnati, Ohio, which is about 85 miles away. Cincinnati is right on the Ohio River, and we found a plant along the river that had river-bottom material we thought would be suitable. We modified it somewhat from the original dirt, of course. The biggest problemwas that we had a real short window of time to get it into the new arena.”

DRYING DIRT
The challenges of footing aremultifold, including proper moisture content. “Hauling that material to Lexington was done last May and that part of the country was extremely wet then,” continues Kiser. “So when thematerialwas put into the arena, itwas toowet.

Our biggest challenge all summer was getting thatmaterial dried out. The new building is a beautiful facility, and it’s designed well, but it’s not designed to dry dirt! There’s no air flowin that building.

The Park got their ‘air handlers’ going, which helped a little bit, but still I’ve never seen a building where dirt dried so slowly. I had aman fromtheHorse Park go in andwork thematerial by ripping it up about every day, trying to get it dried. Even at that, when I got there for the Reining test event (Lexington Cup, see story in September 2009 issue), thematerial was still too wet underneath.


“So I really struggled with it during the test event. We had to add sand to it, which I didn’t want to do. But I just had to in order to get that material dried out—it was really wet. I was very uncertain as to whether I could make it work. But we finally got it dried out and worked it enough so that once we got horses on it, it started getting better all the time. In the end, it worked really well for the test event.”

Kiser can’t be at all the facilities all the time, so when working with a particular facility he leaves instructions for footing maintenance. “The problem at the Horse Park, for instance, is that there are other events held in the facility.

These disciplines go in and put other types of footing on top of the footing I put in, and then they take it back off. They can actually water it asmuch as they want, and I certainly have no control over that. So when I get there for a reining show, it’s hard to tell what I’ll have for footing.”


WHAT ABOUT THE 2010 GAMES?
“For the 2010 Games,” Kiser continues, “there are no events that will be held in that arena after the first of July, so that gives us two and a half months to get the footing the way we want it for theWEG. For the Games I did in Spain and Germany, the vaulting competition was held before the reining competition. So when I put the reining footing in, they put their vaulting circles on top of it.

They watered it and worked it the way they wanted. When I arrived, they took their vaulting footing off, but both years I had tremendous problems with where the vaulting circles were. They had put huge amounts of water on that footing. In Germany, we had to haul a bunch of material out of the arena and come in with differentmaterial because they had saturated the arena with water.

“But this time the event coordinators recognized that this situation would be a potential problem. I give thema lot of credit for that. Kate Jackson, Competition Director for the 2010 World Equestrian Games, is really trying to make this situation right. Kate has been a tremendous help.

She told the officials that the Reining needed to be held first, then the vaulting competition. Somehow she got the events switched, which was the best news I had heard in a long time.

“For the test event, it was the same way—they wanted the vaulting competition event first, which was some kind of vaulting finals competition—not their actualWEG test event. They were going to put three circles on top of the footing in the arena. Then we would have to take that off and immediately go into the reining test event.

I told Kate that we couldn’t do that. We already had one big enough problem with trying to get the dirt dried out the way it was! If the vaulting folks had gone in and done that, I told Kate that there just wasn’t any way we would have the footing right for Reining. Kate said she understood, and said, ‘Let me see what I can do.’ They ended up having the vaulting competition and finals in another arena in the Park.

If it hadn’t been for Kate’s actions and concern, I don’t think we could have done the Reining on the date assigned—we would have had to wait. Kate agreed that the only other option was to postpone the test event, which would have been rough. And, of course, I agreed with her. But the outcome was the right one, and I was very relieved.

“It can get pretty challenging when you’re dealing with a big facility like that. But in their defense, the Kentucky Horse Park hosts a lot of other events, and they need tomake accommodations. They want the 2010 Games to succeed, of course, but they have to pay for the new arena by having lots of events there, not just the Games. It’s a challenge.”

AND THE BUILD-UP TO NEXT YEAR?
“We’ll still be tweaking the footing next year. I’m not sure what I’ll run into during the next year. This footing has cost them a tremendous amount of money. You haul that much material 85 miles, and it doesn’t come cheap.

“Since our reining test event, they’ve had the vaulting WEG test event in the new indoor arena, and then they’re going to have a large jumping show in the arena this fall. I’ve heard that for the jumping event, they’re going to cover the whole arena with an auto sports footing like what they use for the outdoor jumping shows.”

No matter what happens, Kiser’s focus and determination will make the footing the best in the world. That’s a promise. The reining world is lucky to have Kiser—his knowledge, wisdom, and equipment— on our team.